Ten Things I Hate About You, the 1999 blockbuster movie and adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” was a cultural phenomenon of its time. The movie is charming despite its recycled plot with lots of well-known scenes (such as Kat’s heart-wrenching poem). However, a clear standout in the movie is the forever iconic, Kat Stratford. Julia Stiles portrays Kat as the epitome of the “cool girl” in modern times. From her outfits, music taste, and sharp attitude, we’ve all wanted to be her at some point. Admiring her for these traits is all well and true but there should be a line drawn when calling Kat a feminist. While it might be hard to notice through her displays of defiance, Kat is the definition of a white feminist. So when we use her as an example of how we should practice modern feminism, we silence minority experiences by bringing white ones to the forefront of our attention.
Kat is an expert at dismissing the slander she’s met with- such as “shrew” or “heinous bitch”- as being due to her rebellious nature. Even her own sister, Bianca, judges her for not acting as society expects her to and not doing things such as going to parties or wearing more feminine clothing. Bianca is wrong for this but it still doesn’t give Kat any right to judge other women for expressing their femininity and the girly aspects of life. Kat constantly shames her sister for her expressed femininity all while still claiming to be a feminist, believing her to be weak due to her hyper femininity. Kat even pushes this harmful mindset onto her best friend, criticizing her for wanting to go to prom, telling her she doesn’t understand why anyone would want to go to such an “antiquated mating ritual”. While Kat and Bianca’s relationship improves throughout the movie and Kat ends up going to prom herself, claiming to be a feminist while actively putting girls down and judging them for not acting the same as you do is not very feminist of Kat. It goes against the very thing feminists fight for, which is the option for women to choose how they dress and act without worrying about society’s impression of them, whether it be dresses and parties, cargo pants and a book, or a mix of both.
Another trait viewers love to idolize about Kat is her stubborn attitude and refusal to back down in her arguments. While standing your ground in a society where women are expected to stay quiet and listen is admirable, Kat prefers to view her opinion as the only possible right one, giving no room for other voices to be heard except her own. Her arguments with Mr. Morgan are a great example of this, with Kat often ignoring Mr. Morgan’s attempts at calling out her white privilege, viewing the criticism as a personal attack and blocking out the factual aspects. Kat expresses a need for more female authors to be studied in class to Mr. Morgan, such as Sylvia Plath or Simone de Beauvoir (two white women) all the while ignoring his claim on the absence of black authors. While this isn’t entirely Kat’s fault as during the time period an absence of racial inclusivity was considered the norm, we should keep in mind to not have these same ideals in present times.
Going beyond Kat, the entirety of the movie includes undertones of misogyny and perpetuates the idea that feminism is about “man-hating”, with Kat being your classic angry feminist who finds men and romantics repulsive till she finds the perfect guy and lets her guard down, it radiates the ideology that women in hetero relationships can’t be feminists themselves and that associating yourself with men strips you of your title as a feminist.
When you first watch the movie, you might believe Kat earned her titles and accusations of being bitter or a shrew from her defiance against societal expectations, but in reality, these effects come from mostly her own efforts. Kat is straight-up mean, tearing down posters that people would’ve worked hard to make, crashing into Joey’s car, and talking back to almost everyone, making her unapproachable. Not wanting to be a girl who lets herself get pushed around doesn’t equate to lacking basic human decency and cordialness. People like Joey deserve the brunt of all of Kat’s behavior, but random people she’s never met don’t need to encounter her rude demeanor. If someone is hollering at you to smile during the school day, then by all means bring out your inner Kat, but making others feel pathetic or inferior for displaying emotion is harmful. These displays of cordiality don’t just apply to women- i mean we could have a whole conversation on Joey and him simply being an asshole- but for now, we have to hold glorified characters like Kat Stratford a little more accountable for their behaviors that little girls who watch her may later on try to emanate.
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