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Fictional Women Around the World: Elisa Masa · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stefan
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you a production of iHeartRadio. And welcome
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to another sub sub sub sub segment of fictional women
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: around the world. And disclaimer on this one. I have
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: seen this show, this show being Gargoyles, but it has
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: been a hot minute since I've seen it.
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  Speaker 2: Is this the WB cartoon?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, okay, okay, yeah, sure. Well, I just remember
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  Speaker 1: my brother really liked it, and there's certain things I
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: remember very clearly, but otherwise it's kind of a mess
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of all the Saturday morning cartoons I used to watch.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: But today it's a bit of a shorter episode because
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: we're going on vacation, so we're trying to get a
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: lot of stuff done. Yes, well, we're talking about Elisa
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  Speaker 1: Massa from the ninety show Gargoyles. She was voiced by
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Sally Richardson and was this New York cop of Native
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  Speaker 1: American and African descent who became sort of their human liaison.
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  Speaker 1: She became like the person who helped the supernatural Gargoyles
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  Speaker 1: assimilate to the modern human world.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just thinking about what it was out because I
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  Speaker 2: guess I was a teenager with this out and I
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  Speaker 2: don't I didn't watch many cartoons anyway, but it would
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: pop up on I want to say, on the WB
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  Speaker 2: at that point and just thinking about it then didn't
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  Speaker 2: think anything of it moving on cartoon as you describe it,
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  Speaker 2: like what the hell was the same? There's such a
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: just the position of like remembering it and just thinking
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  Speaker 2: it was normal to this moment of like what, oh wait, yeah, I've.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Never watched it.
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  Speaker 2: I just remember bypassing and they're like, yeah, obviously come
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: to moving on obviously.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, she was sort of there helping them assimilate.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I actually am excited to come back and do an
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: episode on April from the Teenage Mutan Ninja Turtles, who
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: I feel like played a similar role for the Turtles.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: But anyway, according to some things I read, this character
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: was originally supposed to be a Hispanic woman named Chavez,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: but they changed her heritage to match the actors. The
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: physical design of the character is also based on the actor.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: But yeah, let's really break your mind even more. Quick
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: breakdown up the plot, Samantha, Here we Go. Gargoyles was
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  Speaker 1: an animated show, but it stood out for the complexity
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and darkness of its storylines, often with Shakespearean elements. It
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: was adapted to a Sega Genesis game in nineteen ninety five.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I had that game. They both follow supernatural nocturnal beings
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  Speaker 1: called gargoyles that turned to stone during the The particular
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: clan of New York based Gargoyles the story follows is
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: led by Goliath. He's their main guy. The Gargoyles used
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: to live in Scotland castles alongside humans until they were
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  Speaker 1: betrayed by the humans and so then in nineteen ninety four,
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  Speaker 1: a rich tycoon named David Xanatos purchased Gargoyle Castle and
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: rebuilt it in New York on top of his skyscraper
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  Speaker 1: above the clouds, which met the requirements for reawakening of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the six of the remaining Gargoyles. NYPD Detective Elisa Massa,
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  Speaker 1: the Frenzy, is Gargoyles, though she's very skeptical. She's like,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: what is this?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: What is.
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  Speaker 1: She's just skeptical. Together they confront supernatural threats to them
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and the world at large and just a city life.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of nineties things are about this,
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  Speaker 1: Like you go to New York and yeah, and you're
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: like trying to save the world, but you're also trying
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: to like eat some good pizza. It's a whole thing.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: From the intro of season two, here is a quote
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  Speaker 1: one thousand years ago, superstition in the Sword ruled. It
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  Speaker 1: was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear.
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  Speaker 1: It was the age of Gargoyles, Stone by day, warriors
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  Speaker 1: by night. We were betrayed by the humans we had
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  Speaker 1: sworn to protect, frozen in stone by a magic spell
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  Speaker 1: for a thousand years. Now here in Manhattan, the spell
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  Speaker 1: is broken, and we live again. We are deafenders of
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  Speaker 1: the night. We are gargoyles. Good job, yes, thank you.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: I feel like Christina could probably have just played that
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: it would have been better, but I wanted to read
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: it because it's great. Maybe some creepy sound effects on
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the steel can make.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: That echo a little bit, please, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Give it some. So when Alisa first met the Gargoyles,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: she was, as I said, skeptical, but she soon befriended
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  Speaker 1: Goliath over a shared drive to protect the innocent. She
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  Speaker 1: grows to care for the Gargoyles and does her best
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  Speaker 1: to look out for them and protect them. She even
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  Speaker 1: spies on this rich tycoon guy x Antos. At one point,
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  Speaker 1: she is turned into a gargoyle temporarily herself, which allows
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  Speaker 1: her to go against the big bad Demona, all with
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  Speaker 1: the added benefits of her human skills. So it's like
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  Speaker 1: she's at gargoyle, but also she's really good at all
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  Speaker 1: this other stuff that they're not good at. Of course,
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  Speaker 1: eventually she falls in love with Goliath because yeah, awkward,
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  Speaker 1: I guess feelings. Goliath does return, but they don't pursue
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  Speaker 1: them at first because they're afraid they can't have relationships
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  Speaker 1: since they are different species. They eventually confess their love
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: for each other in the finale of season two. This
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: character really resonated and had a lasting impact. She regularly
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: comes up when I'm like feminist character, fictional feminist characters
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I should talk about. A lot of people say she
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: was ahead of her time because this was the nineties
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  Speaker 1: and she was kind of the lead. A detective Ellen
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Yen from Batman is an homage to her. Here's a
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  Speaker 1: quote from a tribe called Geek. While the show does
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: show its age in some of the ways native cultures
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: are portrayed, the idea that one must be modern or
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: traditional that Alisa's implied hoping grandfather uses the Lakota word,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: using coyote and katina a little too interchangeably. It was
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: one of the early examples of a native character given
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  Speaker 1: some real depth in a popular show. And here's a
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: quote from What Culture. Alisa fears no evil and takes
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  Speaker 1: on all villains, no matter how big or small. Both
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  Speaker 1: equal bravery and determination. If nothing else, her slapping the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: taste out of influential bad guy is quite the spectacular sight. Yeah,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like everything I read it sounds
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  Speaker 1: like she was just It's one of those things where
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: she was just a good character. Like it wasn't you're like, oh, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I like her. She seems strong. It didn't have all
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: these other like for a woman or something attached to it,
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  Speaker 1: and people really the character resonated and it did really
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  Speaker 1: impact a lot of people, especially like when you're a
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: kid and you're watching these cartoons. Like I said, it
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: has been a minute since I have seen this. Reading
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: about it, I was kind of like, Oh, I want
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: to find this somewhere. It's got to be on YouTube,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: it's got to be somewhere. But yeah, I just I
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: just wanted to bring it back, and I would love. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I would love to hear from listeners if you have
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: more oh wow, if you have more recent experience, if
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: you if it really this character really made an impact
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: on you, any of your thought about goyles, Oh my
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: gosh wow. Okay, well this weekend, I know what I'm doing,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: but yeah, we would love We would love to hear
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: from you about that. I do. I had so many
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: cartoons when I was a kid that really stuck with
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: me and impacted me, and I kind of want to
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: come back. I loved the X Men and I've been
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: meaning to talk about some more. Oh yeah, X people
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: on here the segment, but yeah, please let us know.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: You can write to us. Our email is stephaniea momstef
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on Twitter
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: at MoMA Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: stephan Never Told You. We have a tea public store
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and we'll have a book you can get wherever you
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: get your books. Thanks as always to our super producer
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: Christina and executive producer Maya and your contributor Joey. Thank
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: you and thanks to you for listening. Stuff I Never
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Told You is production of my heart Radio. For more
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  Speaker 1: podcast on my heart Radio, you can check out the
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• 9:01
  Speaker 1: your favorite shows.