Warrior Princess, Instrument of Feminism (Revision)

Recently in class we discussed an article by Jean Kilbourne entitled "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt. In this discussion, there were various points discussed about feminism, female rape culture and the exploitation of women in the media. Although these points have been on the rise in today’s pop-culture I believe we have steadily progressed as a people in the battle for Feminism. There is a show on Netflix that started out as a New Zealand Television series. The show was later released in the United States in 1995. The series lasted 7 years. It stared a female heroin, Xena, and her best friend Gabriele. The two roam the country side of Greece battling Robbers, pirates and warlords while saving the people they care about. The story was a spin-off of the earlier series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” where Xena made frequent appearances. The show outlasted its parent series by three years.

The series Xena the Warrior Princess is a prime example of how society is becoming more accepting of females in power than they were back in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. This was a time period when our major goals as women were to reproduce and take care of the house and our husbands. Having a female as the hero in a show opens up so many doors for us. 

One could argue that all the show does is throw a curtain over the real issues because of the way that Xena and her companions are dressed throughout the series. Also the fact that on some occasions Xena and her friends are saved by the God of War or Even Hercules himself. Now true in the show most of the women including the Amazon Nation (A tribe of beautiful and powerful women) do dress to appeal to certain aspects of society, but that is all that it is. The women in the show hold their own and represent a new type of female in our culture. This type of representation in some cases would not appeal to some men and in order to compensate the creators must add some sort of appeal for the opposite sex. You here often that men are intimidated by women who display what they call “masculine” characteristics or any type of power at all.

In this clip of Callisto Vs Hercules the viewer gets to see one of the many fight scenes from the show. In this clip you see one of the various female antagonist that Xena (and sometimes Hercules who in this case is another one of her targets fighting in order for him to escape and reach his friends in time to help them) fights frequently throughout the show. Yes Hercules is going to help Xena in this case, but don't get distracted from the bigger picture. Notice how throughout the clip Callisto holds her own during the entire fight and actually has the upper hand during most of it until the end. 

There is even an episode within the series entitled "Lyre Lyre". In this episode Xena is pregnant with a baby girl. Her mother wants her to find a man to marry so that he can take care of Xena and her daughter. Xena and the Amazon's then sing a song called Sisters Are Doing It. In this song the ladies quote "There was a time when they use to say that behind every great man, there had to be a great woman, but in these times of change you know that's no longer true. So we're comin' out the kitchen because there is something we forgot to say to you." This song basically lets the viewer know that the liberation of women has come, and women are not held in the same regard as they once were. Now granted we women are not restricted to the lives they had back in the 19th century, but we are still not considered the full equal of a man either. This show opened up doors for many other shows with strong female characters in leading roles.

One show that gained attention from the television show Xena Warrior Princess was the show Cleopatra 2525. The show stared three females fighting against an evil android army in the year 2525. The three main female characters all had supporting roles in the show Xena Warrior Princess as Amarice, Cleopatra, and Cyane. This show although with good intention could not compete with its parent show and only lasted for two seasons. However this spin-off with only female characters shows the impacted the show Xena Warrior Princess had on the entertainment world.

The point of this whole thing is to basically show that even though we do as a society hold women in a lesser regard than men in some cases (like when it comes to salaries, clothing and in some media) we are making large strides against these things. The show itself being thirteen years old shows how we are developing socially. I believe that even now in the year 2015 there are so many female leading roles in TV shows and movies that just show how far we have come. Look at some of the recent TV show examples like Nikita and Covert Affairs. Females with guns who take charge and get things done. If that doesn't say power then I don't know what does.

Warrior Princess Battle For Feminism

Recently in class we discussed an article by Jean Kilbourne entitled "Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt. In this discussion, there were various points discussed about feminism, female rape culture and the exploitation of women in the media. Although these points have been on the rise in today’s pop-culture I believe we have steadily progressed as a people in the battle for Feminism. There is a show on Netflix that started out as a New Zealand Television series. The show was later released in the United States in 1995. The series lasted 7 years. It stared a female heroin, Xena, and her best friend Gabriele. The two roam the country side of Greece battling Robbers, pirates and warlords while saving the people they care about. The story was a spin-off of the earlier series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” where Xena made frequent appearances. The show outlasted its parent series by three years.
The series Xena the Warrior Princess is a prime example of how society is becoming more accepting of females in power than they were back in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. This was a time period when our major goals as women were to reproduce and take care of the house and our husbands. Having a female as the hero in a show opens up so many doors for us.

One could argue that all the show does is throw a curtain over the real issues because of the way that Xena and her companions are dressed throughout the series. Also the fact that on some occasions Xena and her friends are saved by the God of War or Even Hercules himself. Now true in the show most of the women including the Amazon Nation (A tribe of beautiful and powerful women) do dress to appeal to certain aspects of society, but that is all that it is. The women in the show hold their own and represent a new type of female in our culture. This type of representation in some cases would not appeal to some men and in order to compensate the creators must add some sort of appeal for the opposite sex. You here often that men are intimidated by women who display what they call “masculine” characteristics or any type of power at all.

In this clip of Callisto Vs Hercules the viewer gets to see one of the many fight scenes from the show. In this clip you see one of the various female antagonist that Xena (and sometimes Hercules who in this case is another one of her targets fighting in order for him to escape and reach his friends in time to help them) fights frequently throughout the show. Yes Hercules is going to help Xena in this case, but don't get distracted from the bigger picture. Notice how throughout the clip Callisto holds her own during the entire fight and actually has the upper had during most of it until the end.

The point of this whole thing is to basically show that even though we do as a society hold women in a lesser regard than men in some cases (like when it comes to salaries, clothing and in some media) we are making large strides against these things. The show itself being thirteen years old shows how we are developing socially. I believe that even now in the year 2015 there are so many female leading roles in TV shows and movies that just show how far we have come. Look at some of the recent TV show examples like Nikkita and Covert Affairs. Females with guns who take charge and get things done. If that doesn't say power then I don't know what does.