Shawn O’Neil
English
12/01/13
Final Essay
The movies 10 Things I Hate About You and Napoleon Dynamite both had many similarities
to my high school. One example of the similarities are the social groups. At my
high school, you had the nerds sit with each other in the cafeteria, the same
goes for to the jocks, the band members, and just your normal everyday high
school students. In 10 Things I Hate
About You and Napoleon Dynamite was
a representation of students similar to my high school. With 10 Things I Hate About You, it shows us
how the school is divided amongst social groups and with Napoleon Dynamite, it shows the same thing of the nerds sitting at
the same table, not talking to each other, just staring at each other. The next
comparison is with the bullying. Sometimes at my high school, the jock would
bully the nerd or the normal high school student just to get the attention the
jock really wants. With 10 Things I Hate
About You, the jock drew an inappropriate image on the nerd’s face, just to
get attention in the jock’s social group. Also, with Napoleon Dynamite, Napoleon was getting beaten up by the jock, just
because the jock can overpower Napoleon and the jock knows that Napoleon is
weak. The last comparison is prom day. In both movies, all of the high school
students from every social groups, dresses up in their finest clothes and takes
their friends or their date to prom. You would dance with your date or hang out
with your friends. That was the same way at my high school, dress in your
finest clothes and take your friends or your date to the prom and have a good
time.
There are
some differences with 10 Things I Hate
About You and Napoleon Dynamite, that
don’t compare with my high school. The first difference is that at my high school,
there was no recess. We did not have time during school hours to go outside and
play. We would just learn, have lunch, and learn again until 2:35pm. With 10 Things I Hate About You and Napoleon Dynamite, they had a recess.
Napoleon would play tetherball by himself on a playground and with 10 Things I Hate About You, some of the
students were doing extra circular activities, such as archery or running on
the track. The next difference is that at my high school, no one would pay
someone or ask someone to the prom, even though that person doesn’t like the
other person. With 10 Things I Hate About
You, the jock pays the troublemaker to date the older sister because if the
older sister dates, so can the younger sister. With Napoleon Dynamite, Napoleon gave a drawing of the most popular girl
in school to her mom and the girl called back Napoleon, because she forced to
call him back by her mom, to say that she liked the drawing and that she would
go to the dance with him. At my high school, the students would go out with the
people that they know in their social group, not pay someone or being forced to
go to the dance with the person that they didn’t like. The last difference is
the different clubs at the high school. We did not have a metal shop class,
like on 10 Things I Hate About You,
and no happy hands class, like on Napoleon
Dynamite.
The one
character that I saw in 10 Things I Hate
About You that changed during the course of the movie was Kat. In the
beginning, she was mean, a person that liked to see things changed at the high
school, and that she was a smart-mouth. But, when she was pursued by Patrick to
date him, she kept brushing him off and he kept pursuing her until she finally
said yes to a date. While she was dating Patrick, she started to become friendlier
to her sister Bianca and her dad, and she would follow what instructions her
teacher gives to her. At one point, she found out that Patrick was being paid
by Joey to date Kat so that Joey could date Bianca. She wouldn’t talk to Patrick
at all until she forgave him and that he wasn’t doing it for the money, only
because that Patrick loved Kat. At the end, she really cared for her sister and
told her that Joey would have sex with any girl he dates and that she should
date Cameron, who wanted to date Bianca in the first place.
The one
character from Napoleon Dynamite that
changed during the course of the movie was Pedro. At the beginning of the
movie, he was a new student to the high school and he spoke with a Spanish
accent. Him and Napoleon became friends quickly and started to talk to each
other about all kinds of different things. At one point in the movie, he wanted
to ask out Summer, the most popular girl in school. So, he made her a cake
asking if she would go out with him. When Pedro found out that Summer said no,
he went to ask out Deb, the shy girl at the high school. When she said yes, her
and Pedro went to the school’s prom and danced together. Also, Pedro came up
the courage to go run for class president at the high school. He was going against the most popular girl in
the school, Summer. During the assembly where both Summer and Pedro gave
speech’s, they both had to do a small show for the other students, to convince
them to vote for one of them. Summer did a show where her friends did sign
language to a song and everyone liked it. But for Pedro, Napoleon did a little
dance and everyone wanted Pedro to be the new class president.
The rites of
passage from adolescence into adulthood is shown well in both of the movies.
Both movies showed us that you don’t need to be the most popular kid at school,
but to be yourself and do the things that you want to do during your high
school career. Find the girl that you want to be with, make new friends, and
get a good education before you move out into the real world. From 10 Things I Hate About You, Cameron made
a new friend and a new girlfriend, Kat tells Bianca that you need to be smart
on who you are dating, and always be yourself, like Patrick. He was being his
true self to Kat. With Napoleon Dynamite,
Pedro mustered up all of his courage to ask out Summer, you want to take a
chance in life, because if you don’t take the chance, that chance may never
come up again. Deb and Napoleon became friends in the end, Pedro ran for class
president which took a lot of courage. You need to be courageous and to take
risks in life because you will take risks in adulthood. Always learn from your
mistakes and move on.
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