Responding to message <[log in to unmask]>
from Craig Jacobsen <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> Okay, got to jump in here, and no, I'm not a Xena-phile (or whatever the
> proper term is). I simply think that it is a bit odd that people on a
> list
> which discusses science fiction and fantasy are so quick to turn up their
> noses at the show based upon its lack of faithfulness to history or myth.
> In
> the first place, I'm not sure that you can expect a show to be faithful
> to
> both, IF you accept that history and myth are two separate things (that
> "history" is "true" and "myth" is "fictional"). Secondly, would you make
> the
> same critique of, say, Zelazny's reworking of various mythologies, or the
> works of dozens (maybe hundreds) of other science fiction and fantasy
> authors
> who have similarly incorporated transformed elements of mythology into
> their
> works? Third, I think that the show displays a distinctly postmodern
> approach to narrative, refusing as it does to accept traditional
> hierarchies
> which place "history" or even "literary history" above such traditionally
> "low" forms of narrative as comic books or (gasp) pulp fantasy novels,
> all of
> which it incorporates into a surprisingly complex narrative matrix.
> After
> all, Homer (if there ever really was a Homer--the jury is out) ripped off
> earlier storytellers. He just got into print (must have had a good
> agent).
> I could go on, but I won't bore you. Unless of course you come to the
> Southwest Popular Culture Association Conference, where I'll be giving
> the
> whole spiel (and thank you to Eric Johnson for posting that call for
> proposals last month).
>
> Craig Jacobsen
> [log in to unmask]
> Tempe, AZ
>
> .
It is not that I have a problem with the show, it is just that it is
not presented in a good way. The storytelling is not very good. They [the
writers] do have their moments. The last episode that I saw, it had the
green dragon in it, was incredibly good. I'm pretty sure that it is
mythology story from somewhere, but it was not butchered. My problem is
that I wish that it had a sense of continuity. Even a small one would be
nice.
"Time is the fire in which we burn"
Negative Burn
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