Words By Alexandra Campbell, Writer

When you think of Jane Austen, or of Shakespeare, you might think of high etiquette or stuffy period costumes. Maybe you think of those National Trust-esque houses, huge country estates serving as backdrops for romances where nothing much seems to happen, and the briefest touching of hands is a shortcut right to scandal. You might, like me, even think of yourself: aged thirteen or fourteen, sitting in the back of an English classroom and trudging through a piece like Pride and Prejudice or Romeo and Juliet, silently willing the time to move faster.

It’s no wonder, then, that in an age of grand romantic gestures onscreen and decreasing censorship of sex and sexuality, classic literature feels a little out of touch. The idea of sitting in the audience trying to follow yet another rendition of The Taming of the Shrew, or discerning the regency-era politics in another ninety-minute movie adaptation of Emma, seems like torture for some. Adaptations of classic literature are becoming more and more niche for those who love the source material, and less for the masses— right?

Almost 25 years after its release, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) has remained one of the most beloved romantic comedies of all time. A contemporary retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, 10 Things I Hate About You was one of the movies in the 90s which helped to popularise that aforementioned “grand romantic gesture”. Who could forget the sight (and sound!) of Heath Ledger singing Frankie Valli and running through the bleachers, while the marching band played in the background? The film saw countless references and parodies throughout the 2000s — perhaps most famously, it was one of many teen rom-coms parodied in Not Another Teen Movie (2001) — and even inspired a sitcom of the same name in 2009. 10 Things I Hate About You is, unquestionably, iconic.

The same can be said for Clueless (1995), an updated Emma, which has seen long lasting adoration among both new and original fans. Clueless was particularly impactful on fashion in the 90s, and has become a timeless, preppy style guide. Costume designer Mona May consciously deviated from the grunge trends of the time to innovate a whole new style influence for young people, and this influence has endured. Very few outfits seen in Clueless would be out of place today, 27 years later.

But Clueless isn’t a cult favourite only for its fashion, though it certainly doesn’t hurt. The film captures significant aspects of adolescence, including how often we can find ourselves — well — “clueless” when we previously thought we had a solid grasp of the world around us. This is a major plot point both in the original Austen novel and the 1995 film, and has persisted as a theme relatable to young people for well over two hundred years.

Clueless, like Emma before it, also makes use of some age-old and well-loved tropes like “the one” being right there the whole time, and the “ugly duckling transformation”. Tropes like this, borne from classic literature, are everywhere in modern media. Even rom-coms which might not call themselves adaptations or retellings contain them, because they are so built in to our cultural understanding of storytelling. Of course, not every “star-crossed” love story is a direct retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but its very existence as a dynamic and its prominence in romance stories draw influence from Shakespeare. These origins aren’t something to be written off.

The “ugly duckling transformation” has likewise seen huge popularity. Even beyond the romance genre, it’s a staple trope in many coming-of-age films, especially those geared towards girls and young women. In fact, this trope is so well-documented that we can even see it in real life, now under a slightly different name: “the glow-up”. Tropes that come from classic literature have incredible staying power in pop culture, and can be found across all kinds of media, not all of it fictional.

With all this evidence, then, of the social relevance of classics — why do so many people still think of them as out of touch?

The language of classic literature is becoming increasingly inaccessible in the modern age. Even for pieces that are, technically, in English, there’s much work to be done in translating vocabulary and transposing cultural norms in order to render these pieces readable. Shakespeare may well have been making crude jokes in his most widely studied comedies, but do these jokes lose their humour when it takes us so much more time to interpret? I would argue yes.

There has been some debate over whether adaptations and retellings are valuable as stories, and I think they are. Contemporary retellings of classics does that work of transposition for us, which makes them significantly more accessible to those of us who are not literature-fanatics academics. Keeping the spirit of the original story for a remake is a difficult, but worthwhile, task.

After all, the persisting popularity of films like 10 Things I Hate About You or Clueless tells us something important about their written counterparts: they’re not classics for nothing.

How Classic Literature Still Dominates The Rom-Com