10 Things I Hate About You
This hit rom-com from 1999 is based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The characters in both pieces have similar names, Kathrine in The Taming of the Shrew becomes Katarina (Kat) in 10 Things I Hate About You and Petruccio becomes Patrick. Both pieces have the same concept: that Kathrine/Katarina “the shrew” must be tamed by Petruccio/Patrick. Both pieces also include someone wanting to date Bianca but not being able to because of their father’s rule that Kathrine/Katarina must date first. Where they differ in storylines is 10 Things I Hate About You has Joey, who does not have a parallel character to The Taming of the Shrew. Both Joey and Cameron, parallel to Lucentio, want Bianca, so they plan to pay Patrick to take Kat out so they can go out with Bianca.
She’s the Man
Based on Twelfth Night, this teen chick flick is hilarious. The use of similar names mirrors 10 Things I Hate About You, with Sebastian, Viola, and Olivia in both pieces. The Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night becomes Duke in She’s the Man. In She’s the Man, Viola disguises herself as her brother Sebastian to go to a school to play soccer. At that school, she meets a guy, Duke, who likes a girl, Olivia. Viola tries to help Duke win her over but falls for Duke herself. Her brother Sebastian also shows up at the school, causing confusion leading to Viola revealing herself to Duke. In Twelfth Night, Viola disguises herself by another name, Cesario, and becomes a servant for Orsino, with the same plot playing out as Viola falls for Orsino.
West Side Story
Based on the classic Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, released in 1961, became a classic in its own way, especially with its musical score. The similarities in both pieces include rival sides: the Capulet and the Montague families in Romeo and Juliet and the Sharks and the Jets gangs in West Side Story. In Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers come from rival families that forbid each other to date. To avoid being married to another man, Juliet takes a sleeping potion, and when Romeo finds her, he thinks she is dead and decides to poison himself. Juliet wakes up afterward, discovers the dead Romeo, and kills herself. In West Side Story, the plot is similar, just with a different setting and different characters. Maria, who is parallel to Juliet, has a brother in the Sharks gang, and Tony has friends in the rival gang, the Jets. The pair meet at a public dance and instantly fall in love but are forbidden to date. Where West Side Story differs is that Maria lives at the end instead of dying like Juliet, but Tony shares the same fate as Romeo.