=========================================== WHAT GENRE IS XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS? IAXS Project #161 By Rob Reyes (Prettybboy@msn.com) Copyright 1997 held by author 425 words =========================================== Everyone who watches XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS, no doubt has their own opinion of what kind of show it is, whether it is fundamentally a comedy, a drama, or perhaps even a tragedy. In my opinion, the show is all of the above and more. I began watching XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS less than a year ago. I am relatively new at the history of it. I have caught an episode here and there, and know who the main characters are, but it never really caught my eye until sometime last fall, when what I saw filled me with intense emotion. Tragedy The episode was IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (#24), where Gabrielle is wounded and dies, and Xena loses it. Xena, while frantically giving Gabrielle mouth to mouth resuscitation, shakes Gabrielle and scolds her to breathe. All the while the doctor is telling Xena to give it up, that Gabrielle is gone. My heart broke and I had only caught the last part of the episode. Lucy Lawless might never win an Emmy Award but her acting in DOCTOR sure deserved one. She made me feel very sad in a short amount of time. I became a fan after that. Since then, there have been many more tragic moments that befall our favorite characters. Comedy To balance out the sadness, however, there are also some sublime moments of fun. This fun can get very complex and referential. In HERE SHE COMES...MISS AMPHIPOLIS (#35), Xena is fighting the bad guy and with each hit she is saying lines like, Don t hate me, because I m beautiful. This is a very canny send-up to a hair product commercial from almost a decade before. In that same episode, the drag queen, Miss Artiphys, saves Xena s cover when accused of being Xena, Warrior Princess, by saying I m not a princess, I m a queen! This is great humor and it is not mindless, either. Action, Romance, and Drama Of course, neither can one forget that this is an action/adventure show. Not only because of all the amazing fight scenes and perils the characters go through, but also because of the fantasy thrown in. At times the show is romantic. I have seen the chemistry between Xena and Gabrielle. It goes without saying that with all of these types of genres appearing in one show, it has to be a great show. n