XENA MEDIA REVIEW #24 (08-11-97) Part 2 of 4 ====================== CUT HERE ============== ================= THAT THING YOU DO ================= By Bret Rudnick (brudnick@head-cfa.harvard.edu) Brought to you by Make Your Own Darn Music Videos, Inc. [Fade up, insert relevant clips] Xena: "Show me that thing you do." (DESTINY) Sung to the tune of "That Thing You Do", (65 second sample version from the official home page at http://www.thatthingyoudo.com/) with profuse and abject apologies to "The Wonders" [Or do you mean Oneeeders?] You-oo-oo... doin' that pinch you do-oo-oo, Stoppin' the flow of blood right to my brain cells, Like you always do-oo-oo. And you-oo-oo, don't mean to be cruel, You only want to get the information, That I won't tell you-oo-oo. Well I've tried and tried not to tell you girl, But it's just so hard to do, And I can't resist you're doin' that thing, Every day just doin' that thing, I can't take you doin' that thing you do-oo-oooo. Gabrielle: (just before getting whacked in the head by a fish) "Hey, she *likes* what I do." (A DAY IN THE LIFE) [fade to black] =========== ANNOTATIONS =========== [362] 07-01-96 VIDEO MAGAZINE. Vol. 20. No. 1. July 1996. Page 43. 1490 words. "Sony KV-35V35 Television, color Evaluation" By Kevin Miller. COMMENTARY: If you look very carefully at this article about a new Sony product, you will find two words about XWP. So, why does that qualify this excerpt for XMR? Obviously, we are obsessive about including every single Xena mention in XMR, but there is actually more to it than just our neuroses. Those two words are more proof that even a year ago Xena was already putting a dent in popular culture. The words appear in the third paragraph. When noting the imposing weight of a new TV set, the writer adds that folks shouldn't "try hefting this baby by yourself unless you're pumped like Hercules (or Xena)." Not only does the writer assume that the shows are so popular that his readers will know what he's talking about, but he also equates Xena's strength with Hercules' In other words, this statement equates a woman's strength with that of THE myth that has symbolized strength in western culture for thousands of years. In the past, the writer would have only mentioned Hercules. Absolutely mind boggling. Is XWP changing attitudes about women or is it simply reflecting a little-discussed change that has already occurred? [DS] REPRINT: Sony's first 35-inch TV makes a serious splash. They say that all of life's great mysteries will be revealed in time. And time's up on one great mystery that Sony has figuratively climbed the Himalayas to solve: After several years of maintaining that 35-inch direct-view TV tubes weren't capable of producing high-quality images, one of the best TV makers in the world has finally launched their first 35-inch set. The wait was worth it. Sony's KV-35V35 ($ 1,799; shown with the SU-35A optional stand/cabinet, $ 170) is a mid-level 35-incher, pulling back on some technical and convenience features in order to sustain a relatively modest price. It's one of two 35-inch V-Series sets; the sibling KV-35V75 ($ 2,199) weighs in a little heavier in terms of features. The V-Series 35-inchers are also the precursor to 35-inch sets using Sony's vaunted XBR tube, which are promised for early next year. The 35V35 is a table-top model housed in a standard matte-gray plastic cabinet. It measures about 30 x 37.6 x 26.25 inches (h/w/d) and weighs a bit under 200 pounds - don't try hefting this baby by yourself unless you're pumped like Hercules (or Xena). The front-facing speakers are powered by an internal amp that's rated to deliver 5 watts per channel.... [363] 07-01-96 MS. MAGAZINE. Vol 7. No. 1. July/August 1996. 2510 words. Page 74. "Xena" She's Big, Tall, Strong--and Popular." By Donna Minkowitz. COMMENTARY: Continuing with a socio-psychological approach only attempted thus far by the VILLAGE VOICE, Ms. Minkowitz attempted to understand why XWP had (has) such a large and loyal female demographic. Exploring the theme of the underlying inherent scariness of a feminist hero who could simultaneously be accepted as a sex symbol to men, the article touched on the issues of feminism, violence, ambiguous sexual orientation, interracial relationships, politics, and fan reaction (just to name a few). This article, along with Stacey D'Erasmo's piece in the VILLAGE VOICE of 12/26/95 (XMR115), represented to date the most significant sociological analysis of XWP. [KT] To my very biased eyes, this article *gets it.* FINALLY! Ms. Minkowitz was particularly good at exploring the seriousness underneath the humor in XWP when most other writers continued to view XWP as nothing more than a live-action cartoon. That Camp and Cleavage School of Critique, which could also be called the Xena-Is-Baywatch School, continues to flourish today. While Ms. Minkowitz acknowledged the campiness, she was able to look deeper. She explored the stereotype-breaking feminist components of XWP, including descriptions of some of my favorite moments of the show. These include a tavern scene where Xena responds to the sexual advances of several men by artfully decking them. (All right, let's see a show of hands. Are there any women in the audience who haven't been hassled by men when they walked into a bar "alone," meaning without a male? Are there any women in the audience who haven't wanted to back fist a few fellas in the face?) However, Ms. Minkowitz did not stick with a strictly feminist analysis. She also talked about a seldom-noted phenomenon -- XWP's psychologically realistic portrayal of the roots of violence and the struggle to end it. As a drama junkie, I love this aspect of the show. In its dramatic scenes, XWP often transcends its genre and presents more psychological realism than practically any other show on TV today. XWP also presents the revolutionary idea that a person can be flawed and make mistakes and still be a hero. To date Minkowitz's piece may be the only article to note this. The Ms. article also marked another milestone. It prompted Ms. Lawless to comment on the story itself. (This may be the first and only time that she has talked about a story.) Judging by her comments, she was not pleased. Ms. Lawless apparently made two comments about the Ms. article shortly after it was published. In these two quotes, she said she was upset about how her quotes were handled. She also appeared to contradict herself on her attitude about feminism and provided some insight into what it is like to be interviewed. The first comment came in a question-and-answer interview with the New York Times, published on Aug. 11, 1996. In response to a question that mentioned the Ms. article and asked if she liked being a feminist icon, Ms. Lawless said, "That Ms. thing riled me. I was just so shocked to be asked if I consider myself a feminist. Where I come from, women are just bloody strong, you know? I've met many women from other cultures in the last year and I'm aghast at how unnecessarily repressed they seem. Here in New Zealand, women say, 'I want this and I'm going to work and get it.' Nobody refuses me anything because I'm a woman. Nobody gives me lip because I'm a woman.'" Her second quote in an on-line ULTIMATE TV story sounded more conciliatory and occurred in an interview conducted on Aug. 16, 1996, the day she appeared on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. It is impossible to say whether: (a) Ms. Lawless' attitude changed from the time she was interviewed by the New York Times to the time she was interviewed by ULTIMATE TV or (b) she realized that she had not said what she meant in the New York Times article or something was taken out of context. The ULTIMATE TV writer asked, "What happened with Ms. magazine?" Ms. Lawless said, "What happened there was, the problem with phone interviews. They're often too unreliable. When you see it in print, I sound like a iiiiii-diot. When I said I was shocked to be called a feminist, I didn't mean I was shocked and disgusted. I was shocked because it never occurred to me that [Xena] was a political show. [The interviewer] said: Are you political? What do you mean, political? My father was a politician. What do you mean? My mother was a suffragette. Do I vote? Do I want to stay out of politics? It means such different things. "Another reason that [interview] came across so poorly, I have been terrified of this whole role model thing. It's one thing for Xena to be it but another for Lucy Lawless to be somebody's role model, and I thought that was too heavy a burden. It's a bit intimidating. Since I've been here [in NYC] this week, I have met a heap of women that seem to be incredibly inspired by the show and not inspired to be like Xena but inspired to be themselves. They use the word empowered. It feels kind of new-agey to me. But it's a great word, and it's a perfect expression for what they're feeling. A woman goes out and buys a Harley because she's always wanted to, that's great. As long as she doesn't kill herself." Finally, a few bits of trivia from this landmark article. -- An early and very tantalizing clue on the are they/aren't they lovers debate in a Rob Tapert quote. ( "Early on, the studio came down on me, because they wanted to make sure no one perceived Xena and Gabrielle as lesbians.") -- Several errors, including naming THE PRODIGAL (# )as the last episode of the first season. [IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (# 24) was in that spot], and reporting that Gabrielle learned to fight "under Xena's tutaledge" (Nope, 'twas the Amazons who taught Gabrielle). [DS] On the cover: Xena with sword and text "Xena-Mania. Why Is TV's Warrior Princess A Hit With Women?" TRANSCRIPTION: Stacy Van Stipdonk REPRINT: [Throughout article there is the same picture of Xena holding her sword high.] A six-foot-tall woman dressed like a warrior walks into an ancient "bar" filled with men. When one pats her ass, she knocks him across the room. After that, every man in the bar is polite to her and her woman companion. * Three children stare gratefully at the fighter who has saved their village from an invading army. "Did you see the way she finished off those guys?" one boy chirps. "Zing! Pow!" * In successive weeks, a mortal woman rescues Prometheus, defeats the war god Ares, enters the underworld and returns from it. In between, she saves poor farmers from enslavement and defends women from a roving band of rapists. "You like shoving women around so much?" she says to one. "Try me!" *** Many feminists have been dreaming of mass-culture moments like this since feminism came into being. But we've almost never seen these fantasies realized. The Bionic Woman smiled too much. Even Cagney and Lacey worried about looking "over-masculine." No woman television character has exhibited the confidence and strength of the male heroes of archetype and fantasy -- or if she did, she was a one-episode fluke, and her anomalous presence could reassure viewers that next week all the regular women characters would be back, nervous and self-questioning as ever. Until now. Each week since September 1995, Xena: Warrior Princess has begun with these words: "In a time of ancient gods, warlords, and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. She was Xena, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle." The grim warrior, played by Lucy Lawless, wanders through the ancient world, protecting the powerless -- chiefly women, children, and poor people. Xena, an "ancient Greek" hero invented out of whole cloth by the series' producers, doesn't apologize for being a better fighter than almost every man on earth. And she doesn't smile at men unless she really, really likes them -- which is seldom. Xena is a spin-off of the popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, itself a feminist and progressive retelling of Greek myth. But its female protagonist was initially conceived as an evil figure. Executive producer Rob Tapert says he based Xena on the "evil warrior princesses" portrayed by Hong Kong cult film star Lin Ching Hsia in movies like The Bride with White Hair and The Swordsman II and III. When Xena first appeared as a guest character on Hercules, she pillaged the countryside at the head of a rapacious army and murdered thousands. She delighted only in profit and cruelty. Xena, who came from a family of farmers like the ones whose homes she burned, was eventually called "princess" because she was such a powerful warlord. MCA TV, the studio to which Tapert proposed the spin-off, and which now syndicates the show, was not pleased with the character's image. "The Studio said, 'Can you get her turned around so that she's good?'" Tapert remembers. "I said, 'I guess, but it won't be as much fun.'" After initial misgivings, I, for one, am glad about the change. Xena's writers have used their hero's evolution as the backdrop for a sophisticated discussion of morality. Xena isn't good because of innate virtue. She has genuinely struggled with questions of ethics, and has finally chosen to act on her moral impulses. In fact, the show's greatest innovation may not be the toughness of its female lead, but her deep awareness of her own desire to exploit and intimidate others. Xena continually confronts the parts of herself that are least likable. She keeps meeting people who are terrified of her because of the atrocities they've seen her commit. And though she's reformed, Xena is one hero whose ethical struggles are never over. In one episode, after a prolonged period of imprisonment and beatings, Xena slugs her best friend, Gabrielle. The punch is presented as stemming from the imperfections that are a part of us all -- even feminist superheroes. In just one season, Xena has become the most successful new action series in syndication, and has ranked as high as number 11 overall, beating out Baywatch and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Many local station masters initially refused to air the show because "they thought no one would want to see a woman hitting men," says executive producer Tapert, "but they were wrong." Tapert and co-executive producer Sam Raimi had built their careers with male fantasy thrillers and cult movies like Darkman, but Tapert was eager to try his hand at a fantasy story with a female hero. "I believe, in the basest and crassest of ways, that there's a formula to stories about heroes," Tapert says, "and no one had ever tried to do it before with a woman hero. Or if they did, they made excuses for her being a woman." Fighting men and refusing to smile aren't the only ways that Xena breaks the rules. There's also sex: * The warrior princess doesn't have a boyfriend. Xena has taken a number of male lovers, including, on occasion, Hercules, but never settled down with any of them. "That will never happen," promises Tapert. * Xena is one of the first white women in TV history to passionately kiss a black man on screen. Several times, in fact. She was in love with this character, a warrior named Marcus, who reappeared in several episodes. * In our interview, Tapert spontaneously brings up the possibility that Xena also has love relationships with women. "People ask me frequently about Xena's sexual orientation," he informs me, "especially about her relationship with Gabrielle. I tell them that she has had a string of lovers in her life and that now she is trying to get control of her emotions." It's hard to imagine a more ambiguous statement, but it's certainly not an utter denial. Indeed, Tapert proudly tells me that the show "has become a favorite with gay women" and that some lesbian bars have special Xena-viewing nights. (So do a number of women's prisons.) "Early on, the studio came down on me, because they wanted to make sure no one perceived Xena and Gabrielle as lesbians," the producer says. He doesn't seem to be trying very hard to accede to their demands. On the show's Web site, male and female viewers allude supportively to Xena's perceived sexual relationship with Gabrielle, whom Xena rescued from a forced marriage in the opening episode. Ever since then, the pair have been inseparable. Gabrielle, a girlish storyteller with lots of pluck but not much combat skill, functions as a feminine foil for her kick-boxing friend. (As the season has progressed, Gabrielle has gradually learned how to defend herself under Xena's tutelage. In the season's final episode, Gabrielle led the people of her home village in a successful stand against an imperialist army.) The Xena-Gabrielle friendship is a deeply committed one. The women risk their lives for each other, refuse to leave each other for men, even work on "issues" in their relationship, such as Xena's reluctance to include Gabrielle in situations that might become dangerous. Despite the innuendo, the two women are never overtly sexual with each other, as they are with men (although Gabrielle, fascinatingly, is a virgin, a status depicted as neither superior nor inferior to Xena's status as sexually active). If they are lovers, it is mostly in the covert Batman and Robin way. Whether Xena is gay or straight is ultimately beside the point -- but it is disturbing that in a show set in ancient Greece, not one of the characters has an identifiable gay or lesbian relationship. "I've proposed that to the writing staff, but I have to tread very carefully," Tapert says. "We don't want to alienate people. We don't want to alienate kids." While Xena is breaking new ground in its treatment of sex, it doesn't ignore the old standby of adventure films -- violence. But even here, there's a progressive gloss on the mayhem. Unlike some feminist fantasy figures -- say, Hothead Paisan -- the warrior princess and her sometime co-star Hercules never attack out of vengeance. They nurse their enemies' wounds after a battle. And they kill only to defend themselves. Still, Xena isn't primarily a political vehicle, but a delightfully cheesy schlock drama that often looks like Spartacus, American Gladiators, and Mad Max rolled into one. It wouldn't be entirely truthful to say that the show doesn't romanticize violence. Half its thrill comes from the blows our hero administers to exploiters and rapists. So much time and love are devoted to combat scenes that we might well see the ecstatic Pow! and Zap! titles they used on the sixties Batman TV series. It's probably impossible to completely separate fantasies of ethical resistance from fantasies of breaking heads and making people crawl. But for what it's worth, Xena and her creators try hard to do just that. All these surprises, plus the campy story lines, add up to a program that is extremely popular with young adults of both sexes. According to Tapert, Xena's most faithful viewers are women and men ages 18 to 34. That's almost identical to Hercules' demographics, except the strongman pulls in more kids. "Hercules has a much bigger audience among girls and boys ages four to six, the toy-buying demographic," Tapert says. "Xena's audience is older and probably a little hipper." Tapert will not speculate as to why this is. Are little boys unwilling to watch a woman warrior? The conventional wisdom among producers of children's television is that boys won't watch shows with female leads, but girls will watch shows with female or male leads. If that's right, why aren't girls watching Xena by themselves? Is it possible that parents object to Xena's feminist content? Though they apparently aren't watching the show enough to make a dent in the demographics, young girls do write fan letters by the hundreds to Lucy Lawless. "I'm thrilled," she tells me in a phone interview from her native Auckland, New Zealand. "They write about how encouraging it is to see someone who's so strong. Mostly very young girls. I have all these photos of little girls with Xena costumes on." Tapert says Lawless got a letter from a pair of five- and six-year-old sisters who refused to use their proper names. "They just wanted to be called Xena." But Lawless seems defensive when asked if she thinks Xena is a feminist show. "No, I don't! Well ... yes, it is. But it is not anti-men! I suppose it could be called feminist in that it's about women who do not see themselves as at all limited by their femininity. Personally, I never believed in glass ceilings or in being handicapped because of being a woman, but if women draw strength from the show, that could be called feminism. Though we're not male-bashing in any way!" Lawless says she is not a feminist, though she does allow that "feminists might identify with me because I'm unapologetic in what they think is a male-dominated world ... no, I guess, what is a male-dominated world, but in my microcosm [New Zealand], women are not disadvantaged, except by their own fear." Lawless says that as a child she never longed to see a woman superhero like Xena, because "I never saw it lacking from my life." Good thing she's a good actor. Lawless also differs from Xena in her approach to athletics: she's not in the least delighted with the physical training she's had to endure for the role. "I've been trained and bullied into some level of proficiency. When I started, my coordination was hopeless." In fact, her grueling schedule of weight training gave her a back injury, Lawless says. As for her costume, a sort of sleeveless leather-breastplated jumpsuit that, nicely enough, doesn't emphasize her breasts, Lawless describes it as "hellish to wear." In Auckland, where the series is filmed, "in winter it's utter cold, and you're running along some cliff with the wind whipping at you, in this costume that leaves your lungs bare, and it's tight. Being in constant discomfort can make you cry, especially if you're doing bloody kung fu." I suppose a worker-friendly environment and a politicized star would be too much to ask from a show that has already favorably portrayed the Amazons (Gabrielle became an honorary Amazon after a mysterious bonding ceremony with the Amazon Queen) and created a feminist ending for The Iliad (Xena to Helen of Troy: "What do you want to do?" Helen: "No one's ever asked me that before!"). Sex appeal is surely another reason that people watch the show. "Everything about the show is sexy," Lawless offers, "because it has this energy -- charisma, self-confidence. We want to take people out of the humdrum." But a friend of mine took one look at Xena's long legs and tight leather breastplate and decided that the warrior princess was just another R. Crumb drawing in the guise of a feminist hero. Is Xena sexually objectified by the show? If so, does it matter? The answer probably depends on your definition of objectification. On the Internet, Tapert says, there are arguments between men and women as to whose hero Xena is: "whether she's a hero for women, or a hero and a sex symbol for men." Although having men treat a feminist hero as a sex object might make many of us uncomfortable, I can remember only one occasion on which Xena's sex appeal was depicted offensively -- a commercial for the show in which a male character stared up at the warrior and sighed, "Those boots! That leather! Those legs!" It's worth noting that Hercules' star, Kevin Sorbo, displays his body just as much as Lawless does. "We've gotten a lot of feedback, from both straights and gays, that people really like it when Kevin takes his shirt off," Tapert says. It's important to consider, too, that men who are Xena fans may be motivated by factors other than sex appeal. Many women fans somehow manage to bring together an appreciation for Xena's feminism with an appreciation for her body. Why is it so difficult to imagine men doing the same? Finally, if straight men find Xena erotic, it may be a sign that their eroticism is changing. Both Hercules and Xena make occasional, coded references to women dominating men sexually ("You're cute when you're nervous," Atalanta, Greek mythology's powerful runner, told Hercules in one episode, lifting the blushing hero high in the air). Then again, some men who watch the show may simply be excited by a woman who refuses to be subservient. Or by a woman of tremendous physical strength and courage. "She doesn't fall into this svelte, silicone image," Tapert says. "She's a big woman with big shoulders, big hipbones, and big thighs." And a bloodcurdling battle cry. Donna Minkowitz is writing a book about the religious right and the gay movement for the Free Press. [364] 07-01-96 "Queen of the Amazons" XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. Random House. New York. 1996. By Kerry Milliron. Adapted from the episode "Hooves and Harlots," teleplay by Steven L. Sears. COMMENTARY: Issued in a beginning reading series for children (ages 4-6), and printed in softcover, this booklet used pictures from the episode HOOVES & HARLOTS with a simplified text. [KT] [365] 07-01-96 "Princess in Peril" XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS. Random House. New York. 1996. By Kerry Milliron. Adapted from the episode "The Path Not Taken," teleplay by Julie Sherman. COMMENTARY: Another beginning reading series book from Random House. The pictures were taken from the episodes WARRIOR... PRINCESS, PROMETHEUS, and THE PATH NOT TAKEN. Marcus was surgically removed from THE PATH NOT TAKEN selections. Guess who is NOT coming to dinner. [KT] [366] 07-01-96 THE EVENING POST (Wellington). Page 3. 89 words. "Xena doll winners" COMMENTARY: The winners of a contest which promoted XWP in NZ were announced. Their prize? Xena action figures! [KT] REPRINT: CONGRATULATIONS to the 10 TV Week readers who will soon be proud new owners of 15cm tall Xena action dolls. They correctly named Gabrielle as Xena's sidekick and will receive the dolls in the mail shortly. The winners are: Paula Wilkinson, Elsdon, Porirua; Rayna Gates, Paremata; Lee Robinson, Mornington, Wellington; Tracey Edwards, Plimmerton; Terina Thorne and Sarah Parton, Stokes Valley; Abby Bennett, Korokoro, Lower Hutt; C Richardson, Petone; Philippa Cuthbert, Lower Hutt; and Elizabeth Hoffman, Newtown, Wellington. [367] 07-01-96 THE DOMINION (Wellington). Page 23. 863 words. "Letterman likely to keep you up late" by Erin Kennedy COMMENTARY: This is yet another in a long line of articles from writers of the Camp and Cleavage School of Xena Thought. To be fair, we have to remember that this writer may be handicapped by only seeing a few episodes of the first season. I wonder if this critic watched the episode mentioned here, DREAMWORKER (#03), and if her attitude changed after that? I view XWP as a kind of magic show. The usual television drivel is all flash and no substance. However, XWP slips in realistic portrayals of relationships, intimacy, grief and a host of other dramatic subjects at the same time that it makes it all seem innocuous by distracting the wary with campy humor and goofy Hong Kong style action. [DS] EXCERPT: ...WEDNESDAY... ...Okay, it might be tacky, but Xena: The Warrior Princess (TV3, 8.30 p.m.) is fun, and judging by the effect it has on some youngsters of my acquaintance, is a great way of promoting self-defense for women. It's also good to see a local girl (Lucy Lawless as Xena) making good, and managing to keep smiling as she gets to chuck baddies all over the place. This week Xena must enter the magical realm of the Dreamscape to rescue Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) after she is kidnapped and betrothed to Morpheus, the god of sleep... ====================== CUT HERE ============== XENA MEDIA REVIEW #24 (08-11-97) Part 2 of 4