Ahead of time
Posted by NiceRefrigerator4079@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 10 comments
Fascinating how far the Xena was a series ahead of its time. Not only as the main motive also had more than an obvious lesbian attraction between two main female heroes, but also in episode "Here she comes... Miss Amphipolis" and a trans man who won the beauty competition disguised in a woman. And all in the mainstream series from the 1990s. 👏
FeedOk8085@reddit
They were also the only show to be directed by a whole woman crew! If you've gone to their conventions, they speak of that and they are both fierce justice lovers, they're amazing! Definitely way ahead of their time.
Agent8699@reddit
A whole woman crew? There were very few female directors on Xena. And even where the directors were female, there were plenty on the crew who were male.
Tricky_Direction_897@reddit
And LL being pregnant…that was huge. We hadn’t had a pregnant super hero before!
Agent8699@reddit
Yes. It’s crazy to think about how it would be attacked by certain media if it aired today. Even things like Xena’s male love interests (Draco, Marcus, etc) being POC and especially Helen of Troy being a POC would presumably cause an (unnecessary and ridiculous) uproar.
IseQween@reddit
Honestly, in the U.S., I saw that as potentially controversial, especially given there was no ambiguity about Marcus as Xena's great love or his rolls in the hay with her.
Latte-Catte@reddit
Was that seriously something people fuss about back in the 90s?!? That wasn't very long ago, people has had partner of different ethnicity forever ago. Didn't realize the US was this backward.
IseQween@reddit
I chuckle at discussions of the Nineties as though certain biases didn't exist long before or haven't continued since around the world, through class, caste, "race," bloodlines, tribe, roles, wealth or other means for establishing status hierarchies -- power and/or superiority. It may be more visible in the U.S. and notable because folks here are supposed to have more freedom to go beyond their "place."
The Xenaverse both reflects and transcends long-held biases by creating characters who challenge such boundaries in terms of who they could be, defend, love, associate with, oppose, etc. Star Trek was groundbreaking like that in the Sixties in its themes and cast. XWP was the first time I saw women as the main protagonists breaking through "traditional" boxes/limitations.
Yu_Shu_Lien@reddit
The story is timeless.
f0rever-n1h1l1st@reddit
Xena's soulmate is Gabrielle and her baby momma is Callisto, and nobody bats an eye at the fact that a woman was impregnated by another woman, then goes on to raise the baby with yet another woman. And occassionally Joxer, probably.
And need we even mention Minia because a cough therspian cough.
Or Joxer's gay brother.
Or Vidalus going off on his gay adventures.
Or Xena's very obvious bisexual awakening with Lao Ma.
Or the poly vibes that XenaxGabriellexJoxer give off.
And the most amazing part of it all is that there are no dumb jokes, no offensive jabs, nobody in the show reacts to it as weird, and the episode with Joxer's gay brother is about him accepting his brother.
Xena has better LGBTQ+ rep than most shows trying today, and they pulled it off in the 90s! The 90s!
thecannoli2@reddit
Definitely ahead of its time in a lot of ways! And not a trans man, but a drag queen (maybe trans woman?) Played by the late Karen Dior. Karen Dior was her stage name, and not only was she a drag queen but was also HIV positive. This episode was the mid 90s; there was still an enormous stigma around AIDs with many people not wanting to shake hands with HIV+ people, much less kiss them on national TV.
And then a couple years later, they had the late Alexis Arquette (played Caligula) on! Another HIV+ member of the LGBTQ+ community. These things, plus literally almost everything else about this show, made it so groundbreaking and years ahead of its time.
Sorry for the long comment, I could talk for ages about how far ahead this show was for the mid/late 90s, and in some ways, even today.