{"id":22094,"date":"2013-08-28T06:30:46","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T18:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=22094"},"modified":"2013-09-01T11:02:27","modified_gmt":"2013-08-31T23:02:27","slug":"big-worlds-on-small-screens-rebecca-fisher-discusses-xena-warrior-princess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2013\/08\/28\/big-worlds-on-small-screens-rebecca-fisher-discusses-xena-warrior-princess\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Worlds On Small Screens: Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Xena: Warrior Princess”"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Rebecca Fisher<\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in the nineties two shows vied for the privilege of featuring Television\u2019s Most Influential Feminist Icon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/strong> and Xena Warrior Princess<\/strong>. Now, the last<\/em> thing I want to do is pit these shows against one another. I love them both, albeit for different reasons. But it is interesting to note the differences between them, and in one respect, Xena<\/strong> was markedly unlike Buffy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Warrior Princess and her handy chakram (think of it as a shiny round boomerang)<\/em><\/p>\n

Whereas Buffy<\/strong> was very consciously a feminist show, one that was deliberately built on subverting the clich\u00e9 of a helpless blonde teenager wandering into dark alleys, Xena<\/strong> had a far less calculated beginning. Her character first originated on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys<\/strong>, where she featured as a guest-star in three episodes of the first season. There she was characterized as a warrior woman and a femme fatale who seduced Hercules\u2019s sidekick and pitted friend against friend in a narrative that ended with her being won over by Hercules\u2019s manly charms and deciding to seek out redemption.<\/p>\n

Yeesh \u2013 it\u2019s not a particularly auspicious beginning for a feminist icon.<\/p>\n

And yet her popularity was enough to warrant a spin-off series, one which ended up eclipsing Hercules<\/strong> in renown and cultural significance.\u00a0 And unlike Buffy<\/strong>, which very blatantly touched on issues such as misogyny and patriarchy and female empowerment, Xena<\/strong> just… was<\/em>. There were no overt feminist themes beyond the fact that the lead character just happened to be a woman. That Xena could go toe-to-toe with men twice her size was treated as no big deal. The central relationship focused on the friendship between two women (which later became a popular lesbian icon) with no emphasis or commentary whatsoever on how rare this was \u2013 and in fact, still is. Just for fun, time yourself naming ten shows with a \u201cwomance\u201d at its core, and see how long it takes you compared to how many bromances you can rattle off in the same amount of time.<\/p>\n

Premise:<\/strong><\/p>\n

As mentioned, Xena\u2019s story begins as a quest for redemption. Put on the straight and narrow thanks to Hercules\u2019s encouragement, she returns home to Amphipolis in order to reconcile with her mother, only to find that her reputation as a fearsome warlord precedes her.<\/p>\n

Atonement doesn\u2019t come easy, but it\u2019s only after Xena rescues a group of village girls from a band of warriors that she picks up a companion. Gabrielle is a young bard from Potidaea who is awestruck by Xena\u2019s abilities and begs to be allowed to accompany her on her travels. She\u2019s in it for the adventure, but soon finds a much more important role to play as Xena\u2019s conscience, and it\u2019s their ensuing friendship that forms the bedrock of the show.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gabrielle pleads to accompany Xena on her travels<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the course of the show, details of Xena\u2019s past emerge: that she was once a normal village girl whose fall to the dark side began when her beloved brother was killed at the hands of a local warlord. By season three, the show has delved deeply into her past, revealing travels around the world, the acquiring of various combat skills, and the accumulation of friends and foes alike. In these extended flashbacks, we learn that the Xena of the past was a feral, dangerous woman, filled with bloodlust and fury, and that her present-day self has much to make up for.<\/p>\n

Storyline: <\/strong><\/p>\n

For the purposes of this overview, I\u2019ll be concentrating on season three, partly because it\u2019s the season I\u2019ve most recently finished watching, and partly because it\u2019s generally considered the best of the show\u2019s six-year run.<\/p>\n

Of the season\u2019s twenty-two episodes, exactly half are devoted to an intricate story-arc that involves (and I swear this is all 100% true) Xena and Gabrielle dealing with an evil cult, an immaculate conception, a demonic child, an ancient Zoroastrian god, Caesar and Boudicca, Stonehenge, knights, banshees, ninjas, gladiators, centaurs, Amazons, infanticide, a musical episode, the Battle of Thermopylae, the first triumvirate of Rome, and a throwaway gag involving the Sword in the Stone. Not all at once, but in roughly that order.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just say that this show doesn\u2019t do things by half.<\/p>\n

In the second season the Xena<\/strong> writers established the animosity between Xena and Caesar, revealing that her attempts to ally herself with the Roman general resulted in her capture, crucifixion and crippling. Despite escaping from his attempted execution, she\u2019s been harbouring vengeance in her heart ever since, and so immediately sets off to Britannia after she hears that he\u2019s waging war against the Iceni Queen Boudicca.<\/p>\n

Naturally Gabrielle tags along, only to find herself caught up in a strange cult that worships a mysterious One God. It turns out that this deity is not as benign as she\u2019s been led to believe, and while Xena is distracted elsewhere, Gabrielle ends up mystically pregnant at by the power of Dahak, an entity described as \u201cthe source of all evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Xena and Gabrielle formulate a strategy<\/em><\/p>\n

Amongst plenty of filler and comedy episodes, it is this story-arc (known as \u201cThe Rift\u201d) that makes up the bulk of season three, taking our two protagonists through the wringer when it comes to difficult decisions, dangerous enemies, and the strain it all has on their friendship. The arc\u2019s strength lies in the way that its disparate elements are drawn together from across a wide variety of episodes in order to shape its course, involving characters and plot devices that were not only introduced in the first two seasons, but as far back as its mother-show Hercules<\/strong>. It lends the whole thing a suitably epic atmosphere, in which the two women and their allies are quite literally fighting for the fate of the world.<\/p>\n

But the scope of the story never loses sight of the characters, and each one has their own personal stake in what happens…<\/p>\n

Characters:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The heart of the show is the relationship that exists between Xena and Gabrielle, the mighty warrior princess and the little bard from Potidaea, and over the course of the show these two grow into an incredibly tight-knit duo (complete with plenty of deliberate Sapphic subtext). The aforementioned Rift arc is given its emotional weight due to the fact that their friendship is put into extreme jeopardy, what with a series of white lies and quiet betrayals and good intentions gone awry, eventually leading to disaster and the slow road to recovery.<\/p>\n

But there is also much to be said about the show\u2019s supporting cast, all of which have their part to play in the unfolding drama. Of particular note are two of the show\u2019s long-running villains, Hudson Leick as Callisto, and Kevin Smith as Ares. The latter should be easily recognisable as the Greek God of War, who considers Xena his finest prot\u00e9g\u00e9e and is eager to bring her back into the fold by any means necessary.<\/p>\n

But Callisto is a character original to the show, and one of its most unforgettable elements. Played with incredible verve and energy by Hudson Leick, she is simultaneously a tragic and terrifying figure as a woman driven into madness by the death of her family \u2013 deaths that were caused by Xena herself. Her entire existence is a conundrum, for her sole purpose in life is to make Xena suffer by hurting her friends, family and loved ones, and yet Xena can never quite bring herself to condemn the woman she is entirely responsible for creating.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Callisto. That\u2019s her usual facial expression.<\/em><\/p>\n

Both Callisto and Ares have an important part to play in the Rift arc, each having very separate motivations and agendas when it comes to the possibility of Dahak\u2019s legions overtaking the world.<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite its campy, over-the-top tone, the show deals with some pretty hefty issues, raising difficult moral questions but providing no easy answers. Questions like: is it alright to sacrifice a bad man in order to save the life of a good one? How culpable are you for the lives lost if you protect a dangerous entity? Is it right to pre-emptively harm a child if it is predestined to do something evil? Can good ever come from bad or vice-versa? It\u2019s not at all what you\u2019d expect from a show like this, and the story goes into some surprisingly dark places.<\/p>\n

For all of that, it can swing wildly in the other direction as well, offering stories that involve heists and long cons, magical scrolls and identical strangers, elaborate disguises and slapstick comedy. For all its eccentricities, this much can be said about Xena Warrior Princess<\/strong>: thanks to its epic scope, erratic tone, female leads and technique of cherry-picking from a wide variety of myths and legends, there was nothing else like it on television.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Next Time:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A little known show that aired at around the same time as Xena Warrior Princess<\/strong>, and was in fact partially inspired by it: Roar<\/strong>. Starring Heath Ledger in one of his first television roles, this series purported to be the untold (and completely fabricated) history of how the Romans tried to conquer Ireland, and the small band of freedom fighters that repelled them.<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rebecca Fisher<\/p><\/div>\n

About The Reviewer:<\/h3>\n

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com<\/a>, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com<\/a> and her own LiveJournal<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

To read Rebecca\u2019s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, click on Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Previous Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/strong> Reviews: [click on the title to view]<\/p>\n