5.06 Anatomy of a 90s Literary Teen Movie Adaptation

audio essays

24 Oct

I’ve seen Clueless so many times I can almost recite it by heart. 10 Things I Hate About You is my comfort movie, and I watched She’s the Man for my English Lit unit instead of reading the actual play, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. But what makes these teen flix based on classic lit so special? Why was there such a boom in this genre in the 90s? This episode we’re looking at the anatomy of a 90s literary teen movie adaptation. Grab a cup of tea and biscuit, because this is a long one. Enjoy! X

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Quotes (in order of mention)

‘Okay, let’s open up our books to page 73, Sonnet 141. And listen up. “In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, / For they in thee a thousand errors note; / But ‘tis my heart that loves what they despise, / Who in despite of view is pleas’d to dote.” Now, I know Shakespeare’s a dead white guy, but he knows his shit, so we can overlook that.’ – Daryl Mitchell as Mr. Morgan in 10 Things I Hate About You, dir. Gil Junger, Touchstone Pictures, 1999

‘[Cher’s] dialogue could be anthologized.’ – Ebert, Roger. “Clueless.” 19 Jul 1995

‘[T]he connection between Clueless and Jane Austen’s Emma got intentionally excluded from the film’s promotional packet and was left to become known via strategically leaked news items designed to be circulated by word of mouth to intrigue the elite without turning off the intended teen market.’ – Boose, Lynda E.. Burt, Richard. “Chapter 1: Totally Clueless? Shakespeare goes Hollywood in the 1990s.” Shakespeare, the Movie: Popularizing the plays on film, TV, and video. Edited by Lynda E. Boose, Richard Burt, Routledge, 1997, pp. 8-22.

‘If you’re going to stage this play today, you have to figure out a clever way to deliver the ending.’ – Wyver, Kate. “The Taming of the Shrew review – misogynistic comedy is a rotten apple.” The Guardian, 9 Feb 2020

‘the ending […] lacks the courage to take the story to its logical conclusion, and instead contrives a series of moralistic payoffs that are false and boring.’ – Ebert, Roger. “Cruel Intentions.” 5 Mar 1999

‘In a postmodern way that effectively mocks all the presumed distinctions between high and low culture, Clueless does not merely relocate high culture to a low site (Los Angeles) […] Instead, […] Clueless’s repeated reference to technologies such as movies, televisions, mobile phones, head sets, car radios, CDs, computerized wardrobes, intercoms, and other devices that record, transmit, amplify, and likewise reshape meaning [pause] formulate the mediating power of Los Angeles as the contemporary site where high/low distinctions are engaged in endlessly resignifying themselves.’ – Boose and Burt, ibid.

‘[T]he film’s unique postmodern visual dynamics […] constitute an insightful parody of hyperreal media culture and its particular connection to feminine teen consumerism amidst the image-saturated society of mid-90s era Los Angeles.’ – Urie, Andrew. “Hyping the Hyperreal: Postmodern Visual Dynamics in Amy Heckerling's Clueless.” Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy. vol. 4, no. 1, 2017

‘Dealing with specific filmic reproductions or appropriations of Shakespeare means that “the popular” must be thought through not only the media and institutions in which Shakespeare is now reproduced – mass culture, Hollywood, celebrity, tabloid – but above all, youth culture. For as Shakespeare becomes part of pop culture and Shakespeare criticism (especially film criticism) follows suit, both move into an arena increasingly driven by a specifically youth culture, and Hollywood has picked up on that fact.’ – Boose and Burt, ibid.

‘I still have my big book of Shakespearean sonnets where I went through with a highlighter and tried to pull out words that I could throw into teen dialogue.’ – Smith, Kirsten, guest. Horner, Al, host. “10 Things I Hate About You with Karen McCullah and Kirsten ‘Kiwi’ Smith.” Script Apart, episode 13, Kamil Dymek, Nov 2020.

‘Karen was telling me about her diary in high school, lists that she had found: 10 Things I Hate About Anthony was this boyfriend of hers, and I wrote down on a piece of paper, “10 Things I Hate About You,” and then parenthetical “(movie title)”.’ – ibid.

‘turn[ed] the problematic comedy into a feminist tragedy.’ – Lawson, Mark. “The Taming of the Shrew review – a lovable take on a dislikable play.” The Guardian, 6 Jun 2016

‘lacks the most basic clarity and does nothing to question the play’s misogyny. […] In 2020, it’s a director’s job to twist the tone or take a stand. But no, this production charges unironically ahead.’ – Wyver, Kate, ibid.

‘A retcon allows an author to have his or her cake and eat it too, as it enables the return of dead characters, the revision of unpopular elements of a work, and a general disregard for reality.’ – “A Short History of ‘Retcon’”. Merriam-Webster.com

‘10 Things’ characters […] are treated with far more heart and sympathy than Shakespeare’s originals. […] This character treatment does as much to strengthen the film’s feminist credentials as its revision of the central romance and heroine; allowing both Kat and Bianca complete dignity […] and freedom to subvert the rebel/conformist dichotomy they seem to embody at the start.’ – Paddock, Carmen. “Why 10 Things I Hate About You is the Greatest Shakespeare Adaptation.” One Room with a View, 29 Mar 2019

‘The funeral scene is supposed to act as an epilogue that plays out like cinematic Stockholm syndrome: victims holding vigil for their tormentor as if every crime committed was paving the way for Sebastian’s personal growth.’ – “CRUEL INTENTIONS: Twenty Years On.” YouTube, uploaded by In/Frame/Out, 14 Aug 2019

‘Day or night, the SBF [Sassy Black Friend] must be available to offer sympathy, then crack an outrageous joke. Most importantly, SBFs never have problems of their own.’ – Mason, Erica Gerald. “The End of the Sassy Black Friend Trope.” Byrdie, 9 Sep 2021

‘Grouping Black women’s sparkle under the blanket term of “sass” is lazy at best, insulting at worst, and harmful even in the most casual of situations. Happiness is as nuanced as the person experiencing it. The magic of Black optimism in spite of generations of oppression is not a punchline – it’s a facet of an otherwise whole personality.’ – ibid.

‘The film opens with a declaration that these are ‘Kids in America’, but the image gives us a very particular kind of ‘America’ and particular kind of kids. [Cher’s] conception of the Beverly Center as the center of the world serves as an index of Hollywood’s imperialism – its promulgation of a universalizing insularity, its relentless celebration of consumer culture and ready-to-go false consciousness.’ – Stern, Lesley. “Emma in Los Angeles: Clueless as a remake of the book and the city.” Australian Humanities Review. Issue 07, August 1997

‘Like most other recent teen-age comedies, “10 Things I Hate About You” takes place in a super-affluent, all-American never-never land where high schoolers drive fancy new cars and have lavish wardrobes.’ – Holden, Stephen. “It’s Like, You Know, Sonnets And Stuff.” The New York Times, 31 Mar 1999