“I hate it- I hate the way you’re always right,” Kat Stratford says, stammering as she reads off a 

notebook while staring at the boy in the back of the room. 

          His eyes linger on her tensely as he folds his hands in front of his mouth. “I hate when you make me 

laugh, even worse when you make me cry,” she continues, her voice becomes shaky as tears form in her 

eyes. Patrick Verona doesn’t look away from her, a lump forming in his throat as he watches tears slip 

from her eyes. “But mostly I hate that I don’t hate you, not even close, not even a little bit, not even at 

all,” she finally says, rushing out of her classroom with tears streaming down her face.

          This is one of the many iconic scenes from the 1999 romance/comedy, 10 Things I Hate

 About You. The film stars Julia Stiles, Larisa Olenyik, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Heath Ledger.

The film is set in the late 90’s and is inspired by William Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”. The 

movie quotes lines from the novel on multiple occasions, such as when the main character, Cameron spots 

Bianca Stratford for the first time and declares, “I burn, I pine, I perish”. The movie is available on 

streaming services such as: Disney+, Amazon Prime and Google Play.

          10 Things I Hate About You depicts a heartwarming, funny and relatable 90’s classic with its use of 

different love tropes. 

          Each character in the film depicts some of Shakespeare’s characters but they also display 

Shakespeare’s use of the enemies to lovers trope, specifically between Patrick and Kat. They have the 

same relationship in the film as they did in “Taming of The Shrew,” Kat being the “shrew” and Patrick 

being the “tamer”. Their dynamic starts when Cameron, a new student, in a desperate attempt to date 

Bianca Stratford, tries getting troublemaker Patrick Verona to date Bianca’s shrewd sister, Kat. 

However what started off somewhat like a bet for money, soon blossoms into a complicated but heart 

throbbing love story between the duo.

          “I just think it’s really cool that the movie modernized a version of Shakespeare’s writing,” opined 

Isabella Jimenez, 11.  It really is fascinating seeing how a romantic comedy could be based off a tragic 

story such as “Taming of the Shrewd.” Overall the film keeps watchers not only entertained by the 

amusing script but also hooked onto the complicated couple dynamics.

           Another romantic classic that is memorable for many is 2004’s romance/drama The Notebook. The

 film stars Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Joan Allen and Kevin Cornolly and is based off Nicholas 

Sparks novel, of the same title.  Though the film got  mixed reviews it was still a box office hit and won 

various awards including an MTV movie award. Though some scenes were a little corny and unrealistic

, the actors did an excellent job portraying emotions, which kept the audience on the edge of their seats.

          This film in particular mainly grasps attention due to Noah and Allie’s intense display of emotions 

throughout the film.

          Now if a viewer is looking for a romance movie that takes the more realistic path, this may not be the 

film for them. It has many “hopeless romantic” or dreamy type  scenarios which may not be enjoyable 

to some viewers. For example, when Noah asked Allie on a date; he ran up the platform and onto the 

seats of the ferris wheel, hanging off the ride with his own strength. Many watchers thought the scene was 

unrealistic and made a bad first impression, considering it was one of the very first scenes. Though the 

movie does have scenes that may make watchers cringe, it also has scenes that can make you gush. It’s 

hard not to get invested in the couple that display so much depth in their acting.

          Both of these films grasp popular love tropes that make it addicting along with the actors’ 

performances, 10 Things I Hate About You and The Notebook are definitely romantic classics  to keep on 

your watch list for this Valentines Day.