Original artwork, not a still
Mr. Morgan, any way we can get Kat to take her Midol before she comes to class?
— 10 Things I Hate About You • 1999
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is the cheap shot every classroom has heard, and the film wants you to wince at it: Kat is making a real argument and the room answers with a period joke. The line has lived on as shorthand for dismissing a woman's anger as hormones, and as a snapshot of the late-90s teen comedy it comes from. Mr. Morgan's blunt reply is part of why the scene still gets quoted.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for 10 Things I Hate About YouShow the scene
It lands in Mr. Morgan's English class, in the middle of Kat Stratford's tirade against the reading list. She has just dismissed Hemingway as an abusive, alcoholic misogynist and asked why the syllabus ignores Plath, Bronte and de Beauvoir. A boy in the room, credited here as Joey, tosses in the Midol jibe to a round of laughs. Mr. Morgan answers him sharply, warning that one day someone will slap him and he will not intervene, and then turns to Kat with a pointedly sarcastic thank-you for her point of view.
Sources (1)
- Springfield! Springfield! script: 10 Things I Hate About YouEnglish class sceneReference checked
Context reviewed
