#Character Spotlight: Elisa Maza - "Gargoyles (1994–1996)"

[weber_dubois22]

Elisa Maza is a main character in the American Disney animated television Gargoyles, created by Greg Weisman. Her first appearance is in the 1994 pilot episode “The Awakening”. She is of Hopi Native American and Nigerian-American descent.

Elisa is the daughter of an anthropologist and a former NYPD police officer. She followed in the latter’s footsteps and became a detective in the force. We first meet her when she’s investigating a bizarre event on top of a Scottish castle brought to New York City by millionaire David Xanatos. She investigates and finds that Xanatos as awakened the gargoyles that were cursed the sleep in the castle for his own purposes.

Elisa befriends the Gargoyles and their leader, Goliath; reveals Xanatos’s selfish plans for them, and assists them in adjusting to modern-day America. With the Gargoyles, Elisa would face enemies like Xanatos, Goliath’s former mate Demona, the historical Scottish king Macbeth, Goliath’s robotic clone Thailog, gargoyle hunters, and more recently the mysterious Illuminati. Eventually, she become the only human member of Goliath’s coven, and is in a romantic relationship with him.

Originally, the newly-awakened Gargoyles did not trust humans, as the humans they had protected in Scotland a thousand years prior had betrayed and destroyed the rest of their coven. But Elisa’s easily acceptance of the gargoyles and protecting them from the humans that would destroy or exploit them led to their trust in her. Brave, intelligent and an upholder of the law, Elisa was a talented combatant, holding her own with the sci-fi and fantasy opponents she faced. She acted as the gargoyle’s human guide, teaching them how to live in the new country and time they found themselves in.

Though she and Goliath would deny their feelings for each other for quite awhile, they finally confirm their relationship near the end of the original series. Elisa was very familiar with both sides of her ethnic heritage, and was brought up on African and Native American myths and stories (some of which, she learned, were very true). Elisa appears in the original Gargoyles series; in the canonical comic sequel series Gargoyles, published by SLG; and in the non-canon comic series Gargoyles, created by Marvel Comics. She is voiced by Salli Richardson.

There was always going to be a stronger central female character in Gargoyles, and making her a brown woman as well was a unique concept in the mid-90’s. Elisa’s non-white background was not hidden, either - it was explored the same as the European mythology of the gargoyles was. And this was a show made mainly for children, showing that at least some creators know that kids can read and understand concepts like cultures not of their own, and those issues shouldn’t be kept away from children. [SOURCE]

It’s not every day that a woman of color transcends two sci-fi/fantasy/genre series, but if memory serves me, only three have done it in two different mediums.

Salli Richardson is the lady that rarely gets much love from those who pay attention to this sort of thing. She played tough-as-nails cop Elisa Maza on Gargoyles and government liaison Dr. Allison Blake on Syfy’s Eureka.

Talented and stunning. [SOURCE]

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