Whoosh!

Whoosh!, submitted by me. Next to Star Trek and Star Wars nerds, fans of Xena are among the most rabid and hardcore zealots in the entire online geek community. At Whoosh! there are articles after articles of analytical essays, research papers, and theories about different facets of the series. One of the early articles by Karen Pusateri explores the themes presented by the show.

On closer observation, "Xena" is a show about the changing of female stereotypes and traditional roles within a postmodern filmic format. Post-modernism can be described as an aesthetic which emphasizes the fragmentary nature of images, the appropriation of images from previously created images, and their resistance to a single unity logic or subject position.

I hate to break it to you lady, but Xena is a campy action show about tits and ass. It's entertaining to some, embarrassing to others, and unknown by most. Here is the real theme of the show, if you put women in skimpy costumes you might be able to steal away a few viewers from X-Files reruns. The extensiveness of these articles is just too much. Check out this one, where Debbie White dares to ask Was Xena Really Ever Evil?

Was Xena ever really evil? She did evil acts from laming her horse to using Iolaus to kill his best friend. Without knowing for certain why Xena decided to use Iolaus to kill Hercules, we cannot know for sure. She did border on the edge of pure evil with several acts, but things happened to pull her away before she permanently landed there. This wavering between evil-doer and pure evil probably happened throughout her entire career until Hercules broke her out of it and Gabrielle kept her out of it. I admit, this paper is not an answer, but the fun of Xena is you never quite know why she does things. You can only hope she did it for the best reasons.

WHO GIVES A SHIT?! All I care about is being able to fantasizing about a tall butch broad putting handcuffs on me and dripping hot wax on my cock. That's it. You "Xenaphiles" are out of touch with reality. Xena does not liberate women. She is not a lesbian icon. There is no lesson learned from the show. You people are long overdue for therapy and it's about time someone said so. Please get help.

– Zachary "Spokker Jones" Gutierrez