Post by Mini Mia on Feb 19, 2010 20:38:03 GMT -6
LAWLESS Beauty, Blood and Sand BY ANDREW FISH
“Xena” had a compelling story arc. She started as an evil character, and then did this complete turnaround, deciding to become good and embark on this hero’s journey. I remember watching the finale and thinking, “What a perfect ending. Xena finally found her redemption.”
We thought there would never be any redemption for her. That was the bit of grit in her makeup that kept her searching, and thinking that she was irredeemable. And then we found out why she thought it, and then she achieved redemption. Although the fans were terribly hurt that we would kill one half of this new dynamic duo. They took it very personally, and only recently have people said, “Oh, I kind of like that ending!” A lot of the fan-base were people who felt very disenfranchised, or had been through pretty tough childhoods, and to them, Xena meant more than just a cool hero on an action show. She was some sort of a role model. To be honest, personally, I feel that role models are for kids. In the end, you’ve got to be your own hero. There’s nobody out there any better than you are, essentially. So, basically, they felt like we decapitated their role model, and that really hurt them, personally. Whereas, I thought, “Guess what. Everybody dies.” Get used to it. You’ve got to look for heroes inside yourself, and not outside. And certainly not on television, for crying out loud. But, you know, that was the hardcore fans’ construct, and people will always do that. If you’re not in touch with reality, it’s going to hurt you, eventually. You hurt yourself by doing that.
