Throughout the The Taming of the Shrew 'saga' I had a changing perception on what exactly the story was trying to get through to me as an audience. The different mediums by which the play was presented allowed for an exuberance of freedom in description, and therefore, meaning. With that obvious observation aside, I was most disappointed with the adaptation, 10 Things I Hate About You. While it was entertaining from a modern viewpoint, much of the theatrical elements, such as costuming, are lost or changed drastically which detract from the original play's core story and themes.
As a play, costuming was exceedingly important because not only did it give face value to what was going on, but it held important meaning. For example, the elegance of clothing and also the color could instantly signify the social ranking of the bearer. In the movie adaptation clothing is not quite as important. While Kat and Bianca wore clothing that could more or less reflect their personality, social rank wasn't reflected very well, except, perhaps, by Joey. Along these lines, Patrick's clothing was never really emphasized in the film, whereas certain parts in the play specifically reflected on his costume, such as the wedding scene.
The lack of the theatrical element of costuming takes away from the play by changing certain meanings for the audience. Whereas a certain scene may characterize Petruchio as obscene, the movie tries to hold Patrick with only the highest regard. The overall tone of the movie is much more lighthearted and ends in an everybody-wins scenario. I think this loses some crucial aspects of the reality of life in living during the Elizabethan era.