Why is xena a princess

She came into my life when I was still very young, and she was the first on-screen example of a woman who could really hold her own. You want her to fight a man? You want her to fight an entire army of men? Even before Gabrielle joined her, Xena was fine. Putting aside her dark past, she was one heck of a role model. After all, she was the sole reason why I learned to appreciate a good war cry. Growing up, my brother and I watched both Xena and Hercules religiously.

And when the shows would have crossover episodes in which Xena and Hercules would make out? Oh yeah, those were the best days. But even when Hercules would come around, he would save her and she would save him. She was never a damsel any more than he was. Honestly, as ridiculous as it sounds, I attribute my strength as a young woman to my mother and to Xena. In fact, even my mother wishes she were Xena. And you know why she wants to be her? Because Xena is strong. Xena is powerful. And Xena can pretty much fly.

Her three episodes were so popular with viewers and so high in ratings that the network approved a spin-off for Xena. Fans have long seen the bond between Xena and Gabrielle as a romantic relationship.

The writers never confirmed or denied the idea, though the relationship was heavily suggested at certain points. The ambiguity was a deliberate choice by the network. Executives at Universal forbid any overt references to a romantic relationship, telling producer Rob Tapert it would create a surge of interest followed by a steep decline. The network was very concerned by the idea at first, but apparently warmed up to the ambiguous suggestion over time. Tapert explained, "Before we started shooting Xena , we shot the material that we were going to use to create the opening title sequences with.

The studio was so concerned that it would be perceived as a lesbian show that they would not allow us to have Xena and Gabrielle in the same frame of the opening titles. Lucy Lawless now seems inseparable from the role of Xena, as if she was made for the part. However, she was not even close to the first choice for Xena. However, Angel became too ill to travel to New Zealand for filming, leaving the Hercules crew scrambling for a replacement.

The role was then offered to four other actresses, all of whom rejected the role. Finally, the role was offered to Lucy Lawless, a relative unknown that had already appeared on Hercules twice in two different roles.

The role of Gabrielle also went to another actress at first, who decided she did not want to leave her boyfriend in the United States to move to New Zealand. Renee O'Connor was cast in her place. Xena: Warrior Princess started out by entangling Xena in the affairs of the Greek pantheon of gods, but the show soon expanded to feature figures from many cultures and religions. This became complicated when working with religious figures from current world religions.

When one Xena episode featured the Hindu god Krishna, some Hindu religious groups were not happy with the portrayal. These religious groups felt this was comparable to depicting Jesus on screen and putting words in his mouth. This was especially contentious since Krishna was summoned to help Xena rescue Gabrielle, who many assumed to be her romantic partner. Hindu groups felt this was tantamount to Krishna giving his blessing to homosexual relationships, miring Xena in a heavy religious debate.

The episode was edited slightly, and it aired with an introduction from Lawless stressing that the show tried to portray Hinduism in a respectful way. Xena: Warrior Princess appeared at a time when female-centered shows were incredibly sparse on television, before the forthcoming successful shows like Buffy. While they had been somewhat successful, they had never repeated in syndication very well.

However, the studio finally gave the green light for the Hercules spin-off, but not without hesitation.

Tapert continued, "At that time, the head of the studio gave me a lecture about why he was going to do this. In the s, LGBT characters and relationships on television were still controversial, and the series creator did not intend to address the subject at first.

He was surprised when fans started to read a lesbian relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. In fact, most of the cast and crew were surprised at the suggestion. Renee O'Connor added, "We were very aware that there was only so much we could do, because it was a show on network television.

So [while] Rob would push the envelope as much as he could, he still had to work within certain guidelines. Xena required significant action and stunt work from Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor, which created problems when Lawless was physically unable to perform the necessary stunts.

During filming for the second season, Lucy Lawless fell from a horse during a segment on The Tonight Show , fracturing her pelvis in several places.

Lawless' injury was serious, requiring physical therapy to relearn to walk. While Lawless recovered, producers and writers scrambled for a way to continue filming with Lawless in a limited role. Some episodes were written or rewritten around this, like an episode where Xena and Callisto switch bodies.

Lucy Lawless' pregnancy in the fifth season also had to be worked into the show, and the writers wrote the arc with Xena's daughter Eve to accommodate her.

The star of Hercules , Kevin Sorbo, was not pleased with Xena's incredible strength and skill in her spin-off. He felt it was a mistake to show Xena as the physical equal of Hercules.

Hercules is supposed to be the strongest person in the world and a half-god. And here Xena was able to do everything Hercules can do and more Before Xena, the Amazons featured in the s Wonder Woman series. Not quite the feminist icons we expect today, these women wore pastel-coloured negligees as they adopted a peaceful life without men on Paradise Island.

In Xena, while the Amazons may also have been attired in revealing costumes made of furs and skins, their separatist society values martial as well as academic skills. The Amazons from Greek mythology lived apart from men, at the edge of the known world, and fought bravely against male heroes such as Hercules, Theseus and Achilles.

In Xena, the Amazons also live in a matriarchal society and are skilled fighters who can hold their own against men. Saturday morning slot in the 90s and early noughties for young viewers.

This led many young girls to adopt Xena as their role model. Xena was also popular with gay and lesbian viewers. In the s, openly gay relationships were mostly missing from popular US television series.