The film “10 Things I Hate About You” by Gil Junger uses visuals and sounds to communicate the main issues dealt with throughout the text. The main ideas the film express include Following the crowd can have negative consequences, furthermore, Love can change people for the better and in addition, Learning from your mistakes. Gil Junger communicates the idea that following the crowd can have negative consequences using visuals and sounds. This theme is expressed through the employment of camera angles and dialogue.
With the introduction of the Stratford Sisters into the film the camera jukstaposes them. The juksta position between the two sisters offers the audience an insight into their attitude and lifestyle. This technique shows the audience that Kat (Katrina) “doesn’t give a damn about my reputation! ” while her sister Bianca is portrayed as a spoilt and confident sophomore that cares about what she looks like and what everyone says of her “I love my sketches but I can’t live without my Prada backpack. This quote communicates to the audience that Bianca is a foolish sophomore. Dialogue is another employed technique used in this film. Dialogue is used to show that “Popularity isn’t everything,” and that Kat does not care of what anyone thinks of her and follows what she thinks is right. At the party scene Kat gives up on what she believes is right and follows the crowd. As consequence of following the crowd Kat gets drunk and starts dancing on the table top, when Patrick confronts her she asks him “Isn’t getting drunk what we’re supposed to do at a party? This quote reveals to the audience that Kat is following what the crowd is doing and does not care about what she believes in. Gil Junger explains that following the crowd can have negative consequences with the help of visuals and sounds. In “10 Things I Hate About You”, Gil Junger expresses the idea that love can change people for the better with visuals and sounds. This idea is best depicted by costuming, music and emotive language. This is evident through the protagonist character of Kat.
In the film, the director establishes Kat as a scary student by the dark clothes that she wears, however, near the end, the viewers begin to see Kat in love with Patrick and because of this Kat starts to wear light coloured clothes and place her hair neatly back off her face. This technique reveals to the audience that Kat is not the scary person she once was. In the scene where Kat is asked to read out her poem the director uses emotive language to expose the message that Kat has been hurt by what Patrick had to her. In the focus of her poem, Kat starts to cry in front of the class and Patrick.
This scene is used to shows the spectators that Kat has softened up from being the big and scary bully to being a soft-hearted and caring student. Gil Junger uses music to communicate the idea that love can change people for the better in the scene that Kat is sitting outside on the veranda. The music in the background is a soft and happy tune. This suggests that Kat had changed. This is evident as Kat was always shown with hard rock music in the background. By using these specific types of sounds and visuals, Gil Junger is able to demonstrate the idea that love can change people for the better.
Gil Junger converses the idea that learning from your mistakes is an important key that one takes for granted. This idea is best portrayed by dialogue. This is evident through the protagonist character of Katrina Stratford. Katrina learns from the mistake that she made with Joey. Kat made this decision by the amount of peer pressure on following the crowd. As a result of the past decision Kat makes a promise to herself that she will never follow the crowd and will stick to what she believes is the right choice “I don’t like doing what people expect me to do”.
Another character that learns from a mistake take that they made is the sophomore character of Bianca Stratford. Bianca learns from the mistake that she made by following Joey and using Cameron to get to Joey. The party scene is evidence of this, when Bianca rejects Cameron and follows Joey she then realizes that Joey is self-centred and only cares about himself. She also finds out that Cameron is the right person for her. To repair the damage that Bianca made to Cameron, Bianca asks him for a ride home and in the car she makes the move and kisses him. “I’m sorry that I am a selfish… this quote reveals to the audience that Bianca realized that she was selfish and self-centred. In “10 Things I Hate About You” Junger is able to demonstrate the use of visuals and sounds employed to create the theme learning from your mistakes. It is clearly evident that visuals and sounds help to highlight the main themes throughout a film. Following the crowd can have negative consequences. Love can change people for the better. Furthermore, learning from your mistakes is an important solution that one takes for granted. Therefore it is clear that visuals and sounds add to the main message throughout the film.
