{"id":421,"date":"2023-06-28T04:56:23","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T04:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/?p=421"},"modified":"2023-06-28T04:56:47","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T04:56:47","slug":"appropriate-or-appropriation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/28\/appropriate-or-appropriation\/","title":{"rendered":"Appropriate or Appropriation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a>
Joxer, the Hanged Man of the Tarot, can\u2019t shake his image, in The Play\u2019s the Thing<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An important part of canon in Xena, Hercules, & Young Hercules is the use of Greek myth, cinema, & world religions as part of its aesthetic structure. In a show that uses a lot of references, you can imagine how elaborate it gets as they intertwine over seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, there\u2019s an additional concern, that of cultural appropriation. Using references to religions & cultures in the name of entertainment are considered insensitive by some, depending on how they\u2019re used. The audience is global, these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nice thing about Xena et al is that they were designed for global audiences already, so imo past the test a great deal of the time. Not everyone agrees, but I think there\u2019s some misinterpretation at work in those cases. Some things I\u2019ve heard criticized recently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depicting Indians as primitive for the practice of suttee in Between the Lines (i.e., burning the surviving widow with the deceased husband, as his \u201cproperty\u201d). The alleged stereotypes in \u201cThe Way\u201d commonly found in Hollywood films about the Arabian Nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

& I\u2019ve heard it said that the Horde in The Price is a racist depiction of aboriginal people of color. I see these in a different context. \u201cThe Way\u201d looks to me like an homage to Bollywood, & that\u2019s how many Indian viewers interpreted it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a big Bollywood fan, & that\u2019s how it looks to me as well. Those films often play with the depictions of the Indian gods, just as the West gets creative with its own depiction of Christianity, & the dividing line between homage & pure entertainment is often blurry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The practice of suttee, sacrificing the widow, was indeed an ancient practice in India, but it was also an ancient practice among the Vikings and the Greeks. Euripides even included it in one of his plays about the Trojan War. So why does Xena single out India? It doesn\u2019t!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In season 2\u2019s Blind Faith, we see Gabrielle wedded to a dead man (Greek), & nearly burnt with her deceased husband, 2 full seasons before \u201cBetween the Lines.\u201d Re: the Horde in The Price. Its racial makeup is actually no different than the Athenian soldiers who fight them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what most interests me is that we eventually learn that the Horde lives underground, & in caves. This, along with suttee, I believe is a cinematic reference to the film The 13th<\/sup> Warrior. Based on a true story, but fictionalized by Michael Crichton, this film is a known source for some of the writers of Xena & Hercules. It\u2019s the story of a Persian diplomat who travels to the land of the Vikings (the true part) & encounters a prehistoric race of matriarchal warriors that survived into the modern era (the fiction part).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a fun movie, & there\u2019s numerous episodes that play on its plot points in Xena & Hercules. The prehistoric tribe lives underground, in caves, like the Horde, & are unintelligible. Actually, the Vikings are unintelligible to the diplomat, who learns their language simply by watching them. This connection between primordial humans & ability to speak occurs throughout both series. Its last appearance, I believe, is in season 6\u2019s The Abyss. Why do they use The 13th<\/sup> Warrior in this way? That\u2019s a matter of interpretation, & you don\u2019t need to ponder the connection in any way, unless you\u2019re wondering why all these things are popping up. If you assume they\u2019re problematic associations, you may miss the larger pattern. Myself, I think it has to do with Rob Tapert\u2019s wish to illustrate how religion develops & spreads. This is the reason given on one of the dvds, & it makes sense to me. Religion was extremely fluid in the ancient world, & not governed by national boundaries (which didn\u2019t really exist as we know them). This is what fascinates me about Eve\u2019s story, as it takes this idea of the growth of religion & extends it into an era that\u2019s more familiar to us in the West: the time After Christ (A.D.). You can probably guess this would also be extremely problematic to explore, & that\u2019s a major concern of mine as well, for this project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinduism also exists in our era, but it\u2019s unavoidable for #Xena: she is openly & conceptually tied to Hinduism, & the show stays true to that to the end, rather than just borrow the images. I\u2019ll explore the issues of depicting Eve\u2019s religion in the next 2 wks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An important part of canon in Xena, Hercules, & Young Hercules is the use of Greek myth, cinema, & world religions as part of its aesthetic structure. In a show that uses a lot of references, you can imagine how elaborate it gets as they intertwine over seasons. These days, there\u2019s an additional concern, that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-xena"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421\/revisions\/423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}