10 Things I Love About Shakespeare. the Taming of the Shrew.

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Four centuries on and heading into a new millennium, rising from the grave like Lazarus, Naomi Teng explores the value of resurrecting Shakespeare’s works into 21st century films. A spoonful of comedy, a teaspoon of romance and a bucketful of tragedies, mixed all together with poetry creates a spectacular play by Shakespeare. Shakespeare was a legendary writer who shaped the poetic, English and theoretical world but why should we continue to learn about his plays? How will it benefit us as teenagers? His plays have great depth and knowledge which are things that people in the modern society can learn from. Our poll from last week’s magazine has shown that a staggering amount of you that prefer modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s classics like 10 Things I Hate About You over the play itself. But in my opinion, these results aren’t appalling at all. Compared to the 400 year old play The Taming of the Shrew and the modern adaptation 10 Things I Hate About You, the modern adaptation is far more engaging to us. Despite the similar plot the modern music, casting, setting, costumes and humour make the film more relatable to viewer, allowing them to engage further with the characters. However, little changes from the play are necessary for the film to remain relatable. Important issues from the Elizabethan period differ from today’s issues therefore these no longer exist. As teenagers we can’t relate to marriage. Marriage is another thing to deal with but first comes dating. Although contemporary films do attempt to present Shakespeare's plays in a relatable manner, in their essence, they are still the same stories. You'd think the director would use a completely modern setting in the film, but he actually makes a few cheeky references to Shakespearean times! For example, Cameron's line "I burn, I perish, I pine" taken originally from Lucentios (suitor of Bianca)

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