From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V5 #72 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Saturday, March 19 2005 Volume 05 : Number 072 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [chakram-refugees] Xena in Medieval Hero on Screen [IfeRae@aol.com] [chakram-refugees] FATES Ending (Was Re: COMING HOME Commentary) [IfeRae@] Re: [chakram-refugees] COMING HOME Commentary [IfeRae@aol.com] Re: [chakram-refugees] Xena in Medieval Hero on Screen [cr That > is, although students felt themselves possessed of some arcane > trivia as a result of these series (which spent a surprising amount > of development time on historical research), they were sufficiently > aware of the distinction between a postmodern pastiche of historical > moments on the one hand and a philologically and archaeolgoically > correct Middle Ages on the other. > Good lord! That author sure has an ... interesting ... take on XWP's significance. I knew I was missing something by focusing on the "arcane trivia" as opposed to the "philologically and archaeologically correct." Is he suggesting Xena really didn't help cause the fall of the Roman Empire, masquerade as Cleopatra or rescue Helen of Troy? Crap. And here I'e been congratulating myself for progressing beyond old-fashioned liberal arts, into a more entertaining "postmodern pastiche" education. :-) - -- Ife ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 01:00:30 EST From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] FATES Ending (Was Re: COMING HOME Commentary) In a message dated 3/17/2005 1:07:42 AM Pacific Standard Time, cr@orcon.net.nz writes: > On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 18:15, IfeRae@aol.com wrote: > > (When Fates Collide:) > > >At any rate, I really liked the ending. I found its coolness a great > >contrast to the heat (emotions, drama) of the preceding scenes. X&G seemed > >kind of numb and afraid too much movement might send them back to the void > >-- a lot like somebody in real life might respond to unbelievable, shocking > >events. I loved how they still played it so "normally," like, "Okaaaay, > >so *that* was pretty interesting. Let's ride off, get our bearings, have a > >bit of lunch, and see what else lies ahead." As opposed to, "Good gods! > >What in Tartarus was *that* all about? I'm shaking like a leaf and believe > >I'll need therapy until the season runs out." Or, "Oooo, goodie! We're > >back in our 'real' time. Isn't that neat? Let's kiss, hug and pretend > >like nothing happened." > > > >-- Ife > > Hey, I just liked that they took it so cool, full stop. The Butch Cassidy > touch ('You sure you used enough dynamite there, Butch?') > > Xena always was a cool character. I'm not so sure about Gabs (but I'm sure > > the Gabfans will put me right on that :) But anyway, I thought those two > at the end were more like the Xena and Gabs we 'know' than anywhere else in > the ep. >> LOL! I just got through responding to Xenatorres, mentioning that maybe age played a role in my response. And here you come along and agree with me. What's interesting is that you find their response "characteristic," whereas I can understand those who don't. Admittedly, I see the latter more from some fans' viewpoint, whereas I see the former more from the producer/director viewpoint. As a "mature" viewer, I always appreciated that Tappy put what I think of as a "jazz" twist on a "pop" series. Very little was as black-and-white as it was in my younger days. Emotions were often tempered by experiences that made the characters respond with a longer view, with the variety of responses that can come as the years go by. Despite the loving interaction between X&G, they reminded me more of an older couple (married or otherwise) than two buddies simply touring the world together. More laid back, reflective, improvising with (usually) complete trust in a shared framework, values, etc. of how they wanted to approach life (the "music"). Now, I realize that I'm coming at this a bit differently than you, and that you probably focused more on Xena. But I found the series in general -- Reformed Xena in particular -- to have the "feel" you describe. So, from my perspective, the ending of FATES was quite in keeping with how both characters had matured, in the confidence they had in each other, their relationship, their ability to make it through just about anything. That's what I saw, and I loved it. Xenatorres -- and maybe even LL&ROC -- weren't happy with it, but for me it was one of the best scenes of the ep. - -- Ife ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 01:00:27 EST From: IfeRae@aol.com Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] COMING HOME Commentary In a message dated 3/17/2005 8:24:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, xenatorres@hotmail.com writes: > >I loved how they still played it so "normally," like, "Okaaaay, so *that* > > >was pretty interesting. > > I understand the concept, but I agree with Renee and Lucy that the delivery > was god awful. There's numb and there's not acting. The delivery sounded > like something a non-actor would deliver. Lucy and Renee didn't like being > directed to act like that and I agree. I think they could have given a Lucy > and Renee quality performance if just told to be 'numb' or 'a little > shaken.' But the droning tone...no, that was no good. > LOL! Actually, I didn't hear them say it was "god awful," so much as that they weren't sure what the director was after and would have made different choices if left up to them. I wish ROC & LL had said more about how they'd have played it. True, it wasn't necessarily "characteristic" X&G, but neither was the rest of FATES in many ways. Perhaps the director had a better sense of the "big picture," but wasn't able to articulate it well. Or, his interpretation could have indeed been "off." :-) It could be that my age has something to do with my liking the scene okay. Reminded me of the "malaise" of middle age -- having gone through so much that I know "this too shall pass," so tend not to get too exercised about some things. Mind you, the down side is often a lack of passion about something that might've inspired more emotion in the past. Anyway, I guess I related to the bland delivery and didn't see it as particularly "bad" or inappropriate under the circumstances. Always interesting how differently we react to something - -- LL & ROC included. - -- Ife ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 21:55:46 +1300 From: cr Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] Xena in Medieval Hero on Screen On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 19:00, IfeRae@aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 3/17/2005 4:44:18 PM Pacific Standard Time, > > KLOSSNER9@aol.com writes: > > That > > is, although students felt themselves possessed of some arcane > > trivia as a result of these series (which spent a surprising amount > > of development time on historical research), they were sufficiently > > aware of the distinction between a postmodern pastiche of historical > > moments on the one hand and a philologically and archaeolgoically > > correct Middle Ages on the other. > > Good lord! That author sure has an ... interesting ... take on XWP's > significance. I knew I was missing something by focusing on the "arcane > trivia" as opposed to the "philologically and archaeologically correct." > Is he suggesting Xena really didn't help cause the fall of the Roman > Empire, masquerade as Cleopatra or rescue Helen of Troy? Crap. And here > I'e been congratulating myself for progressing beyond old-fashioned liberal > arts, into a more entertaining "postmodern pastiche" education. :-) > > -- Ife Iconoclast that I am, I can't help wondering when reading stuff like that (the original author's words, I mean, not lfe's comment) whether the author's meaning couldn't be expressed in rather less arcane and abstruse language. ;) Like, "they knew it was fiction" ? (It was probably the 'postmodern' that set me off - what the heck does 'postmodern' mean in anything except architecture? The very word sounds like a classic oxymoron to me - there can be nothing post-modern because, by definition, 'modern' is the most up-to-date and, if something newer comes along, then that becomes 'modern' and what you had isn't 'modern' any more. :) cr ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V5 #72 *************************************