Passes the Bechdel test
10 Things I Hate About You
1999. Directed by Gil Junger, written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith and William Shakespeare.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 14 scenes out of 110. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Adapted from William Shakespeare's play "The Taming of the Shrew," 10 Things I Hate About You starts off with Cameron, new student at Padua High, sitting in the office of the quirky guidance counselor Ms. Perky. He is then shown around the school by Michael, who will become his best friend. During his tour is when Cameron first sees Bianca Stratford, a beautiful sophomore with one problem: she isn't allowed to date. And neither is her "shrew" sister, Katarina, a senior who loves indie rock and feminist prose and hates conformity. But Kat and Bianca's father alters his house rule: now, Bianca can date... as long as Kat has a date, too. Now, in order for Cameron to date Bianca, he has to find someone to date Kat. So Michael helps him enlist the help of pretty-boy/jerk/model Joey Donner, tricking him into thinking that *he* will get to take Bianca out if he pays someone to take out Kat. His choice: Patrick Verona, a bad-boy with a mysterious reputation--some say he ate a live duck once, others that he lit a state trooper on fire, and even more claim that he had a brief porn career. Will Patrick win Kat's heart? Will Cameron win Bianca's? Or will everything hit the fan...?
- Released
- 31 Mar 1999
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 70 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 13 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Kat 219 lines, woman
- Patrick 189 lines, man
- Bianca 131 lines, woman
- Cameron 107 lines, man
- Michael 89 lines, man
- Joey 65 lines, man
- Walter 56 lines, man
- Mandella 41 lines, woman
- Miss Perky 23 lines, woman
- Mrs. Blaise 12 lines, woman
Full cast, 44 people
- Heath Ledger as Patrick Verona
- Julia Stiles as Katarina Stratford
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Cameron James
- Larisa Oleynik as Bianca Stratford
- David Krumholtz as Michael Eckman
- Andrew Keegan as Joey Donner
- Susan May Pratt as Mandella
- Gabrielle Union as Chastity
- Larry Miller as Walter Stratford
- Daryl Mitchell as Mr. Morgan
- Allison Janney as Ms. Perky
- David Leisure as Mr. Chapin
- Greg Jackson as Scruvy
- Kyle Cease as Bogey Lowenstien
- Terence Heuston as Derek
- Cameron Fraser as Trevor
- Eric Riedmann as Audio Visual Guy
- Quinn Maixner as Beautiful Jock
- Demegio Kimbrough as Coffee Kid
- Todd Butler as Coffee Kid
- Dennis Mosley as Cohort
- Bianca Kajlich as Coffee Girl
- Nick Vukelic as Drugged Out Loser
- Ben Laurance as Wimpy Loser
- Aidan Kennedy as Laughing Loser
- Jelani Quinn as Crying Loser
- Jesse Dyer as Screaming Loser
- Aaron Therol as Detention Student
- Carlos Lacámara as Bartender
- Heather Taylor as Drunken Girl
- Joshua Thorpe as Jock
- J.R. Johnson as MBA Guy at Party
- Wendy Gottlieb as Heather
- Brian Hood as Clem
- Travis Muller as Cowboy
- Ari Karczag as Kissing Guy
- Laura Kenny as Judith
- Alice Evans as Perky Girl
- Jesper Inglis as Buckaroo Bartender
- Nick Brown as Biker
- Monique Powell as Save Ferris Singer
- Brian Mashburn as Save Ferris Singer
- Kay Hanley as Letters To Cleo Singer
- Michael Eisenstein as Letters To Cleo Singer
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 110
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 10 | 21 |
| 7 to 9 | 8 | 15 |
| 10 to 12 | 28 | 11 |
| 13 to 15 | 27 | 30 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 36 |
| 19 to 21 | 15 | 8 |
| 22 to 24 | 11 | 26 |
| 25 to 27 | 9 | 10 |
| 28 to 30 | 12 | 16 |
| 31 to 33 | 5 | 33 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 7 | 9 |
| 43 to 45 | 8 | 28 |
| 46 to 48 | 5 | 3 |
| 49 to 51 | 16 | 24 |
| 52 to 54 | 3 | 2 |
| 55 to 57 | 25 | 24 |
| 58 to 60 | 11 | 16 |
| 61 to 63 | 13 | 19 |
| 64 to 66 | 15 | 17 |
| 67 to 69 | 21 | 23 |
| 70 to 72 | 17 | 23 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 10 |
| 76 to 78 | 14 | 11 |
| 79 to 81 | 6 | 16 |
| 82 to 84 | 31 | 28 |
| 85 to 87 | 8 | 7 |
| 88 to 90 | 30 | 8 |
| 91 to 93 | 2 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 15 | 15 |
| 97 to 99 | 11 | 11 |
| 100 to 102 | 15 | 17 |
| 103 to 105 | 15 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 14 | 5 |
| 109 to 110 | 9 | 5 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
BIANCA: Did you change your hair? CHASTITY: No. BIANCA: You might wanna think about it
KAT: The people at this school are so incredibly foul. MANDELLA: You could always go with me. I'm sure William has some friends.
MANDELLA: That's a charming new development KAT: Remove head from sphincter! Then pedal!
KAT: You decided. BIANCA: Is there even a question that we want her to stay? KAT: Ask Bianca who drove her home
BIANCA: Have you ever considered a new look? I mean, seriously, you could have some potential buried under all this hostility. KAT: I have the potential to smack the crap out of you if you don't get out of my way. BIANCA: Can you at least start wearing a bra?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 45 are women's.
438 lines from women, 532 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 23 men in the cast. 3 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,004.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 42 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 48% of the words (3,866), men 52% (4,213). Women have 45% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
33
Two men
32
Exhibit F: behind the camera
7 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 32% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Gil Junger (man)
- Written by
- Karen McCullah (woman), Kirsten Smith (woman)
- Produced by
- Andrew Lazar (man)
- Shot by
- Mark Irwin (man)
- Edited by
- O. Nicholas Brown (man)
- Music by
- Richard Gibbs (man)
- Production design by
- Carol Winstead Wood (woman)
- Costumes by
- Kimberly A. Tillman (woman)
- Cast by
- Gail Goldberg (woman), Donna Morong (woman), Marcia Ross (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
5 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 11 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 22 on average. Men: 26 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Larisa Oleynik 17, Julia Stiles 18, Susan May Pratt 25, Gabrielle Union 26
Men
Joseph Gordon-Levitt 18, Heath Ledger 19, David Krumholtz 20, Andrew Keegan 20, Daryl Mitchell 33, Larry Miller 45
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $16 million
- Box office
- $53.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 110 scenes and 1,004 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
