Hercules and the male (???) gaze
So just about exactly 30 years ago now, a film scholar named Laura Mulvey wrote an article called "Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema," which defines "the erotic pleasure in film" in terms of voyeurism, sadism, and "the fetishistic representation of the female image." The male viewer, according to her thesis, identifies with the "omnipotence
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I used to write Hercfic back in the day, both Herc/Iolaus and Herc/Xena, but I'm now still totally obsessed with BTVS/ATS. When I finish the *two* icons100 challenges I'm doing, I want to make some more HTLJ icons. All that eye candy.
Xena was the lone taciturn hero with a Dark Past (TM) whereas Hercules was the big muscled easygoing fella and much less butch than Iolaus, really. *g*
Very true. I did get tired of fanfic in which Iolaus was always the victim and the one who needs to lean on Herc (although I have to confess to participating in that genre, but I hope while giving Iolaus a lot of backbone at the same time). Two of my favorite stories of my own were 1) a hurt/comfort story in which Herc nurtures (but doesn't have sex with) Xena and 2) a story in which Herc is a slave to an AU Conqueror Xena. I always thought his character had more dimensions than we necessarily see, although Sorbo's acting improved quite a bit the last couple seasons.
Yeah, I remember that scene in Amazon Women now that you remind me. :-)
Well, yes, Twanky is definitely a pantomime dame. But I guess I see MH as taking that character type and using it to play up a playful kind of subtext as well. All the flirting w/ Herc has that resonance of us *knowing* it's MH playing Twanky, and as a director, MH never shied away from meta. :-)
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