Cogent Arts & Humanities (Dec 2015)
A Bard’s eye view: Narrative mediation in Xena: Warrior Princess
Abstract
This article aims to present an analytical survey of various aspects of narrative mediation in the action-fantasy TV-series Xena: Warrior Princess, by discussing a number of structural, verbal as well as visual devices that justify the qualification of Xena as “art television”. What is particularly unique to this series is the manner in which Xena’s heroic exploits have reached the modern viewer, namely by means of the “scrolls” produced by Xena’s sidekick and bardic companion Gabrielle. Consecutive sections discuss and illustrate the role of Gabrielle as storyteller and narrative mediator, the function and presentation of her “scrolls”, the use of intertextual or remediating as well as regendering narration of familiar narratives from myth and history, and some of the narrative problems Gabrielle is made to encounter, such as writer’s block, writerly self-doubt and the power of the word taking over from “reality”.
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