every iconic gay kiss in xena in all its 90s censorship glory 💋
Ah, the cut-away kiss, the -just-on-the-cheek-reveal kiss, the in-a-man’s-body kiss, the buddy-breathing kiss… all of them classic.
The second kiss though… that deserves a thing of its own. For those unfamiliar with this 2nd season episode, the takeaway is that the beauty pageant is won by a transwoman (played by Karen Dior, a bisexual adult films actor who was a male-identified female impersonator and AIDS activist). So yeah, someone can say “Xena’s really just kissing a dude in a dress” as a handwave, but in-universe Xena is the only one who is aware Artifys is trans and never once does anything except immediately accept her identity. When she kisses Xena, we’re seeing Gabrielle processing the sight of her gal pal getting passionately kissed by another woman… and realising that she, that both of them, are clearly okay with that.
And as the article linked above mentions, Lucy clearly being okay with the kiss despite Karen’s HIV/AIDS status, not just in itself but being filmed and basically distributed around the world? That is a fucking statement a lot of other people wouldn’t have been brave enough to make.
At the ghost’s ball! I wanted to make a cute slightly halloweeny but romantic piece centered on this tile Sikanide made and I thought the idea of the ghost’s having a kinda cute ball in the graveyard would be perfect so the music is going for that vibe (I did phone in the ending a little). Art is by Silkanide which is adorable as ever, though I tried to make the stars sparkle.
