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THE MURDER OF AN ICON
The
whole Xenaverse is in mourning. The corporate interests that owned the
series have killed off the greatest hero that woman have ever had -- XENA.
http://www.ausxip.com/articles19/fin2.html
It was not the writers or producers that made the series, Xena: Warrior Princess such a success, it was two women, Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Conner and their supporting cast. These women made even the worst scripts impressive and believable and forever put to rest the fallacy that a woman can never be a superhero.
Their essence and their projection of themselves into the legends have been an inspiration to so many all over the world. The friendship they portrayed captured the hearts and minds of thousands of devoted fans. Xena (Lawless) taught us for 6 years along with young Gabrielle (O’Conner.) She was our rock and we adored her.
Some Xenaisms:
"You like shoving women around so much... try me."
"I don't need you, or a fairy godsmother, or anyone else to give me a happy ending. That's something that I'll get, or I won't get, all by my own self."
"I don't accept defeat."
"I'm not a little lady."
"My body doesn't make me who I am; my deeds do."
“Causes are only lost when people give up.”
It’s not just that the series has ended after a six year run; it is that Xena was actually killed and mutilated in a vicious, graphic and cruel manner. Fans wanted her to walk off into the sunset with her companion, Gabrielle, but it was not allowed. Backlash from the cultural Nazis put her down when the entire known world’s other bad guys couldn’t.
Nearly everything goes on radio or television now except the idea of a big, strong independent woman. This was Xena and she had a worldwide following that was increasing in number all the time. It didn’t help that the main theme of the series was an abiding friendship, love and trust between two women. Our culture shouts, “NO! Women must bond only to men -- not to other women.”
The program trod on another shibboleth of our society. The one demanding that woman be helpless and needful of the protection of men. This has always been such a farce since it is men that they mainly need protection from.
Xena was not only a “strong woman” who took a whole can of whupass to that oxymoron. She was smart, she was good, she was brave -- in short, she was all the things women could be if they stopped believing in the centuries of conditioning that society has forced on them. http://www.ausxip.com/
Super powers? Sure, but no more than most of the male superheroes whose authenticity or believability no one questions. She illuminated and made real that old saw of “women’s intuition.” She embodied the softness and caring attributed only to the female with the strength and courage attributed only to the male. She made a mockery of gender stereotypes by proving that women are human beings too.
Sure, the series, Xena: Warrior Princess had to end sometime, but why was she killed off? Think back to all the series enders of superheroes you have known. Did this happen to them? Did it happen to Superman? Batman? James Bond, for example? No, it did not. SuperMEN don’t die. Furthermore, in the series made by the same studio, Hercules and his buddy, Iolus just “walked off into the sunset” at the end.
It
doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to figure this one out. We have all seen
what happens to uppity women all of our lives. But let’s be practical.
Why would a company destroy this hero’s life? There would always be a chance
that a movie or a sequel might be profitable just as this series was.
Its appeal was and is universal for both genders, all ages and nationalities. Killing Xena makes no practical sense because it has royally pissed off the very fans that supported it for 6 years and this studio should want to keep them happy. In fact, earlier this year, Rob Tapert promised fans that he would NOT kill off the Xena character even though the series was ending.
The creators of Xena do not seem to care about the fans that have made this series such a resounding success. RJ Stewart, who with Rob Tapert wrote this final episode, explained that “he felt it [the ending] was a noble thing, and would make the ultimate redemption for Xena.”
How very convenient that this is just what women, real or fictional, are supposed to do: sacrifice themselves for redemption while men, real or fictional, are allowed to redeem themselves by their deeds.
2001-026
Copyright
2001 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished
for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that
this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@gendergappers.org.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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