Love Eternal
Posted by fro_yoshi@reddit | xena | View on Reddit | 12 comments
Hi friends! I'm a newer fan who got into the show & binged it about 6 months ago. I'm now rewatching it with my sister, and feel like I've been hit over the head with a sledgehammer again (in a good way). The love between Xena and Gabrielle is just so awesome and emotional, so I wanted to make an art piece that could convey that at some level. Their relationship really is nothing like I've seen on a TV series before, and I think ironically, the censorship and the ways the crew tiptoed around it made them feel more real. More of a natural progression, I guess. I went in completely blind apart from knowing the show was campy, involved a girl with a chakram, and many horses (shoutout Argo), so I was totally blindsided by their, honestly, really overt romantic love.
I'm gen Z so I wasn't there to feel the impact the show made, but it clearly did, with a relatively smaller, yet dedicated fanbase 31 years later. Also, there were plenty of moments throughout the show, but season 6 being so blatant was like gay whiplash after season 5. Crazy stuff.
As for the actual drawing, I'm not the best at capturing likeness, but I tried really hard to get the resemblance down. I wanted the expressions to have a sense of comfort and peace. The limited color palette was also a challenge, and some things get lost, but I'm ultimately happy with it.
The text, as I'm sure many of you know, is from the episode Many Happy Returns, where Xena gives a poem from Sappho to Gabrielle. It's pretty neat that the text actually is pulled from an existing Sappho poem. Thanks for looking, and listening to my rambling, if you read through the post. Have a good day. :)
SomeDinars@reddit
Love
Ok_Kangaroo_2160@reddit
You captured the softness and solid warmth of their relationship so beautifully!!
As a Gen-Z individual myself, it's lovely to see other people discover this show. To think the higher-ups adamantly prevented Xena and Gabrielle from appearing on the opening credits for fear that viewers would think they were lesbians, only for it to go down in history as one of the very first shows to depict a same-sex relationship. The show organically depicts their genuine love and devotion for one another, and I can't help but feel so comforted by it. It was ahead of its time in many ways.
fro_yoshi@reddit (OP)
Thank you, that makes me glad to hear! Was really hoping it'd come across that way. I really have to admire the team working on the show for pushing the subtext as much as they could get away with. I really like the adlibs Lucy and Renee put in too, and the small blink-and-you'll-miss-it facial expressions/body language.
The throwaway male love interests that were mandated also didn't really do much to come between them; especially after their bond is established, the guys are just out of place and I can't take them seriously. (King Con, Ulysses and Mark Antony to name a few) King Con is funny to me because that episode is inserted right after some of the most defining episodes of Xena & Gabrielle's relationship. And then we never see him again and go back to the status quo. One Against an Army must have scared the execs bad!
Aside from the super obvious declarations of love (where people may STILL deny the romantic intention because of the omission of "in", "in love") there were plenty of innuendos and ways they portrayed intimate scenes — the massages and baths for example — without tipping off the censors, which was very smart, and worked in their favor. I think Xena & Gabs' quite literally undying love and being soulmates is so uplifting. They always find each other even when separated by death.
As for the intro, they got upset at the shot of Xena and Draco because they show him from behind and he has long hair 😭 while the higher-ups were not ahead of their time, I agree that the show was, in several ways.
Ok_Kangaroo_2160@reddit
It was a collaborative effort on all fronts. But the show wouldn't have had nearly the same following if Lucy and Renee did not portray Xena and Gabrielle. Fairly certain they had caught on to the subtext by the 8th/9th ep of the first season.
It's funny bc Gabrielle's love interests pivot from male to female, and she never really gets tempted. You're so right about "King Con" and "One Against an Army." That ep has to go down as one of the most overtly romantic ep of all time...I don't think I'll ever stop marvelling at Xena's need to protect Gabrielle from death and her willingness to follow her into the afterlife. Yet, we also witness Gabrielle's personal growth and dedication to the Greater Good - I love them sm! 😭😭
The hickey ad-lib is just one example of that! They could have entered into a friends-with-benefits agreement, but given Xena's overprotectiveness of Gabrielle's innocence, I can't really see it. Her past would keep her away from confessing her feelings.
However, I do find it annoying that Xena and Gabrielle weren't allowed to mutually kiss just once. I'm sure I would've lost it completely. Oh well, that moment is reserved for the fanfics, I suppose.
RedCalaLily@reddit
Soooo sweet, great job. That poem always gets me 🥲🥰
fro_yoshi@reddit (OP)
Thanks! Me too, and in the whole context of the scene... Their expressions, the lighting, the literal flying off into the sunset?! So romantic 🙂↕️
RedCalaLily@reddit
Ikr?! Driving or walking or even riding into the sunset is so passè ☺
Lovely idea and rendering ❤
IseQween@reddit
Thanks. I always like hearing the perspectives of newer fans, especially those not influenced so much by the hype about the show. And how great X&G's love continues to inspire creative tributes!
fro_yoshi@reddit (OP)
It sure is great; they're the heart of the show! And the awesome thing about a rewatch is I'm noticing so many details I didn't get before, or can see now in retrospect. My sister's great at catching things like that too, much better than me actually. I'm also appreciating the stunt work a lot more this time around.
Honestly I hadn't noticed there was recent hype for Xena, but I'm not on social media all that much. Through watching the show and subsequently digging into the history of its release and fan response, I was kind of surprised none of my peers mentioned it, because it feels like a big deal in terms of sapphic representation. Despite most of my inner circle being LGBT (I'm a bi guy) none of my friends had ever heard of XWP. And, if I wasn't interested in older, campy shows, I may never have found it. Guess it's tucked in its own little corner of the world for the most part, huh? Within my age range, at least.
Unusual-Elk-1926@reddit
Gabs’ side delts… perfecto 🫣
fro_yoshi@reddit (OP)
Such an inspiration, honestly. I heard that maintaining that physique was pretty rigorous for Renee but man did it show.
Massive_Long_276@reddit
the perfect couple indeed