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I think we actually had a discussion once before on what "The Passion" means, but no one brought up the Christian meaning of the word.

Actually this is a very interesting question, and kind of ties into something I was pondering back in December while walking through the Berlin Museum of Fine Arts and looking at a lot of paintings of various stages of the Passion -- the crucifixion, the road to Calvary, the flogging, etc.: Did TPTB to some extent intend (toward the end) to make Xena a Jesus figure? (This is particularly notable in WFC, where Xena voluntarily decides to submit to the crucifixion to "set things rights" and this leads to, basically, the redemption of the world, and also in FIN where Xena must voluntarily die to redeem a bunch of souls and help them achieve a "state of grace.") I actually wanted to start a thread about this but never got around to it.

Anyway, in spite of that, I really don't think that TPTB thought that far ahead when the text of the opening credits was written -- I agree with Xenasgrrl, they didn't have that much foresight. Though we did once have a poster who argued that the shot of Xena facing off against Poseidon in the opening credits suggests that TPTB contemplated the Twilight of the Gods arc from the very start of the show. (A bit of a stretch IMO... I think they had a general idea that Xena would sometimes challenge the gods, but that's about it.)

I think "The Passion" in the opening credits has several meanings. I think it definitely had overtones of "sexual passion," with the shots of Xena coming up to Draco looking as if she's moving in for a kiss, and then a shot of Xena sitting up in a bed behind a transparent curtain (which ironically is from Cradle of Hope right after she knocks out Nemos with a punch ). However, those are followed by fight scenes so I think it also refers to Xena's passion for battle.

I made screencaps of the shots that go with the "Passion" in the credits:















(btw -- that's not LL in the shot, is it?)



Now the last one is interesting... I used to think it was Gabrielle hugging Xena, and that it was kind of ironic that they put that in the credits under "Passion" considering that the subtext wasn't born yet... but then as I was screencapping I realized that it's Gab hugging Lila.

So I guess the other meaning of "passion" is any kind of strong emotion for the people you care about.

Well, I have to admit that rewatching SOTP now I can see where some people saw a romantic spark between the two of them. Because there's definitely a "connection" of some kind.

Ironically, the first shot (with Draco) is the one that Liz Friedman said the studio was concerned about because Draco has such long hair and they thought that it was going to look like Xena is moving in to kiss a woman.

And before this thread gets completely sidetracked with subtext issues...

Interesting points, LK. I can totally see the Xena/Jesus connection there with the crucifications and dying to save souls. (blah!) Of course Eli was also a very jesusy figure.

Well, in the Twilight arc, the roles of Jesus, Mary, and the apostles Peter and Paul are sort of broken up into component parts and subdivided among several different characters.

Eli is clearly the "Jesus figure" in many ways. However, the "crucifixion/resurrection" part is given to Xena, and the "born from miraculous conception" part to Eve. (Eve is also baptized by the Baptist, as was Jesus.) Xena also has elements of Mary (the miracle pregnancy/birth), while Eve doubles as Saul/Paul (the persecutor of the new faith who literally "sees the light" and is reborn as its leader). Even Gabrielle gets to play out a Jesus-like moment in Seeds of Faith when Ares (briefly recast as the Devil) tempts her in the desert. And this never occurred to me before but Gabrielle in SoF also echoes St. Peter -- when Jesus is seized by the soldiers, Peter tries to defend him with a sword but Jesus stops him and rebukes him, basically because he must fulfill his destiny. (The desert temptation of Gabrielle could also be seen as a reference to Peter renouncing Jesus, perhaps?)

And yeah, I'll do the "Xena as a Jesus figure" thread. I think I was a tad worried that people might get offended, religion being such a touchy topic and all.