Spikeface (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} spikeface) wrote,@ 2008-03-17 00:21:00 |
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Thoughts on X:WP's "Antony and Cleopatra"
I came across this on my computer and realized I never posted it to my actual journal, just to![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
xenites. I like it, so it's being reposted. If you already read it on xenites... suffer!
A little while ago I watched Season Five’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” complete with commentary by Lucy, Renee, Michael Hurst (the director), and Rob Tapert. I loved how the girls giggled at all the racy parts, and how Michael squeed over his creation, but one part really frustrated me. Several times Lucy mentioned how she wished she’d played Xena as more “pragmatic” and not in love with Antony. I don’t know why she insisted on this, because I think Xena’s love for Antony is what makes the episode so great.
I’ll admit that I thought her falling for him was a little rushed, but hey, they’ve only got an hour. Even if it is a little contrived, Xena’s weakness for bad boys is what saves her. She walks a very thin moral line in this episode, and if anything redeems her, it’s her emotional vulnerability.
For me, the whole episode makes reference to “Destiny,” where Xena, a cocky young pirate with good intentions and shady methods, is screwed and screwed over by Caesar, everyone’s favorite sexually manipulative, megalomaniacal bad boy.
Now, years later, Antony is the one with the big heart and brutal methods, and Xena is the fatal seducer. Antony, like the young Xena, thinks he knows how the seduction gig works, but Xena plays him like a lyre. She gains his trust and love, builds him up with plans of domination, and then stomps all over him. Sure, Antony is a big hunk of ruthless, sword-happy Roman who needs to be stopped, but he seems to use brutality for the same reason that Xena used piracy: patriotism. After Amphipolis was attacked, Xena burned and pillaged towns that could pose a threat. She wasn’t the “Destroyer of Nations” at that point, just someone who chose to use violence to protect the peace. Antony uses violence to uphold and protect Rome. He puts faith in “the Roman way,” and prides himself on being a Roman. He sneers at peaceful Octavian, Caesar’s chosen heir, but only because he believes Octavian is not the right ruler for Rome.
The biggest difference between them seems to be that Antony does not believe in mercy, as Xena did: she chose to spare the villagers whose towns she raided, while Antony insists on executions. However, I don’t think that separates them that much. Sure, Xena didn’t kill those villagers in “Destiny,” but she took all of their worthwhile belongings and burned their homes – and stored goods, and livelihoods – which is hardcore mean. She also claimed that she was doing these things for Amphipolis, but I didn’t hear her mention that any of those pirated goods ever wound up benefiting her hometown.
As an aside, Octavian continues the “Destiny” reference. From his conversation with Gabrielle about “pax Romana,” we’re supposed to gather that he represents the opposite of Caesar’s “divide and conquer” philosophy. Caesar, though, knew how to choose a winning horse, because he’s my smart little ruthlessly cunning Squishy, yes he is. By the end of the episode, Octavian tells Cleopatra’s servant that he feels as though he is “destined to rule Rome.” By entrusting power to him, Xena once again helps a dictator come to power: Octavian becomes Augustus, and is as egotistical as Caesar once was.
Antony, however, unlike Caesar or Octavian or even Xena, is not a big picture guy. His goals are forthright and immediate: to express his love for the woman he thinks is Cleopatra (Xena), and protect Rome from people he considers threats (Brutus and Octavian). Like Xena once was, Antony is brutally honest about his agenda, from his devotion to Xena, to his opinion on the necessity of violence. Like Xena in “Destiny,” his emotions overrule his judgment, and he decides that he’d rather have Xena’s love than her navy. With that admission, Xena has effectively “divided his emotions from his sensibilities,” just as Caesar once did to her. Antony only gets the navy because Xena insists he take it (not because she loves him, but to further her plan to destroy him). Antony has, by that point, completely given up trying to control Xena, just as Xena once entrusted everything to Caesar. Just like Caesar did, Xena sets up a confrontation point and completely turns on Antony: he expects her love and support, and instead she uses and abuses him.
The only thing that really stops Xena from being as much of a bitch on wheels as Caesar, in the end, is the fact that she falls for Antony. At the very least Caesar can keep himself removed from his victim, and at most actually seems to enjoy breaking people to his will and then using it against them. He’s a naughty boy, really. He ought to be spanked. Xena, on the other hand, doesn’t manage to separate herself from the situation. She may have many skills, but she’s ultimately an ass-kicking warrior, and that’s what she does best. When she tries to use feminine wiles instead of pressure points to get what she wants, it backfires. She falls for Antony, big bad boy studmuffin that he is, and it genuinely hurts her to hurt him.
It’s that affection and guilt that really redeem Xena here. It’s her love for Antony that prompts her to give him one last chance, asking him if he’d be willing to work with Octavian instead of against him. Caesar would never have done something like that, and it’s an important difference. Antony blows it, of course, sealing his own fate and removing the blame from Xena for killing him. After that point, Antony obviously has to be stopped. Before that, however, he’s just a man trying to do the right thing who has fallen in love with an exotic woman. If Xena hadn’t fallen in love with him, prompting her to try to find a way to work with Antony, she would have executed him without ever giving him a chance to prove himself, just as Caesar did.
The biggest difference between Xena and Caesar, however, becomes apparent at the climactic sea battle. Antony has been mooning over Xena up until the battle, and begins the fight brimming with love and confidence. He fights magnificently, until he finds out that “Cleopatra” is actually Xena. He starts fighting her because that’s the only thing he knows, and he’s emotionally broken and hurt and crying. His sword thrusts against her even have a sense of finality to them, as though he knows he’s going to lose, and his last words are an affirmation of the love he had for her.
If Xena had been able to be “pragmatic” through that, I would have been deeply disappointed. That kind of detachment from someone you’ve manipulated and broken is not very heroic, especially when that someone loves you and has only done what he thinks best. Xena’s emotional vulnerability and hurt – evident on her face even as she gives Antony a lethal blow – is what makes her human. She knows that Antony has to be stopped, and does what she has to, but she also responds to the human parts in him, the love he has for her, and it hurts her to have to kill those parts. That compassion sets Xena apart from Caesar and other manipulators.
It also, I think, sets Xena apart from other heroines. Many women in television and other media use sexuality to get what they want. That’s fine and dandy, but Xena has always stood out as a woman who prefers a sword to a stiletto. It’s an important theme in the show, and it’s reflected here. Xena knows how to work her looks, but she rarely uses her sexuality for extended periods of time to control other people. Consequently, when she does use it, she has difficulty keeping an emotional distance. In “The Siege of Amphipolis,” she uses it to manipulate Ares for a little bit, but there’s never been any debate that she’s affected by him. She uses it in her evil days on Hercules and Iolaus, but winds up attached to both of them. She uses it against Caligula in “The God You Know,” but winds up with similar results as “Antony and Cleopatra.” She doesn’t fall for Caligula, as she does for Antony, but she does come to understand and pity him, and it hurts her to hurt him. When asked how she feels after killing him, she says only that she feels “dirty” and insists that Caligula wasn’t evil, just “damaged.” That hurt and pity shows that Xena isn’t experienced when it comes to sexual manipulation: she’s better with an honest sword. I don’t see this as a weakness on Xena’s part. It makes her more interesting than some other heroines, and more human than other manipulators. If she were able to play earnest people with no remorse, she’d be just another female stereotype. Even worse, she’d be like Caesar.
Not that I’d have a problem with that, I guess. Caesar is, after all, really hot.
I came across this on my computer and realized I never posted it to my actual journal, just to
xenites. I like it, so it's being reposted. If you already read it on xenites... suffer!A little while ago I watched Season Five’s “Antony and Cleopatra,” complete with commentary by Lucy, Renee, Michael Hurst (the director), and Rob Tapert. I loved how the girls giggled at all the racy parts, and how Michael squeed over his creation, but one part really frustrated me. Several times Lucy mentioned how she wished she’d played Xena as more “pragmatic” and not in love with Antony. I don’t know why she insisted on this, because I think Xena’s love for Antony is what makes the episode so great.
I’ll admit that I thought her falling for him was a little rushed, but hey, they’ve only got an hour. Even if it is a little contrived, Xena’s weakness for bad boys is what saves her. She walks a very thin moral line in this episode, and if anything redeems her, it’s her emotional vulnerability.
For me, the whole episode makes reference to “Destiny,” where Xena, a cocky young pirate with good intentions and shady methods, is screwed and screwed over by Caesar, everyone’s favorite sexually manipulative, megalomaniacal bad boy.
Now, years later, Antony is the one with the big heart and brutal methods, and Xena is the fatal seducer. Antony, like the young Xena, thinks he knows how the seduction gig works, but Xena plays him like a lyre. She gains his trust and love, builds him up with plans of domination, and then stomps all over him. Sure, Antony is a big hunk of ruthless, sword-happy Roman who needs to be stopped, but he seems to use brutality for the same reason that Xena used piracy: patriotism. After Amphipolis was attacked, Xena burned and pillaged towns that could pose a threat. She wasn’t the “Destroyer of Nations” at that point, just someone who chose to use violence to protect the peace. Antony uses violence to uphold and protect Rome. He puts faith in “the Roman way,” and prides himself on being a Roman. He sneers at peaceful Octavian, Caesar’s chosen heir, but only because he believes Octavian is not the right ruler for Rome.
The biggest difference between them seems to be that Antony does not believe in mercy, as Xena did: she chose to spare the villagers whose towns she raided, while Antony insists on executions. However, I don’t think that separates them that much. Sure, Xena didn’t kill those villagers in “Destiny,” but she took all of their worthwhile belongings and burned their homes – and stored goods, and livelihoods – which is hardcore mean. She also claimed that she was doing these things for Amphipolis, but I didn’t hear her mention that any of those pirated goods ever wound up benefiting her hometown.
As an aside, Octavian continues the “Destiny” reference. From his conversation with Gabrielle about “pax Romana,” we’re supposed to gather that he represents the opposite of Caesar’s “divide and conquer” philosophy. Caesar, though, knew how to choose a winning horse, because he’s my smart little ruthlessly cunning Squishy, yes he is. By the end of the episode, Octavian tells Cleopatra’s servant that he feels as though he is “destined to rule Rome.” By entrusting power to him, Xena once again helps a dictator come to power: Octavian becomes Augustus, and is as egotistical as Caesar once was.
Antony, however, unlike Caesar or Octavian or even Xena, is not a big picture guy. His goals are forthright and immediate: to express his love for the woman he thinks is Cleopatra (Xena), and protect Rome from people he considers threats (Brutus and Octavian). Like Xena once was, Antony is brutally honest about his agenda, from his devotion to Xena, to his opinion on the necessity of violence. Like Xena in “Destiny,” his emotions overrule his judgment, and he decides that he’d rather have Xena’s love than her navy. With that admission, Xena has effectively “divided his emotions from his sensibilities,” just as Caesar once did to her. Antony only gets the navy because Xena insists he take it (not because she loves him, but to further her plan to destroy him). Antony has, by that point, completely given up trying to control Xena, just as Xena once entrusted everything to Caesar. Just like Caesar did, Xena sets up a confrontation point and completely turns on Antony: he expects her love and support, and instead she uses and abuses him.
The only thing that really stops Xena from being as much of a bitch on wheels as Caesar, in the end, is the fact that she falls for Antony. At the very least Caesar can keep himself removed from his victim, and at most actually seems to enjoy breaking people to his will and then using it against them. He’s a naughty boy, really. He ought to be spanked. Xena, on the other hand, doesn’t manage to separate herself from the situation. She may have many skills, but she’s ultimately an ass-kicking warrior, and that’s what she does best. When she tries to use feminine wiles instead of pressure points to get what she wants, it backfires. She falls for Antony, big bad boy studmuffin that he is, and it genuinely hurts her to hurt him.
It’s that affection and guilt that really redeem Xena here. It’s her love for Antony that prompts her to give him one last chance, asking him if he’d be willing to work with Octavian instead of against him. Caesar would never have done something like that, and it’s an important difference. Antony blows it, of course, sealing his own fate and removing the blame from Xena for killing him. After that point, Antony obviously has to be stopped. Before that, however, he’s just a man trying to do the right thing who has fallen in love with an exotic woman. If Xena hadn’t fallen in love with him, prompting her to try to find a way to work with Antony, she would have executed him without ever giving him a chance to prove himself, just as Caesar did.
The biggest difference between Xena and Caesar, however, becomes apparent at the climactic sea battle. Antony has been mooning over Xena up until the battle, and begins the fight brimming with love and confidence. He fights magnificently, until he finds out that “Cleopatra” is actually Xena. He starts fighting her because that’s the only thing he knows, and he’s emotionally broken and hurt and crying. His sword thrusts against her even have a sense of finality to them, as though he knows he’s going to lose, and his last words are an affirmation of the love he had for her.
If Xena had been able to be “pragmatic” through that, I would have been deeply disappointed. That kind of detachment from someone you’ve manipulated and broken is not very heroic, especially when that someone loves you and has only done what he thinks best. Xena’s emotional vulnerability and hurt – evident on her face even as she gives Antony a lethal blow – is what makes her human. She knows that Antony has to be stopped, and does what she has to, but she also responds to the human parts in him, the love he has for her, and it hurts her to have to kill those parts. That compassion sets Xena apart from Caesar and other manipulators.
It also, I think, sets Xena apart from other heroines. Many women in television and other media use sexuality to get what they want. That’s fine and dandy, but Xena has always stood out as a woman who prefers a sword to a stiletto. It’s an important theme in the show, and it’s reflected here. Xena knows how to work her looks, but she rarely uses her sexuality for extended periods of time to control other people. Consequently, when she does use it, she has difficulty keeping an emotional distance. In “The Siege of Amphipolis,” she uses it to manipulate Ares for a little bit, but there’s never been any debate that she’s affected by him. She uses it in her evil days on Hercules and Iolaus, but winds up attached to both of them. She uses it against Caligula in “The God You Know,” but winds up with similar results as “Antony and Cleopatra.” She doesn’t fall for Caligula, as she does for Antony, but she does come to understand and pity him, and it hurts her to hurt him. When asked how she feels after killing him, she says only that she feels “dirty” and insists that Caligula wasn’t evil, just “damaged.” That hurt and pity shows that Xena isn’t experienced when it comes to sexual manipulation: she’s better with an honest sword. I don’t see this as a weakness on Xena’s part. It makes her more interesting than some other heroines, and more human than other manipulators. If she were able to play earnest people with no remorse, she’d be just another female stereotype. Even worse, she’d be like Caesar.
Not that I’d have a problem with that, I guess. Caesar is, after all, really hot.
