Introduction

         My freshman year of college I was a newly self-proclaimed feminist who of course, thought she knew everything, however this self reflection on a Media Analysis paper I submitted in my Introduction to Women's Studies class freshman year goes to show that there's room for growth and learning. This artifact displays how I demonstrate the ability to use knowledge, diverse cultural frames of reference, alternative perspectives and key concepts to think critically and act creatively to address social problems, which is learning objective five. I decided to reflect on my prior knowledge and utilize the alternative perspectives and key concepts to think critically about how I have developed as a feminist and learner over the last four years.

Freshman Year: Media Analysis of 10 Things I Hate About You

         As we all know the media is a main influential device in our everyday life, but how often do we realize the influence that plays on past the time we’ve seen the ad or watched the movie? There’s an overarching theme of media bias today as journalists, directors, producers and so on are going after what gets them the most ratings and not necessarily the most important or full story. Media bias is the obvious bias telling of a story and we most often see this when it comes to political ads and news stories. Another place we can see this is when we analyze gender roles in ads, television shows and movies. Each gender has their specific roles and many producers and writers aren’t willing to branch out from this media bias. As many movies indicate, women are often presented as dainty, need to be rescued, and are likely the sex toy and men are strong, dominant, and the savior, creating problematic archetypes that perpetuate violence against women and limit both men and women in their gender expressions. The production of 10 Things I Hate About You aims towards challenging the gender stereotypes and gender formalities by comparing two of the same sex characters to each other throughout the movies entirety.

         10 Things I Hate About You follows the gender roles and stereotypes to a certain extent. There are two sisters in high school, Bianca is the younger of the two, her character follows these typical gender roles we often see girls in. She’s into shopping, materialistic things, and is pined over by all the boys at school. Bianca is very much the social butterfly at school. Kat is the oldest of the two, her character challenges the typical female gender role. She is very independent, into sports, doesn’t care about the material aspect of life, and is very vocal about topics that she believes in. Kat would rather not have to see everyone that goes to their school and is a little antisocial. The house rule is that Bianca isn’t allowed to date until Kat does. There are two guys in particular that are pining over Bianca, Cameron the nerd, and Joey the popular jock. Joey goes as far as to pay another student, Patrick, to date Kat so that he can go out with Bianca. Of course this doesn’t work as smoothly as all involved would hope, Patrick and Kat actually fall for each other until she finds out that Patrick was paid to take her out. Also, we get a shocking turn when Bianca chooses to be with Cameron at the end instead of Joey. The easiest way to pick apart this movie is by singling out the characters, as they are all very independent in their actions.

         Kat Stratford, played by Julia Stiles, is your typical rebel; she is outspoken, independent, a feminist, and does not care what others think. Kat is strong physically, mentally and emotionally and many men and women find this threatening. Within the first ten minutes of the movie we can see that Kat is not well liked by others because they don’t consider her “normal” based on all of the above stated. Kat refers to herself as “tempestuous” but others would say “heinous bitch.” This difference in what others would call her versus what she would is alone problematic because we can see that Kat thinks of herself as a strong, independent woman but that’s not how other people see it. It clearly deters any young female that watches this movie that you can’t be a strong independent woman and still be liked. Also, because of the qualities that Kat possesses, she is looked at as an alien by the male gender. Thus further deterring young females from being a strong and independent woman. Throughout the movie Kat developes into a softer version of herself because she ends up falling for Patrick. Many say that she’s changing because a guy but I don’t believe that this is problematic because it’s realistic and isn’t harming her friends or family in any way.

         Bianca Stratford, played by Larisa Oleynik, on the other hand is the typical girly girl; she is very into fashion, make up, and doing her hair every day. Bianca’s body is seen by the guys at school as a trophy they want in their showcase. Since she’s “out of their reach” because she’s not allowed to date, this naturally increases their desire and they go to unnatural lengths in order to achieve their goal. This is problematic because one guy in particular, Joey, thinks he should be the one to get her because he has the money, is nice looking, and is popular. This shows younger guys that if you can buy your way into someone’s life and heart, do it, and that you deserve her because you have the money. This is problematic in many more ways than just gender roles, it teaches more than just if you want something do anything to get it. It is  objectifying women when women are not objects and you cannot buy them. At the end of the story however we see Bianca stand up for herself and her sister Kat, and she ends up punching Joey in the face. Again, we see that the writer is making the characters well rounded and develop and this is challenging media bias.

         Patrick Verona, played by Heath Ledger, is also considered a rebel but not because he’s challenging the gender roles but because he’s mysterious and dangerous. Since Patrick is still seen as a manly man his gender role isn’t questioned by anyone, the others at school or the audience might think he’s a bit weird but they never question his intentions or his gender role from how he portrays himself. This is problematic in the sense that we can see a double standard, Patrick is still treated normally and with respect whereas Kat is not. It can be argued that it’s because Kat is not following her gender role but that should not matter, it is clearly media bias.

         Joey Donner, played by Andrew Keegan, is the typical boy on the prowl for sex. Joey is considered popular, worries about his appearance, and has money. Because he has money he thinks he deserves all the girls in the world. This is seen when Joey pays Patrick to go on a date with Kat so he can get his piece of meat, Bianca. This is problematic in the sense that other males who watch this will strive to be like Joey and believe that they are entitled to whatever they want wether it be material or a person.

         Michael, played by David Krumholtz, and Cameron James, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, are the nerds of the story, they follow the rules, look like girls who get dating tips out of magazines, and definitely aren’t seen as the guys getting the girls in the end. Cameron actually learns french in order to get a girl's attention instead of trying to use looks and money like Joey does. When Bianca chooses to be with Cameron in the end it challenges the general nerd stereotype and the fact that Cameron isn’t a manly man. I think the writers did a really good job at challenging media bias and gender roles by showing that the nice guy can win, and he doesn’t have to be prince charming.

         Mr. Morgan, played by Daryl Mitchell, isn’t a main character in any means but in the short amount of time that he is in the film he addresses racial problems in education and gender norms. This isn’t seen a lot in movies so this is a great example of challenging media bias.

         When I look at this movie, I am proud of how it was done, especially being produced in 1999. They do a good job of having well rounded characters that don’t all conform to the social and gender “norms.” They created and casted characters that had different age, races, classes, and sexualities and normally its all the same. I think it did a great job of challenging not only media bias but social bias.

Self Reflection

         When I wrote this media analysis freshman year, I thought I knew everything. I felt like I was so knowledgeable about gender and equality just from my introduction to Women’s Studies class and from entering this new world called college. After rereading this piece and rewatching the movie multiple times, I know that that was certainly not the case. As I reflect on how much I have grown mentally over the last four years, I am thankful that I continued to take classes and to learn. In my original Media Analysis of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, I mostly focused on gender and the roles that gender plays in society and is also displayed in the media. What I didn’t know at the time was how race, sexual orientation, class, the intersectionality and layers of complexity within each played a role in this movie as well. Although the main character, Kat Stratford and other characters mention these issues, they are not fully addressed in the movie nor are a main part of the plot. 

         When I wrote about gender, I focused on the main character, Kat Stradford, and her rebellious nature against dating and men in general. The character Kat was written to portray a modern day feminist, as the movie came out in 1999 which was during the Third Wave of Feminism. This was a time when women were fighting for gender, racial, economic, and social justice. Looking back on it now, they likely wrote that into her character because she was supposed to be seen as scary by others and during this time radical feminism was feared and looked down upon by others. I thought that this was truly monumental and I even looked up to her at the time. However what I seemed to ignore or not catch, is that even though she starts the movie as someone who displays herself as a young woman who does not need a boy, she still ends up chasing after the boy in the end. Which seems to be inevitable in movies, a woman and a man ending up together.

         For the majority of time, movies have displayed heterosexuality as normal. Which supports the belief that heterosexuality and gender binary is the norm, also known as heteronormativity. This has left other sexualities and genders left out or underrepresented in media. During this movie, there are a couple of remarks used to state that people were in fact heterosexual to relieve any confusion there may be between characters. For example, three men talking and A says to B “We are your guys,” and then C says to B, “And he means that in a strictly non- prison-movie type of way.” It can be inferred that this is stated to make sure B knows that they are not homosexual given the context. Overall, this movie continues to reinforce the notion that heteronormativity is the socially acceptable sexuality. In addition to sexuality, class also plays a major role in this movie.

         The whole movie is based on getting an older female sibling to date someone in order for someone to pursue the younger female sibling. The boys do this through paying one another to date said older sister. In order to do it, the young man being bribed raises his price. The one paying, who has more money and flaunts it openly, calls the other one trailer park. This is the most common display of class throughout the movie. The only character who is really portrayed as not wealthy is Patrick, the one being bribed to take out Kat. It is insinuated that since he is of a lower socioeconomic class that he is willing to do anything for money. His character is also very rebellious and there are many rumors about him eating a live duck and participating in illegal activity. The majority of other characters are seen having nice clothing, vehicles and display themselves as someone in a higher class. One may be able to guess, but the majority of these high class characters are also majority white. 

         Although the cast is not completely caucasian, there are only a handful of people of color in the movie. Race is touched on subtly when the African American english teacher is talking to Kat about her complaining. It went:

“I want to thank you for your point of view. I know how difficult it must be for you to overcome all those years of upper middle class, suburban oppression. Must be tough. But the next time you storm the PTA crusading for better lunch meat, or whatever you white girls complain about, ask them why they can’t buy a book written by a black man.” After this two young white men, dressed as if they were Jamaican and have dreadlocks pipe in and say, “That’s right mon!” The teacher then snaps back, “Don’t even get me started on you two.” Looking back now I believe this was my first subtle hint of cultural appropriation. 

         This movie is much more than just a story about a rebellious young woman falling for a rebellious young guy, it sheds light on some of the current issues at the time by pointing out the gender inequality, race inequalities, touches on socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and the intersectionality of these pieces. However, it was not as monumental and rebellious as I thought. These issues can be unnoticeable for someone new to the idea and field of women’s studies. Especially for myself, I grew up in a predominately white, rural, small town in Wisconsin. I was aware of race and socioeconomic status but I wasn’t necessarily aware of how it is perpetuated and integrated in our society through the media until I was opened up to that notion when I came to Whitewater. I knew about diversity, I knew about inequality, I knew about the differences that there are between people but I know the extent or how far it is integrated into our society. I now know that there are multiple layers and complexity to not just mainstream movies but to people.