Conference Paper

[alpheios21]

For all those interested, I am posting a copy of my conference paper. Once again, any comments on how to make it better will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance!

Comments

[morganmalfoy]

I really liked it Brian, although I'm not sure how well non-watchers of Xena will be able to follow. Even without that context, it still makes good and valid points.

[alpheios21]

Yeah, I'm a little worried how non-watchers will be able to follow it too. I try to explain the events of the individual episodes as much as possible, but I only have so much space (my directing professor said a conference paper is about ten pages). But, that's the case with most literary criticism. If you haven't read the work that the paper is based on, you're going to be a little lost.

[spikybluegirl]

Most of this makes sense to a non-watcher (I saw maybe 2 or 3 episodes so I'm a pretty good representative of that group) but the section about the final episode is a little vague... why was it seen as misogynistic or conflicting with themes?

Also, "It is even arguable that Gabrielle is even raped"... I'd take out an even. And there's a sentence after that: "it is ambiguous
enough that the writer of the episode, Steven L. Sears, to deny that a rape even occurred" that doesn't make grammatical sense.

Fun stuff. :)

[alpheios21]

Oh, it was seen as misogynistic because Xena died. She was also pretty brutalized throughout the entire episode (she was beheaded, then as a ghost whipped and stripped naked). It was seen as conflicting with the themes because, throughout the entire series, the show states that "vengeance is not the answer," but in the final episode Xena must stay dead so that the souls of those she accidentally killed must be avenged. It upset a lot of fans. I guess I could try to summarize that.