The ’90s was defined by romantic comedies. While it may sound contentious to attempt to pick out the cream of the crop, for my money there’s no film that better encapsulates the decade than 10 Things I Hate About You.
This incredible film not only helped to launch Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s career, but it also made the late Heath Ledger a certified movie star. Now, after more than 20 years since the film’s release, here are are the little details you likely didn’t catch.
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Bianca isn’t wearing an arm guard while practicing archery in gym class.
Anyone who has ever picked up a bow understands all too well the pain that comes when the bowstring snaps back and hits you in the arm.
Mr. Morgan’s rap from “Sonnet 141” pertains to all the film’s main characters.
“Sonnet 141” at its core is a poem about loving someone for who they truly are on the inside, not how they present themselves to others. Which is kind of the overarching theme of the entire film.
For someone who walks around as if they’re holier-than-thou, Kat sure can be bought rather easily.
While Kat and Patrick are in the classroom, she basically has an emotional breakdown and details all the ways in which Patrick has left her emotionally scarred. Then, not five minutes later, all is forgiven when he presents her with a new guitar.
The band playing at Club Skunk is actually Letters To Cleo.
During the scene, the band plays two of their own songs titled “Come On” and “Co-Pilot.” They also do a cover version of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me” in the end-credits scene.
The film is ripe with Shakespearan references.
Kat and Bianca share the same names as the two sisters Katherine and Bianca in ” The Taming of the Shrew .” Padua High is a reference to Padua; the setting of the play. Even Patrick’s last name, Verona, is a reference to “Romeo and Juliet.”
Patrick and Kat walk by two very aptly titled books while in the book store.
If you look at the bottom left of the screen, you’ll see a book titled ” Ten Stupid Things Women Do To Mess Up Their Lives .” A moment later, when Patrick follows Kat down the aisle, we see another book called “10 Stupid Things Men Do To Ruin Their Lives.”
Nigel really did bring the Brie to Bogey Lowenstein’s party.
During the party scene at Bogey Lowenstein’s, Bogey hears the doorbell and proclaims “That must be Nigel with the Brie!” It turns out that he wasn’t wrong after all.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s name is written incorrectly in the end credits.
Instead of hyphenating Joe’s two surnames, production mistakenly wrote it as ” Joseph-Gordon Levitt .” Which to me, seems borderline insulting — especially when you consider that he’s one of the stars of the film.
The detention sign-in board is filled with the names of people who worked on the film.
For example, Chuck Rapp and Hope Garrison worked as production assistants . Ross Fanger was the unit production manager, and Brett Carroll was the first assistant editor.
The song “Cruel To Be Kind” that plays throughout the film is an allusion to Shakespeare.
After Prince Hamlet kills the eavesdropping Polonius in “Hamlet”, he proclaims to his mother “I must be cruel only to be kind .” This is a fitting song since 10 Things I Hate About You is a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.”
Cameron quotes a line straight from “The Taming Of The Shrew” the moment he sees Bianca.
Once Cameron catches a glimpse of Bianca, he emphatically proclaims “I burn, I pine, I perish .” This is the exact line uttered by Cameron’s analog, Lucentio, when he first sees Bianca in Act I.
Kat’s poem isn’t actually a sonnet at all.
A Shakespearean sonnet has 14 lines, 10 syllables per line, and is written in iambic pentameter. Kat’s poem not only doesn’t have the requisite amount of lines, but the rhythm is also incorrect.
The security at the school is incredibly inconsistent.
Why is it that when Patrick takes over the PA and starts singing “I Love You, Baby” campus security is all over him. Yet later on, when Kat flashes a teacher to get him out of detention, she isn’t disciplined or even reprimanded?
The quote hanging on Mr. Morgan’s wall has a deep historical significance.
The quote is written by Gamaliel Bailey — a renowned journalist and abolitionist. While he was still alive, Bailey was also the editor for The National Era , which was an anti-slavery newspaper in the 1800s.
The weird statue that Cameron and Bianca meet by actually exists in real life.
Although it looks like something out of a horror film, this is actually the Fremont Troll . It’s located in Fremont, which is a neighborhood in Seattle.
