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We're solo for the first time in a while to talk about the romantic comedy '10 Things I Hate About You', a take on William Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' updated for the 1990s and set at a Pacific Northwest high school that looks an awful lot like a castle.
We discuss the film's impecccable cast, featuring a host of 90s up-and-comers including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, Julia Styles, and the soon-to-be superstar Heath Ledger, who was taken far too soon. Then, we discuss the movie's place within the lineage of late-90s films, how it adheres to the rebellious sensibilities of the era, and (notably) the ways it disregards them. Finally, we talk about a recent article in The Washington Post which, coincidentally, references the film in its examination of the current proliferation of celebrity veneers, unattainable standards of beauty, and how these trends desecrate the authenticity and natural beauty that once defined the genuine sexual energy in media from decades past.