Okay, this is a birthday-treat for me. I am getting to write about one of my favorite things (so what, if it’s a tv show?). I have been a tv junkie since forever. I would sit in front of a tv set for hours even when I was just a kid. The first thing I did when I came from school, I would turn on the tv and then get hypnotized till I had to go to bed… I guess, you could say I was partly raised by the stuff that was broadcasted on German television… nowadays, I don’t even own a tv set.
The reason is that the tv program really sucks. I mean, really, really sucks. And part of the reason is that in 2001 they stopped doing “Xena.” You probably think, that this is not really a reason, but it is, actually. Think of what they produced afterwards and you have to agree. All those “great” shows that ran ever since 2001 were in most cases sexist, anti-feminist, anti-queer, or just plain stupid! And Buffy was cancelled two year after “Xena” and I didn’t even watch the last season because they killed off Tara at the end of six… I’m still mad about that.
Y’know, ever since I came across this weird show with the leather-clad heroine and her chatty friend I wondered what made it so special. Most people still think that it was mainly a female version of “Hercules: The Legendary Journey” but it was not. It was not (technically) a show about lesbians, it was not even a fantasy show (not for me, anyways). It was a show about friendship (yes, even as a maintexter, I have to admit that it was mainly about that), the sort of friendship we are all looking for. The sort of friendship where your daughter can kill your best friend’s son and you are still forgiven (man, that plot really rocked!). So, if you have never seen an episode I’d say you missed out on something. But it’s never too late since even in Germany you can now purchase the DVDs.
I remember when I first heard of the show, I was like: Oh, no, not another show about pseudo-greek-mythology. I had never seen a Hercules-episode because I am actually a fan of Greek mythology and thought I could not stand something that was an Americanized version of it. No way, no how. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it turned out) they showed “Xena” on Sunday afternoons and there was absolutely NOTHING on at that time of day. So I usually switched from one program to the next, bored beyond reason… and then I came across the ending of “Here she comes, Miss Amphipolis” and saw two women kissing (it wasn’t really two women, it was a drag-queen that kissed Xena “full on the lips”, but he was dressed as a woman but since I had not seen the whole episode I did not know that). The thing is, I didn’t even know I was gay at that time, still, it intruiged me and I had to tune in the next time, which was “Destiny” – also intriguing because Xena dies in that episode (and I did not know that this was just another ordinary plot device). Gosh, good times, good times. *lol*
The show was unconventional. It was – should probably write “is” – feminism in practice. Then there is the more than hinted at lesbianism… but more importantly the love between the main characters. They did a lot of extraordinary things on this show, often for the first time in television history. It was ground-breaking. Willow (on “Buffy”) would probably not have been a lesbian if it wasn’t for “Xena.” There would probably also never have been a musical episode on “Buffy” without “Xena” (Joss Whedon was a Xenite – maybe he still is).
It is actually kind of sad to look at television now. Post-Xena television is business-as-usual. Women have gone back into the kitchen (which is a metaphor for the genres women usually inhabit and action-shows are not among them), you just have to look at “Heroes” (a show I actually like): two female heroes and a lot more male heroes… look at crime shows, most of them have one female cop and loads of male cops, feds, whatever… sad, really, to watch tv.
The 90s (and early 00s) did not only have Xena and Gabrielle, there was Buffy, Willow, Faith, on “Buffy,” Jessica Alba was “Street Angel” (if only for two seasons, or was it actually three?), but whenever they come up with a female hero now it is recycled and not very long-lived (Sarah Connor and the “Bionic Woman” did not survive, why?).
Well, you see, “Xena” was good as long as it lasted (she died too young!). I am now waiting for “Spartacus” to take up that threat – please, let Lucy kick some ass, TPTB, I’ve waited so long for this!
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