We live our lives out of order. We access history out of order. I think even when we look at old movies, it's time-traveling. It's a reaction to what Hollywood churns out. Hollywood is so infatuated with it's ability to create special effects that it crams them in everything.
Magic can be anywhere.
But when I watched it again, without the queer context, I realized it is more subtle and that not everyone is going to see it that way. But some people watch Xena and see nothing. It's definitely in that realm of 50s noir, where it was all about metaphor and innuendo without showing it. I knew it was set in that milieu, but I never thought about positioning it as a gay or lesbian film. In fact, when we first hit the festival circuit we didn't mention it, just saw where it went.