Why we should give 10 Things About You more attention

Alright. So we are all aware how nostalgia is a trend nowadays... We have stranger things setting us back to the good old 80s (wonderful music back then), the fashion trends of the 90s are everywhere on Instagram, and of course the relentless remakes of movies from Disney old classics to, for example, Ghostbusters. Yes. We love to go back to the past. Maybe because it brings us good memories, a comfortable feeling of those good times you had during those days, remind us of interesting (or maybe embarassing) things we wore, listened, said, and of course allow us to have an emotional connection with one another. Perhaps because it is a time that was wished to be lived in by you and your friend, or maybe you both like the songs of those years, and last but also very important you and your friend lived during that time shown in the movie and/or tv show and it is nice to be set back to that time sometimes.

It could be perceived as a lack of creativity, but in fact I believe the human kind has always been amazed about the past. In the movie Midnight in Paris, Gil, the main character played by Owen Wilson is enchanted by the beauty and apparent intellect from the 20s, but then he realizes that people from that time are wishinhg to be living on other decades. Therefore, apparently most humans are more inclined to prefer past, or future in some cases, than the present. Could it be a lack of originality in some cases? Yes. Perhaps sometimes it is an easier approach to go for something that is well known (again, Hollywood has been showing it with so many remakes!), but as we learned repeatedly in History classes, we have to learn the past to know the future. And as we learned in science, nothing is created everything is transformed (even though I am not sure how accurate this quote is with nowadays science, so please do not take it too seriously). By all that, it means that we are inspired by the past. So whenever you rewatch your favorite 90s movies you can actually learn by it.

I have seen plenty of admiration and love for Mean Girls, for example, a movie that I can understand why it was important for so many girls in the 2000s, and why it is being brought back to media so intensely nowadays. The movie showed us the cruelty in schools unapologetically, in a very different approach when compared to other 00s movies, and it was focused more on the relationship of girls in school instead of in a romantic relationship. Thus I understand the hype. I understand the celebration of on Wednesday days we wear pink and the October 3rd acknowledgement. The movie is very impressive, quite interesting and a milestone for teenage movies. However, I would like to give more attention to a movie that often does not get the attention that it deserves (at least not for the right reasons) and a movie which can teach and inspires a lot in today's dilemmas.

10 Things I Hate About You is a movie released in 1999, which makes me consider both a 90s and 00s movie. It was a transition time, but one in which we could see many of todays topics being discussed on screen. The feminism on this movie, is much like the feminism we are trying to achieve nowadays. What I really enjoy on this movie is how subtle and natural the feminism is, and I really think today's movies should learn with it. Kat and Bianca are very strong and independent characters, and even though their storyline seems to be around romance it is actually about their own character development. Kat is a feminist, and this is shown in many ways thoughout the movie. Kat likes feminist prose, and angry-girl music of the indie rock persuasion as listed by Cameron to Patrick after a careful research with the help of her sister. It is also shown on a scene that Kat is reading a book by the female author Sylvia Plaith, Bell Jar, and this shows that she is in fact absorbed by the feminist universe. However, what makes this whole feminist idea surround Kat belivable is actually a fault. One of the most important scenes, for me, is right in the beginning when Kat asks her professor what about Sylvia Plaith, or Chalotte Bronte or Simone de Beauvoir? to which the professor replies that it must be very hard for her to overcome an upper-middle class life of a white girl. Let me point out some facts on this scene, the professor seems to be a feminist as well. He constantly defends Kat from Joeys sexist attacks, and simply points out the fact that women are definitely not the only ones being left out. In fact he points out that Black writters are more excluded than women when it comes to literature praise. And this whole scene, shows how Kats feminism is, even though very real, still being developed. What Kat did not comprehend at that time is that the injustice suffered by women, was also suffered by other minority groups, and it would be even more extreme on Black Womans, for example. Having this lack of understanding, makes Kat more believable, because she is a teenage girl who is just learning about the real world, and in fact just learning about feminism. Her feminism background is not completed and she is being exposed by more backgrounds and perspectives, which can be used to make her a more just and considerate person in the future. I am trying to point this out, because it seems that most female roles nowadays are trying to lecture on perfect feminism, not by actions but by actual saying very forced feminists lines outloud (like shown on the new movie of Charlies Angels, for example), and thus creating unrealistic feminists that have no flaw at all and just know it all. Do not get me wrong, Kat is characterized for being a know it all, that is pointed out by her sister, Joey, the guidance councelour... But this is never shown as a good quality of her, instead it is simply a characteristic that can sometimes be charming and sometimes just wrong. And yes, Kat is not wrong about saying that schools should support more female writters, but perhaps one of her examples should be of a Black female writter.

As we were just saying that Kat is a feminist in development, Bianca is also one. One in a more earlier stage and that is justified by her young age. Despite her shallow attitude, Bianca does show some feminist traits, such as being againts her father extreme overprotection, defending her sister and coming around to realize that looks are not everything. Bianca is simply futile and wants to date and go to prom. Honestly, there is not much of a crime in any of these wants, she is just young and again in development. But she is open to learn from her mistakes, she does see that Cameron is a nice guy and she does punched Joey in the face at the end. Hey, I know violence is not the key to anything, but for a movie that was cool.

When it comes to all the guys in the movies we can see nice characteristics and developments. Cam is a very kind and sincere guy and blinded by his, so called love, and also his young age he goes with the plan to get Kat a fake boyfriend, Patrick. Patrick seems to be a very genuine and distanced guy and probably also due to his age he agrees with the plan. Now, what makes both characters different from Joey is both the reason they do it and how they develop to be different at the end. Cam and Patrick regret their decision, and in fact Patrick gets a guitar to Kat with the money he got. For me, this did not seem to be the case of trying to buy Kat back (as she jokes at the end), but more of an attempt to use the money for a good cause, since she was the victim of this plan. Cam started this plan for, okay lets stretch it, love, and Patrick apparently had a selfish reason in the beginning, but again, he was young and probably impulsivem which lead him to make a bad decision, which he regretted later. However, Joey from the beginning started this bet not for money but just for fun, a malicious fun is what he desire. He did want to trick both Bianca and Kat, and this showed a lack of character. He did not regret at all at the end which takes the consideration of being young and immature off the table, since he could have learned from the experience.

I would like to focus on Patrick for a moment, because there is also a lot to be learned with this character. Patrick from the beginning is perceived as a rebel, violent and weird guy, who everyone was afraid of and thus he was ignored, judged and left on the side. Since Cam and Michael were looking for a guy who was as extreme as one could be in order to date Kat, they thought Patrick Verona would be the best option. Patrick was said to be a criminal, have lit a state trooper on fire, sold his own liver on a black market for a new set of speakers and eaten a live duck once (everything but the beak and feet, according to Michael). Well, with all that being said we can see that those rumors were a sort or bullying and judgements created to harm the reputation of Patrick. He seemed to simply use the fear others created as a mechanism to be left alone and in peace. Later, after the wonderful scene of both throwing ink ballons on each other to the sound of Fascinating New Thing, by Semisonic, we found out the actual truth. State Trooper? Fallacy. The duck? Hearsay. All the rumors are dismistified, included the ones going around about Kat. What we see at that scene is that both characters were injustly misjudged and were being simply bullied. What brought them together was not that they were agressive or rebels. They were simply being constantly judged and therefore distanced from everyone. But from that moment on they knew the truth of each other and had each other to count on. What I find interesting is that Patrick Verona is still considered up to this day a bad guy, but he is in fact a sweetheart. He spent one year taking care of his ill grandfather, and supported Cameron when he needed the most saying that Joey was not half the man Cam was and that he should never let anyone tell him he did not deserve something that he wanted. A true friendship coming from two characters you would not expect. Also he helped Kat when she was drunk and when driving her home did not take advantage of the situation ( on the drunk case it was just the least he could do), since he was getting paid to date her and was not sure of his feelings. Overall, Pat is a very nice guy who never tried to change Kat and truly accepted her while she truly accepted him. He how someone can be misjudged and simply putted into a one dimensional character, when there is so much more to be explored on everyone.

Finally, we can see that the most important relationship in the movie was of the Stratford sisters. It was so sublimely told that the romance was the first level story, but for an observant eye it is undeniably admirable how their relationship evolved throughout the movie. They were also judging each other without knowing their emotional background, Kat suffering because of her past and her reputation being judged, and Bianca suffering because her only female/maternal figure left (since her mom was not around anymore) was constantly getting more distanced from her. Kat was trying, on her own way, to protect her sister and Bianca was trying to break the wall that separated then while trying to be a normal and impulsive teenager. It is beautiful at the end to see them forgiving each other and taking each other's emotions in consideration, for example when Kat is obviously sad drawing outside, Bianca invited her to the date she will have with Cameron; this was something that would have never happened at the beginning of the movie. The heartbreak on both characters were not only caused by romantic relationships, but also by the sisters disagreements and seeing both of them maturing into their new selfs and also into a new stage of their relationship is simply enriching for the movie.

I could go on this movie for a longer time, and describe more about other characters and important scenes but I understand all of this writing must be more than enough for now, and way longer than Kats poem. If I have not convinced you yet to start your nostalgic marathon into the 90s and 00s movies, starting by admiring and praising 10 Things I Hate About You and all the things you can learn with the movie, I will just simply suggest to checkout the soundtrack (Heath Ledger singing Cant Take My Eyes Off You on the bleachers? Epic). It is a masterpiece and it also should be worshiped. At the end, 10 Things I Hate About You gain my admiration for not trying to omit flaws of characters, and having subtle little details that take you into deeper topics. I would definetly have more than 10 things in my list of things I adore in this movie. How about you?