Rating Rom-Com Adaptations: She's the Man & Twelfth Night

 She's the Man is a rom-com classic! It is also the most faithful modernised retelling of a historic piece of literature in this series so far. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is reimagined with the lovable Amanda Bynes as Viola, but this Viola is an American teenager who loves football. The goofs and gaffs of Shakespeare's comedy are translated into a feel-good, albeit cheesy, 2006 'chick-flick'.

The 2006 film is faithful to its source material in the main plot and keeps the main characters' names the same. When Viola's all-girl football team gets cut and her twin brother Sebastian ditches his place at a rival school, Viola pretends to be her brother to join this school's football club instead. She then falls in love with her roommate Duke (Channing Tatum). However Duke is already in love with the character Olivia and Olivia begins crushing on Viola disguised as Sebastian. Messy indeed!

All Images from She's the Man Paramount Pictures

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Viola and Sebastian are in a shipwreck and Viola cannot find her brother afterwards. She believes him dead so assumes his identity in order to work as a page for Duke Orsino. Viola falls for the Duke despite him attempting to court Olivia. So of course the usual Shakespearean comedic mishaps and misunderstandings ensue.

She's the Man really captures the silliness aspect of Shakespeare's comedies. The film plays up the physical comedy as well as some bodily-function humour, for example there is a scene for characters putting tampons up their noses. Most modern adaptations of Shakespearean comedies, like 10 Things I Hate About You, take the slapstick out of the plot or at least play it down - rarely do they ever lean into it. She's the Man isn't afraid to. The plot of the film also benefits from the absurdity because we as an audience forgive the fact Viola isn't very successfully undercover as Sebastian, because the jokey tone of suspending disbelief is already set for us. The faithfulness to the main plot and the jokes make the film a very faithful adaptation to be honest!

The only large deviation is where the handling of gender is concerned. In Twelfth Night, there are no barriers to Viola's performance of a man. In She's the Man, Viola faces many obstacles to gender expression as a man and as a woman. Some may argue this reinforces gender expectations. However we must remember the importance of setting in films as well as plays.

Twelfth Night was originally set in Illyria, an ancient Greek city that no longer existed, therefore Shakespeare did not deem it necessary to deal with gender in a realistic way that conformed to his real world society. Viola experiences no backlash for reasons based on gender. An escapism element is formed for the audience as a result, which aligns with the script's fun and light-hearted tone. The binaries of gender are even more obscured when we remember Viola would have been played by a man - playing a woman - pretending to be a man, due to laws against women on stage in Shakespeare's time. Thus ironically, a fluidity and freedom of gender is expressed to the audience in Twelfth Night and emphasises that the story does not take place in a discriminating reality.

The adversity in She's the Man happens because the setting calls for it. Byne's Viola exists in a modern day realism setting and so shining a light on the 2006 gender restraints enriches the storytelling and adds something new. The first obstacle even ignites the plot - Viola's boyfriend mistreats her for playing (and being good at) football because it doesn't fit his expectations of a girlfriend. This motivates Viola to break up with him and join a rival boys' team to prove him wrong. Other examples include her mother constantly pushing the female gender role onto her. The mother wants Viola to be girly and forces her to partake in the Debutant Ball. When Viola is presenting as a man, she has to prove 'manliness' to other men through male hazing rituals. There are also many examples of the sexism that exists in sport and football which is mainly portrayed by various comments from male coaches throughout the film. Therefore She's the Man does perpetuate gender stereotypes and Twelfth Night subverts them. However the sexism Viola faces in the modern adaptation - both as a woman and as a man - reflects the society of the realism setting. Twelfth Night's setting does not require this.

But alas, the feminism of the film is that of the early 2000s so there are definitely some out of date takes. Like the poking fun at the overtly feminine 'bimbo' type character, Monique. I wouldn't call that an example of an inclusive feminist view point!

She's the Man is very faithful to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night whilst also adding a bit of social commentary. This is a mark of a successful adaptation because it knows its source material but develops upon it with its own twists. The commitment to the slapstick is also refreshing because it is definitely a risk for a rom-com to take - the form of comedy is not to everyone's taste. I applaud the risk because it sets the film apart from other rom-coms and not just retellings either! Despite all this there is little depth and the themes of gender that the film introduces aren't explored far. Not that the film has to be more than it is, but considering the deeper levels other adaptations manage to reach on this list I have to mark accordingly! A very entertaining film though. 6/10.