The Film “10 Things I Hate About You” is based on a Shakespearian play. The film is about a teenage girl whose father will not allow her to date. Finally the girl’s father comes up with an idea – she can date when her older sister (Kat) does. Her Father knows that Kat is not going to date anytime soon saying “When pigs begin to fly”. The film explores many themes and issues relevant to teenagers today. Such themes include; Social Status, Expectations and Relationships. social status is the rank of a person or group of persons within society.
In this film they have used social status through the use of stock characters, to provide the viewer with easily recognisable characters to immediately relate to. An example of social status was communicated to the audience at the beginning of the film, where the character Michael was identifying the different groups of people at the school, to the new boy Cameron. The groups with a low social status included the cowboys; “Closest thing they’d come to a cow is McDonald’s” Said Michael. The groups with the highest social status were the ‘Beautiful People’ described by Michael saying, “Don’t talk to them unless they talk to you first”.
This scene shows the viewer the different groups and their personalities. Social status is communicated in this film by the acronym SAAO (speech, action, appearance and others opinions).
The Essay on Dawn Social Justice Group
The social justice group DAWN (disabled womans network Ontario) is a province wide organization of woman with all types of disabilities. They are a feminist organization which supports woman in their struggle to control their own lives. Dawn Ontario is controlled by women with disabilities. The members include woman with disabilities and non-disabled woman. Also included are lesbians, bisexual ...
An example of this is in one of the first scenes of the movie, where a group of popular girls (high social status) are at the traffic lights in a VW convertible, singing girly pop music wearing fashionable bright clothes, when Kat comes along side by herself (shows low social status), in an old, rusty sedan, wearing old unfashionable dull coloured clothes listening to rock music.
The lyrics to Kats’ music “I don’t give a damn about my reputation” is a representation of her thoughts, beliefs and values. Kat’s superiority is shown in many ways in this scene. Examples include how Kat’s music drowned out the other girl’s music, how the girls look away from her simultaneously when she stares at them and when Kat pulls away first at the traffic lights, showing she is in charge. This one scene automatically tells the viewer about the characters demonstrating their social status.
Expectations play a big role in modern day society and can influence what people wear, do and even feel. In the film Bianca is a prime example of living and abiding by society’s expectations. Expectations are communicated by what Bianca’s interested in, talks about and thinks about. Such as girly and fashionable clothes, designer labels, and dating boys. Kat however, is the exact opposite, going against society’s expectations, and is therefore an outcast at school. In the beginning of the film Kat dressed poorly, had a very carefree hairstyle and wore a minimum amount of makeup.
These are symbolic signs showing that she doesn’t care about other people’s thoughts and opinions saying, “I don’t like to do what people expect. Why should I live up to others expectations and not my own? ” This is showing how she challenges society’s expectations and does what she wants, regardless of other people. Kat feels that you should not live your life thinking about others opinions. She says; “I am a firm believer for doing things for your own reasons and not someone else’s”. The justification for this happened when Kat was in ninth grade, and she participated in an activity just because everyone else was doing it.
Afterwards she realised she didn’t like the same things as her peers. She then decided to only do things for her own reasons not other peoples. There are many relationships shown in this film. One relationship is between Bianca and Chastity. Bianca and Chastity have a superficial relationship. This relationship is communicated to the audience in the first few scenes, when Bianca says, “There’s a difference between like and love, because I like my Sketches but I love my Prada back pack. ” This line immediately tells the viewer about their shallow relationship.
Is There Too Much Social Expectations for Growing Kids? – Short Essay
Is there too much social expectation for growing kids? With more accessible information brought about by the Internet, the current generation is more cognizant of the world they live in. This has greatly increased the competition for jobs and has placed greater scrutiny of the behavior of growing kids. Social expectation in the forms of academic performance, and extracurricular achievements piles ...
Their shallow relationship is later shown in the film when Chastity backstabbed Bianca by visiting a second party with Joey. Chastity performed this act of betrayal to maintain her social status. A final example of their lack of intelligence and superficial relationship is shown in the car park as Chastity says, “I know you can be overwhelmed and I know you can be underwhelm- ed, but can you ever just be whelmed? ” “I think you can in Europe. ” Bianca replies.
This regular conversation between Bianca and Chastity shows their true stupidity and their superficial relationship. The film “10 Things I Hate About You” communicates to the audience the lifestyle and social structure of the characters concerned and shows how utterly futile and shallow their value systems turn out to be. The film demonstrates the beliefs and values of the different social groups and how having a high social status isn’t always the best option. Finally you don’t always need to live up to society’s expectations, be yourself and that will be all you should be expected to do.
