{"id":426,"date":"2023-06-30T04:09:44","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T04:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/?p=426"},"modified":"2023-06-30T04:11:11","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T04:11:11","slug":"aquarius-and-various","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/typesandpatterns.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/30\/aquarius-and-various\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquarius and Various"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Gabrielle\u2019s \u201cA Message of Peace<\/em>\u201d gets a little jiggle from 3 wood nymphs <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Something I had to keep in mind about canon for my project is that I had 3 different kinds to juggle. Although my story is a #Xena episode, it actually draws upon 3 of the \u201cRenPic Cinematic Universe\u201d shows: Xena, #HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys , & #YoungHercules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my view, the 3 comprise one complete story, but they approach it in 3 different ways. In a Xena ep, Xena is the source: she caused the problem, she solves it, & along the way, she\u2019s the source of all important info about it. Even when she has no way of knowing the info,  she delivers it to us. The result is a highly unified story, which makes it the most sophisticated of the 3 shows. It\u2019s like the \u201cOedipus Rex\u201d of Greek tragedies: the perfect illustration of a hero that encapsulates all the story\u2019s choices & destinies in one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when Xena isn\u2019t present, she\u2019s the subject of the ep. Hercules is very different: the hero is more of a mediator, a peacemaker, & we see more of the world beyond him, because he\u2019s just one aspect of it. When he\u2019s not in an ep, life goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a way, he\u2019s actually a good model for Eve the Messenger, & in fact, next week I\u2019ll talk about how Eve\u2019s roots may actually be on Hercules. Young Hercules is more limited in scope. It\u2019s set in ancient Greece\u2019s equivalent of a high school, a military academy, complete with \u201cmalt shop,\u201d actually, an unusually cheery, sunlit tavern nearby, frequented by the younger crowd. Most of the stories focus on learning how to take on responsibility, & retaining one\u2019s values as they face a morally complex world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the leads has to take over his father\u2019s kingdom at an early age, & it\u2019s clearly not an envious task to wear the crown. There\u2019s virtually no romance at all. There\u2019s a female student, an Amazon, but she\u2019s just one of the guys. Is a serious look at becoming an adult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite that, Young Hercules has a lot of fun with concepts that appear in Xena & Hercules, & I found it a good source of how RenPic did world building in their version of Ancient Greece. I also found it inspiring when trying to imagine how Livia spent her younger years, since this would\u2019ve been similar to her environment, I believe. Not to mention, the Elijian youth movement, who would be similar in spirit to YH\u2019s cast.

Later in Hercules, they revisit the academy of his youth, to find it\u2019s become a very different place, expanded in scope & much more ruthless & corrupt. This is more how I imagine Livia\u2019s upbringing, & given the timing of its appearance on Hercules, it would\u2019ve coincided with the Xena staff\u2019s preplanning for her arc. So all 3 shows were helpful to me in expanding Eve\/Livia\u2019s character & world in a way that feels authentic to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not just stick with Xena\u2019s world? Because of the highly centralized nature of its stories, there isn\u2019t much breathing room for a third main character, & it\u2019s hard to conceive how that would work. As it is, I think the writers pushed it as far as they could go with her; any further, & the show could\u2019ve felt unbalanced. I\u2019ll talk more next week about the challenges of her character, & I\u2019m impressed they got as far as they did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll talk more about canon as I go through the project, but one more word for now. The Rosetta Stone of Xena canon, imo, is a show that ran concurrently during its 1st<\/sup> season: American Gothic. It\u2019s completely unrelated, but because it ran 1 season, the gothic concepts it introduced were picked up by Xena. The most important one, for my purposes, is the Rosemary\u2019s Baby-inspired arc. The Child of Destiny motif is big in Xena, throughout its run, & finds it biggest expression in Eve herself. This was something I kept in mind for this story:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s not merely a personality, but has real thematic momentum behind her, & that impacted how I expanded on her backstory. I\u2019ll close with another video that inspired the look of this project. There\u2019s a lot of dance-related videos I looked at, & this one helps connect several storylines.

The opening dance sequence in the musical Hair shows tai-chi-inspired dance in NY\u2019s Central Park, as witnessed by a recruit bound for Vietnam. Here it illustrates their freedom and uninhibitedness, & it inspired how I portrayed the Elijian youth,\u00a0 but strangely enough, it also inspired how I imagined teen Livia danced. Her military discipline would\u2019ve drawn on the same movements, in a very different context. To me this illustrates the idea of synchronicity: how lives & events seemingly headed for tragic collision can suddenly find themselves aligned, as if by the planets & stars themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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