“WE’RE ALL IN SOMEBODY ELSE’S HEAD”: CONSTRUCTING HISTORY AND IDENTITY IN XENA A Thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree A3 Master of Arts E_OGiL In English: Literature by Rvann Mackenzie Lannan San Francisco. California January 2018 Copyright by Rvann Mackenzie Lannan 2018 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read “’We’re all in somebody else’s head’: Constructing History and Identity in Xena ” by Ryann Mackenzie Lannan, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts in English: Literature at San Francisco State University. Geoffrey Green, Ph.D. Professor “We’re all in somebody else’s head”: Constructing History and Identity in Ryann Mackenzie Lannan San Francisco, California 2017 My thesis analyzes the construction of history and identity in the pop-culture television show Xena: Warrior Princess ( XWP ). I argue that the implicit allegory of XWP shows us that history and identity exist as interpretable and revisable narratives. I use the character Gabrielle’s chronicling of Xena’s adventures to show how historical narratives are consciously constructed by historians to tell one specific version of events. I then use her mediation of the major characters to depict how historians also construct the characters of history. I then show that similarly, all people read and are read by others, and that these readings influence identity construction. XWP shows that identity originates outside the self and is a product of constant dialog between the self and the other. correct representation of the content of this thesis. /2^|re- Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A thesis is by no means a one-woman job. I would like to thank Dr. Hackenberg and Dr. Green for their tireless edits and suggestions. I would also like to thank my friends and family for their support and patience. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction................................................................................................................................ 1 1. “The Xena Scrolls” and the Construction of History....................................................... 24 2. “The greatest hero that ever was!” The Self and Identity Construction.........................55 Xena the Warrior Princess................................................................................................. 58 Joxer the... Mighty?...........................................................................................................72 Gabrielle, The Battling Bard of Poteidaia........................................................................ 83 Works Cited.............................................................................................................................97 vi 1 INTRODUCTION In a Season Three ode to the pop culture hit Groundhog , Xena, the warrior princess, is faced with a day which keeps repeating. When she explains the phenomena to her friends, Gabrielle and Joxer, they attempt to help her figure out why she is reliving the same day by offering a series of explanations which become more fantastical the more the day repeats. Joxer offers: “What if none of this really is happening—and, like, we’re all in somebody else’s head, and they’re making us up?” (“Been There Done That,” emphasis in original). The expressions on Xena and Gabrielle’s faces make it clear that they think such an idea is preposterous. But the rising music coupled with the break in dialog make it clear to the viewer that Joxer has stumbled upon something profound. And indeed he has, for Joxer’s suggestion of existing in someone else’s head is not only an accurate description for his own fictional position within the show, but it also describes the position of the viewer as well. Xena: Warrior Princess (hereafter XWP) presents to the viewer a model for identity which is inextricably tied to the “other,” or the “somebody else” to whom Joxer refers. While the self contributes to the construction of identity, a version of that identity is also, as Joxer points out, constructed by others who read and interpret the identity presented to them. Joxer is read by nearly every character in the show as a fool, though he sees himself as a hero. Xena sees herself as a criminal, but to those she saves she is a hero. Gabrielle is perceived as a simple “little girl” or an “irritating” blonde, and often 2 takes offense at how others describe her. Each has their own identity story which is constructed from stories, memories, and figures from their past. But each is also read by the other characters who see a different version of identity. This theory of identity is encapsulated in Gabrielle’s construction of an alternate ancient history within the show. Gabrielle, Xena’s friend, “sidekick,” and maybe lover, is the chronicler of Xena’s life and deeds within a fantastical world of familiar history and myth. Her scrolls are read and produced throughout her own time, and are also rediscovered in the modern-day in a storyline concerning the origins of XWP within XWP. The show’s metafictional telling of its own creation allows the viewer to see that every character and event is mediated, first through Gabrielle, then the creators, and finally the viewer. The show presents every character as a real historical figure within its own fiction, but it also insists that the characters we are viewing are not fully the people that they were in ancient time. By presenting Gabrielle’s scrolls as “real” history within its narrative, XWP shows how others read and write, and in essence “make-up” the identity of others as well as the supposed “true” history. By making the construction of history and identity so explicit, XWP shows us ways to read and interpret the history and identity narratives constructed by others. In creating an alternative history, and depicting both the creation and the effects of that history, the writers of XWP create an allegory that shows how deeply ingrained the narrative process is in our conceptions of history and life. Gabrielle’s stories show us that history depends on a narrative constructed by the historian through a conscious selection 3 and exclusion of artifacts, events, and interpretations. calls out dominant narratives within “traditional” western, Eurocentric history by telling the stories of those traditionally excluded from this history, and offering different versions of those figures privileged in the western narrative. In positioning Gabrielle as the mediator of this history and its characters’ lives and personalities, the creators suggest that identity is also interpreted and constructed by the other who gathers information about a person and fashions a story about them. Narrative is unavoidable in making sense of history and identity, and by using the narrative process to construct history and identity, we relegate “history” and the “self’ to the realm of stories. The self, both past and present, is then, as Joxer proposes, a story to be read and interpreted, in a sense “made-up,” by the other. But at the same time, XWP shows us that as narratives, history and identity are fluid and endless. By showing us how each is constructed, XWP empowers us to continually write a more complete narrative. Joxer’s question about our possible fictiousness and self-agency is part of a larger web of metafictional storytelling elements within the show, and understanding this metanarrative is important for understanding how XWP presents the formation of history and identity. At its core, XWP is a show about a woman’s search for redemption in ancient Greece. Those who encountered her in her earlier appearance in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys will remember Xena as the evil warlord who was convinced by 4 Hercules to change her ways.1 In her own show, Xena embarks on a lifelong quest to redeem the sins she committed as a warlord. Along the way she meets Gabrielle and Joxer who aid in her heroics and, in Gabrielle’s case, keep her on the path of righteousness. Within the show, Gabrielle takes it upon herself to tell the world of Xena’s deeds, first by telling and then by writing down her adventures with Xena. Gabrielle’s purpose in telling stories about Xena is to tell the world of the “real Xena,” the new, good Xena. The scrolls spread word of Xena’s turn to good and as the series progresses, Xena is met with less hostility as people learn that she is no longer evil. In the Season Two episode “The Xena Scrolls,” Gabrielle’s scrolls are found in 1940s Macedonia. The final scene in the episode shows how the scrolls are then turned into the modern-day show that the viewers are watching. Then in Season Four, the television show becomes a subject within itself when modem day characters within the show watch Xena:Warrior Princess, and the viewer sees that within the fiction, the characters are real historical figures. When the modern-day character Annie Day believes herself to be the reincarnation of Xena in the Season Four season finale “Deja vu All Over Again,” her boyfriend Harry believes her delusions stem from her obsession with XWP, an obsession proven by the “internet chat rooms” mentioned by Harry, the life 1 Xena appears in three early episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, later known as “The Xena Trilogy” though the episodes were not aired as a trilogy. In the second episode of the “trilogy” Xena and her lieutenant have a disagreement about killing a baby during a village raid. To her army’s disapproval, Xena saves the baby, but when she attempts to return to command her army, she is rejected. Still intent on killing Hercules, she fights him only to be bested. He spares her life because Salmoneus had suggested that she is not as evil as her army because she saved the baby. Hercules tells her that “killing isn't the only way of proving you're a warrior, Xena. I think you know that." Xena leaves but returns to help Hercules defeat her army.