Summary
The film begins with a shot of four girls driving and listening to pop music. Kat pulls up in her own car next to them listening to "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett.
At school, the new student, Cameron, meets Michael Eckman. Michael explains all the cliques that exist at the school. Cameron sees Bianca and is instantly infatuated with her, but Michael explains that the Stratford sisters are not allowed to date.
In English class, Kat goes on a feminist rant about Ernest Hemingway, and is sent to the guidance counselor, Ms. Perky, who tells her that most students perceive her as a "heinous bitch."
Meanwhile, Michael explains to Cameron that Joey, the school pretty boy, is an affluent aspiring model. He tries to convince Cameron that Bianca is not worth his time, but Cameron defends her. When he hears that Bianca is looking for a French tutor, he decides to pretend to speak French to get closer to her.
After a run-in on his moped with Kat, Michael explains to Cameron that she is Bianca's older sister, also known as "the shrew."
At home, Kat finds out that she was accepted to Sarah Lawrence College. She and Bianca get into a fight, and their father announces that Bianca is only allowed to date once Kat dates.
At her first French lesson with Cameron, Bianca realizes that he likes her. She tells Cameron about her father's amended rule, and Cameron offers to find someone who will date Kat.
Analysis
The beginning of the film helps establish its main characters, central tensions, and narrative stakes.
As early as the first scene, viewers are made aware of Kat's unique, antisocial, and rebellious nature: the first shot in the film is of a group of four teenage girls riding in a convertible listening to pop music (the Barenaked Ladies song, "One Week"). The shot and music is immediately interrupted by the camera panning over to Kat, in her old and beat-up red car, blaring Joan Jett's famous punk anthem, "Reputation."
This opening scene helps establish Kat as a clear contrarian among her peers: rather than subscribe to contemporary trends (meaning those of the 1990s, when the movie premiered), Kat prefers an old car, older music (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts were popular largely during the 1970s and 1980s), and a generally contentious affect, made all the more convincing by her hateful glare aimed at the group of girls next to her.
In this section of the film, viewers are also introduced to Cameron, Michael, and Bianca. Cameron's instant love for Bianca is what catalyzes the central plot of the film, and the script even contains an homage to its source material when Cameron says, "I burn, I pine, I perish" in response to seeing Bianca for the first time. This line is actually a quotation from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, an early modern English comedy play on which the film is based. This direct quotation is just one of the ways the film straddles the line between contemporary teen film and the long tradition of the theater.
Viewers might also notice throughout the film that certain characters use somewhat archaic or complex language. This is due in part to their own characterization – Kat, for example, is portrayed as markedly smarter than most of her peers – but also to the fact that the film draws its characters, conflict, and plot from a production of the English Renaissance. In this way, the adaptation maintains some of the original language and witticisms of its source material, highlighting the longevity of Shakespeare's own work.
