Also not trying to start an argument here, but this kinda proves my point.
Because even with all that, even with the very clear queer subtext that is in so much of the show to the point that you canât believe it isnât text, it isnât canon. Why? Because the network wouldnât let it be. For every thing you list there, a 90âs studio executive in a suit has a counter argument for how theyâre just friends. And whether you agree with them or not, they had the final say in what was allowed to be clearly, directly, and unambiguously shown on screen as canon. Not subtext, not âit can be interpreted asâ but actual canon. And Xena/Gabrielle were never allowed to be explicitly canon.
Which is not in any way a slight against Xena/Gabrielle, who are not actually the point of this post. Nor is it an attempt to argue that Xena and Gabrielle are somehow not very obviously queer coded to the point that rainbows spring up every time someone turns on an episode of Xena. They very much are, but that doesnât mean theyâre canon.
But Xena/Gabrielle does not have to be canon to be an amazing ship. Neither does any other ship out there. Canon is not an end goal, itâs a category.
The writers and actors gave the LGBTQ community as much as they could at the time, based off their interviews. But they also say in many places that they deliberately left it open because there were other storylines they wanted to explore or have available.
"We did not want to give up the hold that character had over Xena and the enjoyment we had with telling stories of Xena and Ares," Tapert said. "So as much as we liked that Xena and Gabrielle were two people who were the best of friends, and perhaps intimate friends, we never wanted to give up Ares."
Even here, thereâs a âperhapsâ caveat. And I am firmly of the opinion that Word of God is not canon both because itâs not equally accessible to all fans, whether due to time, interest, access, and also because it lets authors add in representation without actually including it. The second isnât applicable here, but the first is, and relying on interviews to prove canon means that in the source text things arenât clear enough to claim itâs canon.
A dozen arguments can be made on both sides about whether Xena/Gabrielle is or isnât canon, but that isnât really the point of my post. The point is that it doesnât matter. Canon or not canon, I donât need network executives to tell me what I can and canât ship. Canon isnât a feature or a selling point, or at least it shouldnât be. That just lets shows get away with lazy and unfulfilling plotlines, because hey itâs canon! What more do you want?
If Xena were airing today, and nothing about the Xena/Gabrielle relationship changed but Xena was canonically and openly romantically involved with Callisto or another woman from episode one, I honestly believe Xena/Gabrielle would not be the ship it is today. The canon ship would attract all the attention, and all that extremely queer subtext from the original interactions would go back to being just subtext.
And why do I think that? Because it happens on shows now. The canon relationship gets the attention and the support, and the non-canon ships get told theyâre âreachingâ or âtaking awayâ from the canon couple. And thatâs not what fandom should be.
I donât need studio executives to allow me to ship Xena/Gabrielle, or Jane/Maura, or even Willow/Tara. And nobody else should need that either. All that a ship needs is for someone to see some characters and think âthere is a story here that speaks to meâ.
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