Wedding Crash

Wedding Crash

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “27 Dresses”


Both movies, “Taming of the Shrew” and “27 Dresses”, are about love, but the love that is being shown is not romantic love. It’s forced love. Forced love is when someone does something to make other person be in love with them. The way most people use force love is with lies. In the book, “Taming of the Shrew” Lucentio made Bianca to believe that he was a teacher named Cambio just to get close to her and get her to marry him. And in the movie, “27 Dresses”, when Tess came back into town and met George, she pretended to like everything he did just to get George to fall in love with her and get him to marry her. 

Though Lucentio and Tess basically did the same thing, they still in eclectic situations. What made Lucentio’s situation different is even though he lied to Bianca she  still decided to marry him. Tess had a different situation. Once George found out that she lied to him decided to call off the wedding. Also, Tess wasn’t the one who told him she lied to him. Jane, the main character and also the first one to be in love with George before Tess, told him and everyone at their engagement dinner who Tess actually was when she was showing the slide shows. These two situations shows that, over time, the way some people find the spouse have only changed slightly but not dramatically. But they are very similar. Honesty in relationships is very rare. But deception has been in multiple relationship for so many years. It helps people forces other people to fall in love with them for the wrong reasons.


Bianca

“Believe me, sister, of all the men alive

I never yet beheld that special face

Which I could fancy more than any other.”

(Act II, Scene i, 10-12)


In this quote, Bianca was talking to her sister about how she have not found the right man to marry yet. She says, “I never yet beheld that special face”. Which means, just like most people, she’s just worried about finding a handsome guy and not a guy with a good personally. But the movie was a bit different. When George first met Tess, he began to fall for her looks. This tells the viewers that looks means a lot to guys and not just the female’s personality.

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Screen Shot 2013-12-05 at 9.15.38 PM

In the beginning of the “27 Dresses,” Jane’s best friend, Casey says to Jane sarcastically, “Yea, that’s what guys want, responsible.” Unlike Lucentio, George eventually started to like Tess’ personality, even though what she told him about her was all a lie. He liked what she told him. Even though there is a saying that goes, It’s not what’s on the outside that matters it’s on the inside that counts, this movie is displaying the opposite.

Merchant, “as Vincentio”

“Thou liest. His father is come from Padua and here looking out at the window.”

(Act V, Scene i, 31-33)

In this quote, Vincentio realized he was being impersonated. Tranio had to find some to impersonate Vincentio, Lucentio’s father, just to insure Lucentio of the money he was going to get if he was to marry Bianca. One night, the real Vincentio decided to come see his son and out the window looked the merchant, the person who was pretending to Vincetio. Kevin’s and Lucentio’s situations are similar, but  it could be seen different because of what they lied for. Lucentio lied for riches while Kevin lied to keep his identity. 

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Screen Shot 2013-12-07 at 9.37.15 PM

In the middle of the movie, Jane was a bakery place getting Tess’ and George’s cake together when Tess decided to surprise Jane with her favorite wedding writer, Malcolm, also known as Kevin. Jane was so confused and angry when she saw him because she hated that he lied to her to protect his identity. Another way Kevin’s and Lucentio’s situation could be seen as different is when the real Vincentio found out that Lucentio had someone to impersonate him he wasn’t really mad. But when Jane found out that Kevin was actually this wonderful writer that she admired so much she was beyond angry.

Throughout the movie, there were a good amount of issues that started because of deception and lack of honesty. Once Jane saw that Tess had destroyed their mother’s wedding dress she realized she’d been pushed too far. So at the anniversary dinner Jane decided to tell everyone about the real Tess when she was presenting the slide show about Tess and George. This set awkwardest all in the building. It also caused the Tess and George to break up. After all the madness was over, Jane realized that she was in love Kevin, a writer that she admire. 

At the end of the movie, Jane and Kevin got married and Tess and George remained single. And at the end of “Shrew” Lucentio won Bianca over and they got married to each other. At the end of “27 Dresses” Jane realized that the person who actually notice you might just be your lover for life and not the person who don’t notice you unless they need something or something went wrong. The movie surprised the audience by having Jane living happily ever after instead of Tess.


Resources:

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Pp. 84. J. Tonson & the Rest of the Proprietors: London, 1734. Print.


27 Dresses. Dir. Anne Fletcher. By Aline B. McKenna. Perf. Katherine Heigl and James

Marsden. Fox., 2008. DVD.

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