Close Reading: Intimate Stranger

This episode portrays Xena in yet another light because this episode literally dives into Xena’s conscience. She feels guilt for “murdering” her enemy Calisto, before Xena turned into a “good” warrior, she terrorized villages trying to coup with the loss of her brother, who was murdered by a warlord. Xena feels guilty because after consciously letting Calisto die she felt that part of her came back.

Through Xena’s guilty conscience Calisto managed to switch bodies with Xena, which intern sent Xena into the underworld in Calisto’s body and Calisto’s place in the underworld. Calisto was then removed from the underworld in Xena’s body. She looked like Xena but she was using Xena’s body instead of her own plan in order to trick Xena’s friends and foe against Xena in Calisto’s body.

When Calisto (in Xena’s body) escaped from the underworld she started to manipulate Gabrielle by reminding her of her sadness and hatred she felt toward Calisto. She was easily manipulated, because she not only looked up to Xena, but she was also blinded by hatred for Calisto and the desire for revenge. Calisto persuaded Gabrielle to kill Calisto (Xena). This was shocking because Gabrielle has never killed anyone let alone thought about killing someone, but she was willing to kill (who she thought was Calisto) in order to avenge her Fiancée’s death. In a pervious episode, Calisto had murdered Gabrielles Fiancée and she could not coup with his murder.

As Xena (in Calisto’s body) fights Calisto (in Xena’s body), Xena almost conquers Calisto, but Gabrielle steps into the fight pointing her staff (with a spear on the end of it) ready to kill Calisto (Xena). This point on the end of her staff was a new feature Xena (Calisto) added in order for Gabrielle to kill Calisto (Xena).

Gabrielle interrupts the fight

Gabrielle has never looked so angry. In this picture, she is a completely different person. But after Gabrielle realized that the person she was about to kill was Xena, she dropped her weapon and broke the tip off. This signified that hatred and revenge can drive a person to make horrible decisions, and once Gabrielle broke the spear off the end of her staff, it signified that hatred shouldn’t control a person’s life and a persons outlook can change at anytime. Gabrielle almost killed her best friend because of revenge. Gabrielle suddenly woke up. This also shows that close friends can conquer any struggle that they face, as long as they face the struggle together.

At the end of the episode Calisto’s plan of taking revenge on Xena backfires because Xena ends up making Calisto feel guilty about all of her wrong doings, such as, burning villages and killing innocent families. Her guilt glorifies the saying “what goes around comes around” and the pain and suffering she brought to others was brought back on to herself. This goes along with Karma, although Calisto originally didn’t have a conscience at the end of the episode we saw Calisto in a different, more caring and hurt, light. Showing that even the most horrible people can change and feel.

Calisto’s internal struggle between good and evil ultimately provided her with enough guilt to send her back to the underworld and free Xena. Xena was sent back into the real world the only catch was Xena still occupied Calisto’s body. This signifies a fresh beginning. No hatred, no revenge, and no regret.

All in all, this episode shows that revenge only brings more heart ache and suffering and nothing good can stem from revenge. Since this episode not only ended with Calisto returning to where she belonged, but also ended with Calisto feeling remorse for the pain and suffering she has caused, shows that Karma may not take effect right away, but it will eventually catch up to you.

Close Reading: Here She Comes…. Miss Amphipolis

The first major action scene in this episode viewed beautiful half naked women hysterically screaming and running because warriors were chasing them. This episode revolves around a beauty pageant, but at first glance this beauty pageant is symbolizing peace, but after a closer look the beauty pageant was being used as a means to create war instead of celebrating the end of war.

When Xean and Gabrielle realize that their friend summoned them to protect a pageant they were both outraged. Gabrielle said that beauty pageants are a  “feeble excuse to exploit and degrade women.” (GO FEMINISM!)

The only reason Xena agrees to enter the pageant was to stop a war from breaking out because the warlords, that are now peaceful, each entered a girl in the pageant, and each warlord is passionate about his girl winning, but conflict arises because an outsider is trying to sabotage the peace by trying to hurt their girls.

At first glance, these girls look like your typical snobs, the stuck up, beautiful, have everything type of girls. Girls that only care about superficial items, but in actuality behind their “fake” masks each contestant thinks the pageant is pointless and stupid, but each have their own reason for participating in the pageant. One woman wants to gain extra food for her village and another wants to get away from the disasters she had faced during the terrible and gruesome war.

Miss Artiphys after Xena removes her wig

This episode not only belittles pageants, but it also glorifies sexuality. LGBT is a major theme in this episode when Xena enters the steam room to find the culprit who locked her in (a scene featured earlier in the episode) she aggressively rips off “her” wig because she had a feeling she wasn’t fully female.

The transgender woman, Miss Artiphys, is the only contestant that entered herself in for a selfish purpose if you will. She wants to show off her female side, the side that she usually has to hide to people, and in the pageant she can show that side off without being laughed at. When the Miss Artiphys told Xena she would drop out  Xena said, “no way, may the best person win” and walked out.

Miss Artiphys dressed as a woman

This shows that being different is not a big deal. May the best person win shows that everyone is equal, just because someone was born differently doesn’t mean they are different, and people shouldn’t care.

At the end of the pageant, each girl started to quit because they ultimately realized that they didn’t need someone else in order for them to be independent. All they needed was themselves to count on. They realized giving up their pride and dignity wasn’t worth what they would ultimately gain in winning the pageant.

In closing, the winner of the pageant was actually Miss Artiphys. Her motives were clear and unlike the other girls, she participated in the competition without anyone bribing her. She did it for herself.

When Miss Artiphys was crowned the title Miss Known World, she grabbed Xena and kissed her in front of the crowd showing that it is okay to be different and be comfortable in your own body. Xena didn’t pull away or freak out. She was a little shocked at first, but she returned the kiss, and in the background you heard joyful cheering.

When Xena tells Gabrielle Miss Known World was actually a man Gabrielle was shocked, but all Xena had to say was “beauty is beauty.” This episode portrayed pageants originally as superficial and women just entering to show off their body and beauty, but in reality, the pageant turned into almost a self finding for the women who participated.

Close Reading: The Orphan Boy

Xena The Warrior. When you think of a Warrior one thinks of a strong, fearless, intelligent, and forceful warrior, but we never think to describe a warrior as caring, motherly, passionate, or gentle. We assume that warriors don’t posses those ‘motherly’ qualities because it is presumed a weakness on the battle field, but a warrior can actually be portrayed as both ruthless and gentle.

As the scene opens it shows Xena and Gabrielle walking through a battle field examining the area. As Xena talked about an agreement of peace, warriors came in fought Xena and Gabrielle, and in turn disrupting the quiet conversation them. In this light Xena is viewed as a fearless warrior protecting the land she has arrived at, but that quickly changes when the centaurs appear. In this frame, Xena is viewed harmless possessing no weapons, as she speaks about why she is there mentions she is “not [there] for anything, or any body” before she says anybody she stops speaking and then proceeds on. Directly after she say anybody, she’s attacked by a ten-year-old child named Solan.

Xena is shocked when she realize the little child, Solan, who attacked her was actually her son. This warrior went from being completely confident to being worried after her son outwardly directs his hate toward her. Throughout the episode Solan tries to sneak attack this women (Xena) who he thinks killed his father. Meanwhile, Dagnine, a warlord spying on Xena, so he can maneuver around her to gain the prize he wants, tires to find her weakness. He didn’t realize that her weakness would be her son.

This episode shows that this tough warrior battles with her past of giving up her son who doesn’t even no that she’s his mother. Xena expresses remorse for giving up her son and that no one can understand the pain, but Gabrielle tells Xena “[she does] understand, any women would,” this line views Xena as mother instead of a warrior. In previous episodes, she’s been viewed as flawless and unstoppable. The word choice “any women would” signifies that this show is directed towards a women audience, because if it was directed toward males the creator wouldn’t emphasis the word women.

In Xena’s past she was the evil warlord, the type of warlord she’s currently fighting against. So, when she was in a fight with the centaurs ten years ago they came to an agreement to stop the war if Xena never returned. Before Xena left, she left her child with the centaurs in order to protect him. Back when this show was created mothers never considered adoption even if it was the correct choice to make. This also showed that conquest wasn’t as important as her child.

In every scene where Xena is featured with Solan she doesn’t take on the classic warrior role. She shows her remorseful and motherly side. In the scene when Solan breaks his arm, Xena helps numb the pain for a little and then once the pain returned she was their for her child, holding him and rocking him in her arms.

Showing the strong warrior in this light provides insight that everyone has a weakness, but that not all weaknesses are bad. In Xena’s case, she was able to reunite with her son and use her motherly instincts, the instincts that we didn’t no a warrior could possess. The author is trying to show that although a woman can seem extremely tough on the outside when presented with something she cares about, she can turn from tough to gentle in the blink of an eye.

Contextual Analysis: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

In the early 1990s the third wave of feminism struck, since the series was created in the 1996 Feminist ideals were at the forefront of the series. In this particular episode, the main problems, with regard to women’s rights, were idealized.

Even before we understand the plot of the episode Xena and her best friend Gabrielle are being watched and viewed through a vulnerable light. Is it a coincidence that the Bacchae, the blood thirsty women, watching them are originally wolfs? Virgina Woolf was a feminist writer who thought men controlled females. These wolfs could change from wolf to women, and were originally created by a Bacchae biting the women. The transformation was complete once the bitten women drank the blood from a demonic god Bacchus.

This god controlled these Bacchae actions. This episode could be classified as an episode of the feminist movements, since the first wave of feminism mainly dealt with women’s suffrage, which is appropriate when we think of a “male” in particular a male GOD controlling the women’s actions. Now, this episode portrays the god as a gross, evil, demon-like creature, this god represents the men back in society, selfish, arrogant, and controlling who believed their women should worship them.

The second wave of feminism arouse after the first wave and concentrated more on the end of discrimination instead of focusing on absolute rights. This is portrayed in the episode because the second wave of feminism was viewed as a failed wave, and halfway through the episode Gabrielle changes into one of the Bacchae, symbolizing that everything doesn’t always go as planned. After Gabrielle was turned into a blood, thirsty creature, Xena didn’t just sit around and cry, she took action. She tried to follow Gabrielle before she returned to Bacchus so she wouldn’t drink his blood and complete the transformation. This ultimately shows that Xena is proactive and in order to save her best friend she needed to use all her resources, in this incidence, males. Finding Gabrielle the fist time failed this is analogous to the second wave of feminism because a third wave of feminism arose in order to respond to the second wave’s failures.

Xena put herself in harms way in order to fight for what she believed in, that capturing and enslaving women was immoral, regardless if her best friend was one of them or not. As Xena entered the demonic layer, she was attacked by hundreds of bloodthirsty Bacchea women. While she was trying to fight them off, the males she allied herself with were trying to play music, which neutralizes the bad females. In this scene, Xena started out as a strong but weak character and by that I mean she was unable to fight off the threat, which was abnormal for Xena. This relates back to the third wave because it was a less reactive wave, and once Xena realized she couldn’t conquer the god by being human, she let her best friend turn her into a Bacchea, in order to defeat the sexist god, literally symbolizing Xena put her heart and sole into the cause. This showed that there is light at the end of the tunnel and all of the heartache had a purpose. After Xena killed Bacchus, the Bacchae returned to their original human form. Since the third wave of feminism was less reactive, it focused more on gaining awareness and feminists alike.

Xena is the ultimate feminist. She thinks she is no better and no worse than males. She stands up for what she feels is right and what she believes in. This episode also showed that males and females must work side by side, in order to obtain a common goal.

As the episode came to a closing the eye of the Bacchus appeared over the back drop of Xena and Gabrielle walking away, signifying that their fight was not yet over and they would have to continue fighting for their cause.

The Warrior, The Princess, The Tramp

The Warrior, The Princess, the Tramp, each being female, the episode sets up a trifecta of multiple personalities. Women are taken for granted when pertaining to internal strength and intelligence, but taking women for granted may also be our strength against naive males!

Let me explain each personality, the Warrior: strong, courageous, intelligent, confident, aggressive, fearless, and cunning. These characteristics portray a warrior, but do we normally think of warriors as females? Nope, I sure don’t, but the T.V show portrays the main character as female; a female who can stand up for herself against the toughest male warriors. Xena, the warrior, defies all stereotypes, she is not helpless nor naive. She is independent. She is protective. When civilians are in need of her assistance she will never let them down, and she’ll fight fearlessly against males who attack the weak.

The Princess on the other hand, is the stereotypical prim and proper gal, she is respectful, helpless, motherly, and elegant. She is the female that is taken advantage of in order for gain.

Lastly, The Tramp, she is the naïve, dumb, vulgar, and promiscuous female who breaks the law and is used as a pawn by the warrior males, who take advantage of her weaknesses. Although “Tramp” has a condescending name, in the episode her promiscuity wasn’t negatively viewed. Actually, her “sluttyness” helped in the end.

Males are known to be strong and protective, so why would the main character of the show be a strong female who has the respect and fear of male warriors?

This episode of Xena: Warrior Princess emphasizes the gender roles of women. Since the ending of the episode portrays the women as winners and the male warriors as losers the show directs its focus to the fact that if women find the confidence within themselves they can over come men’s “rule” over women. The Tramp and the Princess both try to stop the male warriors and although they fail, they still found the courage to fight back.

This episode also displays male warriors as weak; the king in this episode is frail and unable to care for himself and he needs his daughter, the princess, to rule the kingdom once he dies. Not to mention, throughout this episode, whenever a male stepped in trying to help the plan always failed, but when the female stepped in trying to help the plan succeeded.

So I ask you, are women incompetent the way society portrays them? The answer is obvious, no, they are not! Females, although they might seem to act like the Princess or the Tramp, have internal strength, which can be harnessed at any time.

All in all, there is a Warrior, like Xena, inside us all (the females that is, men your on your own), but we decide when we need to act like a warrior, or act like a prim and proper lady.

The Warrior, The Princess, The Tramp, each are significant, each are inside us, and being the insightful females, each are used when needed.