THIS WEEK IN XENA NEWS... TWXN 96 08/06/97 Wednesday The advance sheet of XENA MEDIA REVIEW (XMR): http://xenafan.com/xmr Excerpts from the following cites will appear in future issues of XMR. From the editor: 1. I just realized I am getting very, very close to TWXN #100 and I am still 4 months behind...XWP is clearly doing too much press. 2. What's on the plate for today??? Denver and Dallas! The two "D" cities published significant articles about XWP on the same day...coincidence? You bet! The articles, however, each take different approaches to the subject matter. Denver's is a tradtional 'let's talk about the show' article while Dallas decides to delve into the historical predecessors of the warrior princess. 3. Friday...yes, Friday, we will go back to piecemeal articles. Dallas opines about the people who are most likely to go to hell. We discover who Lisa Berlin is and why she is so important to our perception of XWP. Little Rock looks at how monsters in Xena may affect younger tykes. The Times-Picayune has a little blurb about ELLEN vs. XENA. An EW letter writer calls up the spirit of Xena to help her cope with freeway frustrations in LA. There are more snide comments from the British press (are they made uncomfortable by the warrior princess or what? they sure wear THEIR neuroses on their sleeves!). Toronto conjectures how a young boy's thoughts turn from toy trains, toy cars, and toy planes to THE WARRIOR PRINCESS. XWP compared favorably with ER! AND MORE... But nonetheless. here are Wednesday's stories: [ ] 03-23-97 THE DENVER POST. Sunday. Page F02. 660 words. "Xena slaughters the entertainment stereotypes" By Susan Estrich REPRINT: She is being hailed as the "post-feminist icon," gracing the cover of Ms magazine, winning role-model contests among seventh- and eighth-grade girls, and handily beating "Baywatch" in the weekly television syndication ratings. She is Xena, and she is a feminist challenge. Xena is a warrior princess, dressed in a leather bustier and armed with a chakram, a razor-sharp discus weapon she hurls at her enemies. Xena is smart and fearless and strong and powerful. She takes lovers across racial lines, she kills enemies, and she is forever loyal to her sidekick, Gabrielle. "She really appeals to younger, post-feminist women and girls," said Sarah Dyer, editor of Action Girl comic magazines. "She wears a skirt, and she proves you can fight really well in a skirt. She has cool-looking hair, but she kills people." If good hair and wearing a short skirt make you a post-feminist, then let's all sign up. Why shouldn't women embrace their own sexuality as power - and use it? If feminists of earlier generations shied away from that most traditional source of female power, it was largely because they had more experience with sexuality as a route to the bottom than to the top. When Xena walks into the room, men look, but they don't dare touch. As for the atrocities people have seen her commit, most of the violence these days is aimed at rapists and marauders, but Xena is not above slugging even Gabrielle when pushed to her limit. Early on, many local TV station managers were reluctant to air the show, according to Robert Tapert. "They thought no one would want to see a woman hitting men." Not so. Tapert and his partner, Sam Raimi, created Xena after building their careers with male fantasy thrillers. The genius of this show, according to its creators and staunchest supporters, is the extent to which gender is not an issue. "I believe, in the basest and crassest of ways, that there's a formula to stories about heroes, and no one had ever tried to do this before with a woman hero," Tapert explained. "Or if they did, they made excuses for her being a woman." Kym Masera Taborn, chairperson of the board of the International Association of Xena Studies and editor of the on-line Xena magazine WHOOSH! (there are dozens of Xena-related websites), offers essentially the same assessment: "In the past, when a woman was inserted into a basic male archetypal story, they made the female almost too female. With this one, they've kept her pretty serious." Liberal feminism has been much criticized for buying in to the notion that equality consisted of the chance to beat the boys at their own game, while sending the message to more traditional stay-at-home moms, wives and volunteers that what they did was less valuable. Notwithstanding the efforts of feminist law reformers like Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to represent men as often as women, feminism's earliest and greatest success has indeed come in allowing women to cross over into a man's world and compete on men's terms, with all that implies about whose world is better. The pendulum of current thinking has swung so far in the other direction that the view that women can be just like men is actually being labeled "post-feminist." Retrofeminism is more like it. Of course women can be as strong and tough and powerful as men. When do we get to stop proving that? In her autobiography, Katharine Graham recounts a moment when she told Warren Buffett, the largest investor in the newspaper company she had just taken over, to be unsparing in his criticism but to deliver it gently. Xena would never say that. But I would, and so would many women I know - and even some men. Xena's way is fine. But so is Graham's. She's my "post-feminist" superhero, and judging from the best-seller list, I'm not alone. Watch out, Xena. Susan Estrich is a law professor and a contributing editor of the Los Angeles Times. She was national campaign manager for Dukakis for President in 1988. GRAPHIC: Lucy Lawless plays the fierce and fearless warrior princess Xena. [ ] 03-23-97 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Sunday. Page 1F. 1946 words. "Warrior Women. Images of strength are capturing the imagination of '90s females" By Colleen O'Connor (Dallas Morning News) EXCERPT: Women warriors, both real and fantasy, are hitting a nerve with '90s women. From a North Dallas grandmother to a California scientist, they're mesmerized by images of female strength and daring. It's like John Wayne for women: stiffens the spine and squares the shoulders. Women on war horses, thundering into battle with mighty screams - big, raven-haired and terrifying. Quivers of arrows on their backs, daggers in their belts, they fearlessly defended their families and their land, avenging murder and rape and pillage. Such visions capture the passion of modern women because they realize, often with surprise, that this really is their heritage. "As Texans say, they don't take anything from anyone," says Jo Wharton. Leader of a local women's circle, she's a big fan of women warriors, from TV's Xena, Princess Warrior to the historic Queen Boadicea, who rode into battle against the Romans during the first century to avenge the rape of her daughters. This fascination with women warriors galloped into public attention with the recent discovery that Amazon women were perhaps not just a nice myth for storybooks. A few bones and weapons found in graves halfway around the world have raised eyebrows from here to England... ...In Dallas, the news spread fast. Many women say they've clipped the story from newspapers as evidence of a distant past of power and might. Jo Wharton is one such woman.... ...The TV warrior * On television, there's Xena, Princess Warrior. Like the Amazon women, Xena is an avenger. Surrounded by enemies, barbaric tribes, slave traders and a slew of other evils, she fights to help people free themselves from tyranny or injustice. The popular TV character has spawned a popular warrior-woman doll. "I'm probably the only grandmother in Far North Dallas with a Xena doll," says Ms. Wharton, who got the doll as a Christmas gift from her daughter. "She's about the size of Barbie, but what a difference!" Her feet are firmly planted wide apart, and much of her strength is in her powerful legs. "I think Xena touches me and so many women because she can take care of herself so well," says Ms. Wharton. "You always know Xena will win in the end, just like the old cowboy serials at the movies. She has immense strength and confidence, but she uses her strength to do good. . . . I like it that millions of girls can see Xena take care of herself." Like many women, Ms. Wharton seeks out images of women warriors - Xena, Boadicea, the Amazons - because they speak to her heart, even over centuries of time. Their message? "If women used to be able to change their lives, then perhaps I can change mine," she says. Or as Dr. Nutt says: "Women can be a warrior in all kinds of ways, not just on a horse with armor. It's about how you live, the way you take power and use it."... ...TELEVISION AND BEYOND: In addition to Xena, Princess Warrior, newly discovered women warriors are popping up in discussions on the Internet and elsewhere. They include: Tomoe Gozen of Japan, who wore armor, rode a horse and fought along with her master and lover in the 12th century. The Aztec women of Tlatelolco, who tucked up their skirts, dressed in war regalia and shot arrows at the enemy. An Islamic woman warrior named Nusseyba bint Ka'b who defended the prophet Mohammed in a battle with saber and bow and arrows. Lozen, the Apache woman warrior who was often photographed with Geronimo. She sang war songs, plotted battle strategy and was a fierce fighter... ...GRAPHIC:...Jo Wharton's Xena doll, given to her by her daughter, symbolizes the time when women were respected for their power.... Notices: All back issues of XMR and TWXN are available at (http://xenafan.com/xmr). We herein give praise and thanks to Tom Simpson for the space he has graciously donated from his spectacular, TOM'S XENA PAGE (http://xenafan.com). If you have never been to TOM's, you are **not** a xenafan! TWXN is the advance sheet for XMR, an annotated world press review of reports regarding the internationally syndicated television show XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS (1995 - 2000+?) and the castmembers, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. TWXN is not available for subscription, however it is posted Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the XenaVerse, Hercules-Xena, and Chakram Mailing Lists (thank you Lucia! I am greatly indebt to you), the MCA NetForum (when it isaccepting posts), the Xenite Message Center (when I can figure out where it is), and alt.tv.xena. I also would like to thank sirvin@law.wfu.edu for assitance in collecting the newstories. 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