Re‐reading the X‐files: The trickster in contemporary conspiracy myth

Mulder: I want the Smoking Man smoked out. I want him exposed to be the murdering son of a bitch that he is.... I want his name.... Skinner: These men don't have names. --From The X-Files episode, "Talitha Cumi" FOR MUCH OF its nine-season run, The X-Files achieved both cult and mainstream success with tens of millions of viewers each week, hundreds of websites devoted to it, and millions in revenue from merchandising. (1) Despite the fall in ratings over the last two seasons, the show has always generated much scrutiny. (2) This is understandable given the unusual premise of the show. For several seasons, FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully tracked down mutant serial killers, other-dimensional monsters, supernatural horrors and, most frequently, investigate cases that may involve extraterrestrial visitations and a government conspiracy to hide that fact. Critiques consistently note that the show's bizarre stow lines resonate with audiences of all ages because it instills what The New York Times calls a "vague, insidious paranoia" into our daily relationships, especially with the government (James, 1998, p.9). The Chronicle of Higher Education echoes that sentiment, writing that the show's popularity comes from the challenge viewers have to "seek that fine line separating informed skepticism and suspicion from full-blown political paranoia" (Rosen, 1997, p. B7). "The beauty of "The X-Files" is the seamlessness with which it unites the two strains" of the political and the paranormal, notes The Washington Post, revolving around the belief that the "government has concealed a major alien appearance" (Powers, 1995, p. G01). Scholarly critiques of the series run the gamut of explanations for its cultural resonance. Joe Bellon (1999) argues that The X-Files is best seen as an "ontological detective story" that helps viewers to deconstruct and reconstruct their perceptions of authority. In fact, Bellon believes that the narrative "alerts us to the dangers of authority we have been taught to ignore" (p. 152). Mark Wildermuth (1999) concludes that the show acts as a commentary on science and epistemology in American culture. For him, the show's self-reflexive nature on such issues as clairvoyance and angels and their supposed impact in our lives reflect the "millennial thinking that mainstream culture shares with the paraculture, which seeks to save us from irrationality even as its presence challenges norms of rationality" (pp. 155-156). An edited volume of essays on The X-Files interprets the show from a number of perspectives. For instance, it demonstrates how: the show has adapted the modern horror/science fiction genre; the main characters depart from television's stereotypical gender roles; fans enhance their interest in the show via the internet; patriarchy and institutional authority are linked; and it demonstrates how the show is indebted to folkloric sources (Lavery, Hague, and Cartwright, 1996). These studies explore the uniqueness of The X-Files, recognizing the problem of interpreting the show because it does not fit traditional genres. Ironically, when these studies do discuss, in varying degrees, the recognized source of the show's popularity--The X-Files-as-alien/ government-conspiracy-text, with Mulder as the lead conspiracy buster (3)--they do so in a traditional fashion. Conventional conspiracy drama describes a belief in vast, arcane networks comprised of abnormally evil conspirators who engage in the most demonic of acts (Hofstadter, 1965, p. 14; Moscovici, 1987, pp. 154-155). Confronting these villains are equally typical heroes who stalwartly defend the foundations of American culture (Medhurst, 1993, pp. 130, 134). Scholars' critiques of The X-Files embrace this classic conception of conspiracies and the characters within them. For example, Allison Graham's (1996) focus on The X-Files-as-conspiracy-text in that edited volume contextualizes the show as a reflection of the conventional conspiracies of the 1970s, narratives that increasingly featured the government-as-villain (pp. …