Shrew vs. The Wedding Planner

Romantic Love / Love at First Sight Alyssa Winner

“Taming of the the Shrew” to “The Wedding Planner”

The book “The Taming of the Shrew” shows, how love at first sight is possible and does occur in both the book and in the movie, “The Wedding Planner. In Shrew by Shakespeare, a character name Baptista who is the father of Katherine and Bianca has different expectations on having a relationship with his daughters. In the 2001 movie “The Wedding Planner”, the two characters Mary Flore & Steve Edison fall in love at first sight when Mary is in a rush and her heal gets caught and she almost gets hit by a dumpster but Steve saves her, and later takes her to the hospital he works at. It is obvious that there is some love connection between them but it turns out, Mary, a wedding planner turns out the be planning Steve and his fiancee’s (Fran) wedding. Love at first sight shows up in the book and also the movie but there are different ways it appears.

Although the film and the book aren’t directly related, they share many of the same qualities. Mary and Steve meet in an awkward situation but right away, it is obvious to the viewers that there is a love connection boiling. In The Shrew, Lucentio who is acting as Cambio to win Bianca over. It is a tough situation because he is lying about who he is to her so she will never know what he is truly about unless he tells her which is unlikely to happen. On the flip side, Steve is doing the same thing by not telling her the he is engaged to another women. This is another bump in the road because he is leading Mary on when the truth is she has no idea what is actually happening. In the book one of the characters says, “I see a woman may be made a fool. if she had not a spirit to resist.” This is saying that since a woman can’t resist the man they are in love with then that will make them a fool. Being in love like that turns them into a fool because there is really no other choice. Everything they say or do goes back to the man they are in love with. Not only does that occur in the book, but it also occurs in the movie. Steve and Mary meet in that weird situation, but from there she is in love. In the snapshot below from the movie, Steve is laying on top of Mary right after he saves her and right before she passes out in his arms. Mary has always been the type to keep away from men and just remain focused on her career, but when Steve saves her in this extremely romantic way it is tough to stay on track and not get lost in the fantasy of love. As you can see, although these scenes don’t match up 100 percent, they are very similar and shows how long love has been a pressing issue in the lives of so many.

In another instance, Mary meets up with Fran at a dancing lesson in preparation for Fran’s wedding but of course things don’t go according to plan when Mary find out that the man she is in love with is also her new gigs fiancee (which is shown in the snapshot below). Similar to the Shrew when Tranio finds a random old man and tricks him into pretending he is Lucentio’s father so that he could take care of some things before Lucentio could marry Bianca. That is until they run into problems when Lucentio’s real father, Vincentio appears in the picture. Both the book and the movie show why it is hard to lie about who you are and the people you are involved with because it indeed in a small world and no matter what precautions you may go through to hide the truth there is always a hole in the fence that will show your true colors. Both Lucentio and Mary were doing everything they could to be with the love of their life but ultimately who knows if it would be worth it or not. In Act 2 Scene 1 of the Shrew, Petruchio is going on a rant about Kate and how they are happy together. He says “If she and I be pleased, what's that to you?” He is trying to say that since they are happy, people need to back off and let them be. During the same scene previously discussed from The Wedding Planner, if Fran would have known about Mary and Steve’s little lingering love affair she would have said the same thing Petruchio said. In both of these stories, there is some jealousy and fear of losing their lovers although they are presented and shown in very different ways.

In conclusion, the movie ended the way the fans wanted, with Mary and Steve being together. It was expected through the whole movie, even through all of the setbacks. The strong love connection shined through and everyone, even Fran ended up happy. On the other hand, in The Taming of the Shrew, Kate says a long speech at her wedding and says many things obtaining to her husband and how he should be treated and how every man should be treated that way. It was unclear whether she was saying those things to make her husband happy or if she actually meant them Overall the movie and the play are extremely similar and have close endings although the characters and their love connections can be drastically different.