Intertextual Influences
The character Gabriela Rodriguez and its hero-like counterpart, the Guardian Angel, has been influenced by other texts and characters. However, these are the most important influences that really shaped the character’s portrayal as a hero. Gabriela Rodriguez is influenced by Ms. Marvel, where like Kamal Khan, Gabriella comes from a conservative family and struggles with being an outsider among her peers. She is also influenced by Spider Man. When discovering her power, Gabriela connects her empath powers to Spider-Man’s spidey senses. Gabriella is an empath, like the character Deanna Troy from Star Trek. Aside from that, Gabriela is also influenced by the Bible, where her “Guardian Angel” hero persona is partly informed by her Catholic background. Gabriella’s demon-slaying adventures are like those from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, a show which Gabriella watches with Raphael in the third genre sample. The name “Gabriela” is a female version of Gabriel, as in the arch angel. One last important intertextual influence is from the anime Demon Slayer, where the villainous demon-like creatures that Gabriela fights were inspired from. Connecting it to the Greek heroes, Gabriela can be represented like Achilles, where she longs for glory, but her true heroism is other-oriented, and is only fully realized when she accepts her fate of anonymity. In that way she is unlike any Greek hero we have studied.