Although portrayed in a humorous light, serious ideas and issues are brought to light by director Gil Junger, in the Shakespearian-based film 10 Things I Hate About You, with issues such as trust, honesty, peer pressure, discrimination, single parenting, gender roles and the value of individuality featuring strongly throughout the film. Presenting these ideas through the values and attitudes of Bianca, Cameron, Patrick and Katerina, the main protagonists, and to a lesser degree, Mr Stratford, Joey and Mr Morgan, Junger makes clever and effective use of filmic language in positioning the viewer's response to the film.

Setting is clearly and quickly established by the director within the first few seconds of the film, as the camera takes a long shot, panning slowly over the location. Large, well-trimmed houses and gardens symbolise an upper-class suburban setting, and it becomes obvious from the moment the characters begin to speak, that the...