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robintalley · 5 years

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There are lots of adoring retrospective pieces going around about 10 Things I Hate About You right now, since it’s the movie’s 20th anniversary (yes, we’re all very old), which has been making me a little grumpy. My wife and I rewatched this movie last year (because I was thinking about writing a queer retelling of Taming of the Shrew at the time, an idea which I have since tabled, partly because this rewatch made me so uncomfortable), and it was that viewing that allowed me to finally put my finger on what had always bothered me about this one: for a movie that gets held up as being super feminist, it’s got an awful lot of misogynistic dialogue.

Yes, it’s also full of witticisms about Sketchers and Shakespeare, and yes, it has a great soundtrack and amusing clothes, and yes, Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger had amazing chemistry and turned in fantastic performances, and yes, it was fantastic and perhaps mildly revolutionary that the conclusion seemed to be that Bianca should be more like Kat and not the other way around. And the reveal at the end that [spoiler] Kat slept with Joey three years before the events of the film is also probably mildly revolutionary, for a female protagonist in a teen movie in 1999.

But let’s take a closer look at this script (quotes below are from this transcript).

TL;DR: Sixteen Candles this movie’s not, but it isn’t the grand feminist treatise it gets held up to be either.

In most of the scenes featuring Kat (which is fewer of them than you might expect, given that an astonishing chunk of the movie’s screen time is devoted to Cameron making awkward faces), she delivers lots of witty comebacks. The comebacks themselves are great. The problem is the lines that set up her comebacks. It’s lovely to see her standing up for herself, of course, but it would be awesome if she didn’t have to do so quite so often. Especially considering that a lot of the time the person she’s standing up to is Patrick, who is presented to us as the hero and perhaps a bit of a feminist himself (we don’t know for sure, because the word feminist is only used once in the movie, by fellow-hero Cameron after he’s just finished searching Kat’s bedroom without her knowledge or permission and is reporting back to Patrick on what he found).

All of the lines below are spoken by the movie’s “good” guys, by the way. I didn’t include any quotes from the antagonist, Joey (the one who draws a dick on a kid’s face in the cafeteria).

Here’s how Patrick introduces himself to Kat (after being paid by Joey to do so, a fact which is in typical teen-movie style is concealed from Kat until the climax):

PATRICK: Hey there, girlie. How ya doin'? KAT [witty comeback]: Sweating like a pig, actually. And yourself? PATRICK: Now there's a way to get a guy's attention, huh? KAT [another witty comeback]

Here’s Patrick again, speaking to Kat who at this point in the film has shown absolutely no interest in him and who is pursuing because he’s being paid to do so:

PATRICK: Well, maybe you’re not afraid of me. But I’m sure you’ve thought about me naked, huh? KAT [another witty comeback]

And again:

PATRICK: Ooo, someone still has their panties in a twist. KAT [another witty comeback]

Also let’s not forget this line, delivered to Kat by her dad (she doesn’t have a witty comeback for this one btw; maybe because the writers thought Dad’s gross line was going to get such a big laugh there was no point?):

MR. STRATFORD: My insurance does not cover PMS!

Then there’s this exchange, which almost prompted me to turn off the movie altogether during that rewatch. Again, Cameron and Patrick are both presented to us as the “good” guys in this movie; this scene takes place after Bianca has made it clear that she isn’t interested in dating Cameron; meanwhile, Kat might have a concussion and so good-guy Patrick is supposedly focused on trying to keep her awake:

CAMERON (to Patrick): Hey, hey. We need to talk. PATRICK: I'm a little busy right now. CAMERON (indignantly): Can you give me a second? [At this point they walk away, leaving the possibly-concussed Kat alone] CAMERON: It's off, okay? The whole thing’s off. PATRICK: What’re you talking about? CAMERON: She never wanted me. She wanted Joey the whole time. PATRICK: Cameron -- do you like the girl? CAMERON: Yeah. PATRICK: Yeah. And is she worth all this trouble? CAMERON: Well, I thought she was. But, you know, I... PATRICK: Well she is or she isn’t. See, first of all, Joey is not half the man you are. Secondly, don’t let anyone ever make you feel like you don’t deserve what you want. Go for it!

First of all, Patrick has met Cameron, like, twice; describing Joey as “half the man” Cameron is based on the evidence available to him (or that matter us) is a major stretch at best. Second of all, Bianca made it extremely clear that she wasn’t interested in Cameron, so Patrick telling Cameron to “go for it” may be standard romantic-hero advice, but it nonetheless sucks. Patrick is effectively telling Cameron that he “deserves” a girl who has made it clear that she’s not interested in him because, in Patrick’s opinion, Cameron’s less of an obvious jerk than the guy who Bianca indicated she was interested in.

Of course, joke’s on me; guess who Bianca totally realizes she wanted after all once Joey turns out to be boring. (Which is another teen-movie trope, but that still doesn’t justify this dialogue.)

Anyway, let’s continue. Here are some more characters talking about Bianca, who also happens to be the movie’s secondary protagonist.

MICHAEL (describing her to Cameron): ...A snotty little Princess wearing a strategically planned sun dress to make guys like us realize we can never touch her, and guys like Joey realize they want to. She, my friend, is what we’ll spend the rest of our lives not having. Put her in the Spank Bank. Move on.

And later:

PATRICK: What is it with this chick? She have beer flavored nipples? CAMERON: Hey! MICHAEL: I think I speak correctly when I say that Cameron's love is pure. Purer than say -- Joey Donner's. PATRICK: Look. I'm in on this for the cash. Donner can plow whoever he wants. CAMERON: Okay. There will be no plowing! MICHAEL: Patrick, uh, Pat. Let me explain something to you here. We set this whole thing up so Cameron can get the girl. Cameron. Joey's just a pawn. PATRICK (now talking about Kat, as charmingly as ever): So you two are gonna help me tame the wild beast?

Yes, of course Cameron’s love is “pure” and thus he deserves to “get the girl” and thus Patrick must “tame the wild beast.”

(Yes, I know the word “tame” is in there because it’s a Shakespeare title reference. Doesn’t change the fact that we’re supposed to adore and admire Patrick and yet he’s literally referring to Kat -- who at this point in the movie he genuinely likes -- as a “wild beast” in need of “taming.”)

And here’s more of Cameron and Patrick discussing Kat’s interests (and again this comes after Patrick has started genuinely liking Kat):

CAMERON: Alright. Okay -- Likes: Thai food, feminist prose, and "angry, girl music of the indie-rock persuasion". Here’s a list of CDs that she has in her room. PATRICK: So I'm supposed to buy her some noodles and a book and sit around listening to chicks who can't play their instruments, right?

Also, remember when Kat flashes her soccer coach in front of a whole class full of guys to get Heath out of detention? And when Patrick sexually harasses the lunch lady by flashing a bratwurst at her? And at the party, when a drunk girl tries to kiss Patrick, and he flings her at a random dude who then proceeds to make out with her all night? And again, with the drawing of a dick on a kid’s face in the cafeteria. (All of these things are presented as jokes, btw.)

Again, there are far worse movies out there than 10 Things I Hate About You. But I don’t want to get excited about it just because it beats the Sixteen Candles standard for teen-movie feminism. Seeing young Heath Ledger is cool for sure, but I wish I didn’t have to watch him deliver some of this dialogue, and I really want entitled-and-completely-uninteresting Cameron to just smarm off the screen every time he smarms on; if ever there was a teen movie protagonist who would be better off single at the end of the movie, it’s Bianca.

Also, ooh, I feel a lot better now for having gotten all of that off my chest. Must think of whether there are any other beloved pseudo-feminist films I can rant about next. Hmmm.

#10 things i hate about you #feminism

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