We begin this episode with a skosh of trivia.
Who's the most prolific writer for the silver screen?
Here's a hint: curly hair, snazzy single hoop earring,
went by Billy to his friends?
No, not Billy Wilder, this guy.
William Shakespeare tops the list on IMDb
with a whooping 1419 writing credits to his name.
One of the cleverest was released 20 years ago on March 31st.
The real interpretation of a Shakespearean comedy that daring lead into the gender
politics, false identities, and romantic entry.
No, the other iconic movie released that weekend.
The modern retelling of the Taming ofthe Shrew became an overnight cult classic and
helped launch the careers of Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
and future Venice, California-based pseudo cult leader Andrew Keegan.
That's not a joke, you can Google it.
But first, pull up your tights and slap on your cod piece.
Please don't, it's snug.
The hour has struck, for a Shakespearean, what's the difference?
>> Hi daddy.
>> Before we delve into the core distinctions between a play written in
1591 and a movie that kicks off with the Barenaked Ladies.
We want to doff our cap to the 10 Things I Hate About You creatives, for
their numerous wry nods to the Elizabethan source material.
For instance, while Taming is set in Padua, Italy, and
10 Things in Seattle, the film's young lovers attend Padua High School.
>> Many character names were maintained and
even given an extra dash of Shakespearean referentiality.
For instance, Catherine Kate Minola in Taming becomes Katerina Kat Stratford in
10 Things, a nod to Shakespeare's birthplace Stratford upon Avon.
>> Petruchio from Taming becomes Because he's Anglicized Patrick Verona.
His surname a shout out to the Italian town that Petruchio hails from in
the play.
>> And if you caught this last one you were probably an English major.
During the prom scene Patrick calls in a favor to have one of Cat's favorite
Seattle bands surprise her with a dance floor serenade.
What song do they sing?
The cover of Nick Lowe's Cruel To Be Kind from 1979.
What's the connection?
Hamlet, Act III, Scene IV.
>> That's an impressively deep cut.
But this show is not called What's the Reference, so (Laugh),
what are we doing here?
>> Right you are.
On a narrative construction level, both tales orbit around a simple premise.
A father has two comely daughters, Bianca an angelic emblem of enticing domesticity,
and her elder sister, Katherine slash Katerina, the tempestuous shrew.
The younger daughter is in hot demand by many a suitor, but
the father forbids any indulgence of these advances until the elder daughter is first
taken off the market, which is highly unlikely due to her sharp tongue and
violent reputation.
Bianca's desperate suitors hire a rogue to tame the shrew so
they can freely pursue the object of their affection.
>> And it's from here the two pieces begin to wildly diverge.
First, in Taming there's a convoluted storyline of multiple suitors assuming
false identities as tutors to get close enough to Bianca to carry romantic favor.
Lucentio and the guys of Cambio teaches Latin, and
Hortensio and the guys of Litio attempts to teach Bianca music.
For his efforts Catherine breaks his lute over
his head after he corrects her finger placement on the frets.
>> By comparison in 10 Things, the furthest taken is JGL's Cameron pretending
to know French in order to tutor Bianca.
Furthermore, the character of Joey in 10 Things could be considered
a pseudo composite of the characters Gremio and Hortensio from Taming,
if you replaced Hortensio's earnestness with douche bro entitlement.
>> That entitlement sets him on a frequent collision course with Cat,
who as a future Sarah Lawrence undergrad delights in lobbying feminist truth bombs.
In 10 Things, she fills the role of shrew by having unpopular opinions,
a sharp tongue, and a staunch unwillingness to fit in with what
she considers an oppressively patriarchal high school status quo.
In Taming, Katherine the Shrew qualifies for
at least a handful of disorders in the DSM-5.
>> For instance, in Act II Scene I,
Catherine leads Bianca on stage with her hands bowed,
then proceeds to beat her to pry out the intel of which bachelor Bianca favors.
Perhaps this played as slapstick in Globe theater Shakespeare's era, but
such enhanced interrogation tactics would likely read more as sisterly
Zero Dark Thirty today.
>> Which serves as the perfect segway to address the main total difference between
Taming and 10 Things.
The attitudes, the pieces adopt towards women.
In Taming Catherine and Bianca are largely viewed as property to horse traded between
father and future husband.
A feminine token representing a merger and
acquisition of the generational wealth of noble families.
>> This outlook seeded subplots and intrigues wholly absent from 10 Things.
For instance, in Taming the girl's father, Baptista,
pits Bianca's suitors against each other in a showdown over the wealth they
will commit to the union with his youngest his youngest daughter.
>> Ad doth he looked and saw that time was different, 1591.
>> Thankfully in 10 Things the father could not be more of a lovable suburban
worrywort.
Panged by Cass's desire to move across the country for college,
forcing Bianca to wear the pregnancy suit before attending a high school party, and
baring his soul to his oldest with an earnest heart to heart.
>> Fathers don't like to admit it when their daughter's are capable of running
their own lives, it means we've become spectators.
>> Way to go daddy.
In Taiming, Patrubio arrives in Padua with far less than pure intentions.
I come to wive at wealthy in Padua, and
quickly decides that marrying Catherine is his prime wealthy wiving endeavor.
Shortly thereafter, they are betrothed and
he practically kidnaps her away over her protestations at the midpoint of the play.
Of course, she has no say in the matter because again, she's property.
>> You keep passing judgement, but you see it's how it was doing in the 1591.
What do you do in 2019.
>> Generally, I'd say it's for love.
>> Get right out.
>> Obviously, Patrick did not kidnap Cat in 10 Things, nor
did he at any point call his shot Babe Ruth like Petruchio does in Taming.
What exact, will I be master of this?
What is my known?
She is my goods, my chattels, she's my house, my household stuff,
my field, my barn, my horse, my ass, my anything, really.
>> No instead of 10 Things,
there is a complete inversion of Shakespeare's misogyny as the rough neck
bad boy Patrick is himself tamed in this pursuit to attain Cat.
He's the one who first take steps towards changing for her.
Stubbing out his cigarette habit, brushing up on feminists lit, and
even venturing into the adorably 90s Club Skunk.
>> Very well, would I say.
>> In Taming Petruchio literally denies Katherine food,
sleep and clothing in order to break her will.
He demands she accede to whatever whim flits across his mind, for as her master,
he determines her reality.
At the conclusion of the play when he has successfully tamed the shrew,
his ultimate prize is an inheritance, and a subservient partner who lowers
herself beneath his heel, as part of a closing monologue.
>> 1591.
>> 10 Things is refreshingly more humane resolutions sees Patrick fall for
Cat's independent streak, her self assuredness, and her ambition.
Rather than seek to knuckle her under as a masculine superior
Patrick follows the romantic Cameron's advice.
Sacrifice yourself on the altar of dignity and even the score to win her heart,
not as a superior, but as an enumerate equal.
>> And, boy, did it work,
love tamed the shrew within all of us.
(Music)
>> And so the curtain falls on this episode but get down to the comments and
let us know what you want to see next.
>> But be sure to subscribe to Cinefix for more What's the Difference,
which, I assume, is some sort of newsletter from the Prince in Perth.
I don't know if my accent changed enough over the course of this episode.