So, last night I came across a news item about an academic conference on Buffy
the Vampire Slayer, taking place this weekend at Henderson State University in Arkansas.
An excerpt:
So here is my question... where are the Xena studies? I mean, if you want to talk about a show that raises a lot of questions and doesn't give you pat answers, you can't do any better than Xena. I know Joss Whedon's work has far fewer structural flaws (like plot holes, narrative gaps and loose ends, inconsistencies, etc.) but I don't think that's the only marker of quality. (Shakespeare's plays are full of plot holes, narrative gaps, loose ends and inconsistencies, too.
) I'm not going to try to argue that Xena is better than Buffy, but surely it
isn't less deserving of attention.
I know there's at least one scholarly monograph on X:WP (Her Courage Will Change the World by Wim Tigges), but even that is self-published. There are also several essays on Xena in academic anthologies about female heroes in film and on TV (Athena's Daughters, Action Chicks). Not enough, dang it!
Is there anything we fans can do to promote scholarly interest in X:WP?
Btw, one leading Buffy scholar, James B. South, chair of the Philosophy Department at Marquette University in Wisconsin and editor of the anthology Buffy and Philosophy, is also a Xena fan -- I came across this fact in some "Buffy in academia" item and then found references on his web page. We should get him to do a Xena and Philosophy book!
An excerpt:
Since it ended, the series has spawned enough academic books on the philosophy surrounding the roles of friendship and feminism to fill a 15-foot-wide bookshelf at the college in Arkadelphia, said Kevin Durand, an associate professor of philosophy.
"It has staying power," Durand said. "It's like I tell my students in philosophy a lot of times: We're not so much about necessarily finding all the answers as wanting to ask better questions. `Buffy,' I think, does that. `Buffy' never really leaves you with nice, pat answers. You have even more questions than when you started."
Durand said more than 90 academic papers will be discussed at the conference. He expects about 150 people to attend and discuss the vampire slayer and Whedon's other works, including the television series "Firefly" and "Angel." Another point of discussion will be a lesser-known part of Whedon's work - his screenplay for the hit animated film "Toy Story."
Among the papers: "Buffy and Feminism," "Buffy and Identity," "Gender Stereotypes and the Image of Domesticity in `Firefly,'" "`Firefly:' The Illusive Safety of Big Damn Heroes" and a Durand favorite by a British scholar, "Hero's Journey, Heroine's Return: Buffy, Eurydice and the Orpheus Myth."
So here is my question... where are the Xena studies? I mean, if you want to talk about a show that raises a lot of questions and doesn't give you pat answers, you can't do any better than Xena. I know Joss Whedon's work has far fewer structural flaws (like plot holes, narrative gaps and loose ends, inconsistencies, etc.) but I don't think that's the only marker of quality. (Shakespeare's plays are full of plot holes, narrative gaps, loose ends and inconsistencies, too.
) I'm not going to try to argue that Xena is better than Buffy, but surely it
isn't less deserving of attention.
I know there's at least one scholarly monograph on X:WP (Her Courage Will Change the World by Wim Tigges), but even that is self-published. There are also several essays on Xena in academic anthologies about female heroes in film and on TV (Athena's Daughters, Action Chicks). Not enough, dang it!
Is there anything we fans can do to promote scholarly interest in X:WP?
Btw, one leading Buffy scholar, James B. South, chair of the Philosophy Department at Marquette University in Wisconsin and editor of the anthology Buffy and Philosophy, is also a Xena fan -- I came across this fact in some "Buffy in academia" item and then found references on his web page. We should get him to do a Xena and Philosophy book!
But I am wondering why all the scholarly attention lavished on Buffy and the lack of such for Xena. And
what, if anything, can be done to remedy the situation. 
Besides, a one-person field of studies would be pretty pathetic.
What's taking so long? 
