ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two films in which girls have limited and problematic musical agency and no access to public performance. The first film, 10 Things I Hate About You (Gil Junger, 1999), is a youth film adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew set in modern-day Seattle. Another film in which a girl's musical agency is limited and subservient to the narrative focus on the romantic relationship is Love Don't Cost a Thing (Troy Beyer, 2003), a remake of the teen film Can't Buy Me Love (Steve Rash, 1987) with an African-American protagonist and a mostly non-white lead cast. In both 10 Things I Hate About You and Love Don't Cost a Thing, the musical agency of the girls is limited in a way that cannot be disconnected from their gender and heterosexuality.
