The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You
Syntamatic -
In the 1960s The Taming of the Shrew there is the concept that women are supposed to rely on men. This is very consistent with the time period. Here we see people telling Katherina that she is undesirable because no man wants her and basically she has no worth without a husband. Yet here is 10 things I Hate About You we see the father quantify his daughters worth by their purity. This is a theme consistent with the early 2000s. Girls are meant to be pure virgins, so "no dating until you graduate" So basically this father is telling them their worth is compromised by a man. This is a complete shift from the message in the 60s.
Paradigmatic- here we have the fight scene between Katherina and Petruchio as he is telling her they will be wed. there is a tense scene that just kind of screams "rape." Because of the music in the scene it seems playful. But what if you replace the music with this and add a knife to his hands. This scene goes from a "playful" scene off the lovers fighting to a terrifying murder scene! This really shows the sexism in the original story. Women are just there for the taking.
Looking at this scene from 10 Things I Hate About You. So up until the end of this scene we are again getting the creepy vibe. Replace the love song sap with this again, we get a creepy "rape" vibe. This again just proves the sexism that is traditionally instilled into the situation. At the end we sort of see a fight against this.
So in both of these in two vastly different times we see it is still okay to claim a woman like an object. These creepy music montage help solidify that it is not okay just because they are men.
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ReplyDeleteSo under your syntamatic section it claims there is a shift between the two messages; however, isn't the overall picture basically the same?...the value of a woman is based on what a man thinks of her (whether it be because she has or doesn't have a husband or because of her purity). I would also consider the fact that by the 2000s many venues of popular culture are trying to stray away from the "poor, helpless woman needs a man" character. Overall, I think you should continue to take your thesis/arguments in the direction that women are still objectified and that the issue of rape in the US is still made to seem okay by portrayals in the media; our culture states we are straying away from these older beliefs, however it is still hidden in media, as seen by your examples in the paradigmatic section.
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