Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Xena: Twenty Years Later

As a big Xena nerd, it's fun to see The Mary Sue giving the series some respect.  There, Jessica Mason highlights how Xena: Warrior Princess changed television.

Looking back, one of my favorite aspects of Xena as a character was that she was a strong woman with a, bear with me, Really Problematic Past. She wasn't perfect. She did lots of shitty things over the years like throwing the chakram at Gabrielle's head and, in general, letting Joxer stick around and flirt with her girlfriend all the time.

And those  thick, thick bangs that went 180 degree around her head, aye.

My all-time favorite episodes are:
  •  Drama: "When Fates Collide" 
  •  Comedy: "A Day in the Life" 
Alti, as played by Claire Stansfield, remains one of my favorite villains of any series, to this day.

Sadly, as a I browsed the comments at The Mary Sue, I saw some of the same debates that raged much more frequently in the '90s regarding the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, with some definitely-not-homophobic commenters whinging about how the "lesbian community" has "hijacked" the series.

And well, all I have to say is that the fanverse belongs to all of us to interpret in ways that work for each of us.  Resenting non-hetero women for being super excited about a show finally having subtle (okay, and sometimes not so subtle) depictions of same-sex love is as shitty as straight boy gamers who resent companies like Bioware for creating games with female and queer characters.

Is anyone forcing these people to read lesbian fanfic or to embark on a gay relationship in Dragon Age?  Of course not. These types are just so staggeringly entitled and used to being catered to that they resent when creators make these options available for other people at all. As though, not only should shows not feature same-sex relationships, but other viewers themselves should not even insinuate from subtext that, say, Xena and Gabrielle might have been lovers.

ANYway, this is an awesome fan video.

Discuss any of this, or your own Xena-related thoughts! Ayiyiyiyiyiyiyi!

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