If "10 Things I Hate About You" Was A Modern Teen Movie

Kat Stratford is the epitome of teen angst. She hates the high-school experience, harbors the rebellious nature of ignoring popular trends and has veins filled with sarcasm.

"10 Things I Hate About You" was released the same year I was born, so I never got the chance to witness Kat Stratford in her full glory the same year her character came to life...but even when I did watch it some fifteen years later, her character still resonated with me.

As a teen I think its a rite of passage to be full of angst and hate the world. I felt it in my teen years, and I admit it's a bit embarrassing looking back on it now. But at the time I felt the same way as Kat. I hated being like every other girl - yes, unfortunately I was that person that was like "You girls like nail polish? No, not me! I like books, I'm so ~different~" - and I felt like no-one in the world understood me.

Take a look, here's a picture of me as a teen who felt like this pose meant I was ~quirky~

Just like me Kat Stratford was anti-social, considered weird by others, liked reading and was full of angst and witty comments. Yep, she was just like me...just a LOT hotter than I ever was.

For a long time now I've had a playlist called "Kat Stratford Vibes" which are songs I listened to during my teenage angst years, songs that remind me of my teenage angst even to this day, and songs I think would be in the soundtrack of "10 Things I Hate About You" if it was a modern teen movie, and I was the star!

First up, let's talk about "Gives You Hell" by The All-American Rejects

This song perfectly highlights my teenage years.

I felt like I had something to rebel against. Whether it was strict parents, or society in general, this song made me feel so full of angst that I would have it on repeat, playing out of an old Samsung tablet where I had illegally downloaded it. (Let me just preface here: I didn't even know what Spotify was back in my preteen and early teen years. In the old days I used to record songs from CD's onto my brick phone. Eventually I got an Ipod Nano, and I genuinely thought that was the epitome of being cool. Ah...I feel old now.)

It was fun, and it was definitely a favourite during my angsty years.

Another favourite is "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jetts & The Blackhearts

Okay yes, I'll admit it, nothing in my life will ever be as cool as Kat Stratford's introduction scene. But I'd be lying if I didn't internalize that scene, adopt "Bad Reputation" as my own personal soundtrack and acted like I was the main character of my own edgy and angsty movie.

This song just has so much power. To others, I probably looked like a geeky school kid who was a goody-two-shoes and headbanging to music on tangled headphones, but in my mind I felt the hot blooded rage of rebellion running through my veins, for no apparent reason.

I'm convinced during my teenage years I somehow thought that I could rebel against the whole system, nobody understood me, and the only thing that could cure my woes was binge-watching Supernatural and listening to music. Here's a tumblr post that pretty much sums up the whole teenage angst experience:

A song I love today that would feature on "10 Things I Hate About You" is "Peach Scone" by Hobo Johnson

This song is glorious. With it being released in 2018, I was out of my teenage years and all my angst was in the past. I had gotten over my first "love", my weird teenage vibes turned into adult anxiety and I was finished with school BUT this song made me feel right back in the seat of my thirteen-year-old self.

This song is awkward, it talks about love and being alone and it's all the thoughts you have during your angst years as you try to figure out who you are and what life is about.

The one reason this song had Kat Stratford vibes is because she would absolutely, one hundred percent, aggressively yell "PEACH SCONE" with the best shit-eating grin on her face.

A song I still play today is "My Body" by Young The Giant

I first discovered this song when I was fifteen. At the time, I was first figuring out the effects of depression. I didn't really know how to describe it during that time, but I knew one thing that eased the ever-growing angst: the tv show "Teen Wolf".

This song was one of the first ever songs on the "Teen Wolf" soundtrack and I embraced the entire season one soundtrack like it was the oxygen that I breathed. It was on repeat, just to make me feel better. Of course at the time I didn't realise that this was a coping mechanism, or that "Teen Wolf" would become my comfort show well into my twenties but there you have it.

If I were Kat Stratford then this song would be my into song, in honour of my comfort show during my angsty years, and in honour of the fact Kat Stratford would have loved "My Body".

I can't help but think that my angst-filled years full of music like this shaped me into the adult I am today. A lot of my teenage experience makes me cringe now but, like I said, the angst is a rite of passage. The same way watching "10 Things I Hate About You" is a rite of passage into believing Kat Stratford is the coolest, most angsty character in the universe.

I'm sure I'll look back on it all one day when I'm older and hate all of the angst-filled things I did and said. But for now, I don't hate it.

Not even a little bit, not even at all.

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