Initial Rationale

The X-Files has had a lasting impression on me. Part of my fascination with the show while I was growing up was that it was scary, that it was science fiction, and that it was a TV show which did not condescend to the viewer. Instead of giving away a hard and fast plot or villain for Mulder and Scully to solve or beat, the show excels by keeping the viewer in the dark, particularly in the earlier seasons.

Admittedly, I have never been much for the conspiracy episodes. While watching them in their original airings I was frustrated by the infinite tangles of almosts and maybes. However, in revisiting these episodes ten years I find the overarching narrative to the series to be just as intriguing as any of the stand-alone creature episodes.

In this blog I would like to further investigate the relevance of the episodes which compose the mythology arch of the series. Like many other fans, I have always been fascinated by the way that the X-Files positions the human search for truth. As a scientist in a class on post-structuralist theory I found the methods and ideas concerning modern notions of truth to be almost overwhelming, and I think that the X-Files is an ideal medium to focus such an analysis. The issues addressed in the X-Files which I would like to focus on are the ways that the show problematizes the notion of truth. I felt that the X-Files is one of the most elegant and effective demonstrations of a sort of crisis in theory of knowledge that has arisen due to the proliferation of postmodern theory.

Being of a scientific bent, there is a part of me that is motivated to believe that truth is a real thing that relies on objectivity and empirical facts. That while there is a multiplicity of perspectives and interpretation, there is still always a truth which is divinable based on objective evidence. However, the validity of this view is challenged by postmodern thought. As a neuroscience major, I have found that postmodern notions of truth (or challenges to it) actually co-exist within traditional scientific thought better than I might have originally thought. I would like to explore these areas of overlap in this project. I am not interested in “de-bunking” or legitimizing per se. My primary objective is to try to analyze these concepts as they arise in the X-Files. I am particularly interested in the ways that the mythology arch uses techniques like regression, recovered memory, oral history, government cover-up, and American mythology making.