The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You both raise important issues through their themes, language and portrayal of characters. In doing so they each reflect the prevailing culture of the time they were composed.
A modern audience has the opportunity to compare its society to those of the past, a prospect not offered to those of Elizabethan England. This allows a modern audience the ability to analyse views and opinions throughout history, draw appropriate conclusions about certain issues and in a manner of speaking, learn from their mistakes. It is through this ability to analyse societies of the past that appropriations of texts occur, as issues, themes and views are changed to include the prevailing contemporary culture.
Both The Shrew and 10 Things were considered romantic comedies at the time they were composed. This means they deal with relationships, are light hearted and most importantly conclude with a happy ending which leave both the audience and characters feeling satisfied and cheerful.
William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, Act IV,...
Petruchio forces Katherina to call the sun the moo...
Katherina contemplates her empty plate in The Tami...However as views change over time certain issues have to be altered to achieve the 'happy ending' and to allow 10 Things to be accepted as popular culture.
The themes of The Shrew are marriage as an economic institution, social roles (mainly that of men compared to women) and deception. These themes are demonstrated through the characters and their relationships and the story itself. 10 Things main theme is relationships and it too explores social roles and deception but the views it portrays are very different to those of the original. Through changes in the characters and storyline, it reflects the modern values of western civilisation.
The central issue of The Shrew that has been altered in 10 Things is the role of women in society. In Elizabethan England there was a widely...