Scully and Me: Or, The X-Files, Revisited

Authors

  • Rita Malenczyk Eastern Connecticut State University

Keywords:

pop culture, religion

Abstract

This essay reflects on the longevity of The X-Files phenomenon through the lens, primarily, of gender. The common interpretation of the two agents' roles as reversing traditional male/female stereotypes--Scully, the female, is rational, while the male Mulder is imaginative--has never seemed particularly right to me, especially when one throws Scully's Catholicism into the mix. Rather, it seems that, throughout the series, two belief systems come into conflict; while Mulder's appears privileged because of his gender, the show subtly critiques that privilege through its portrayal of Scully's Catholicism.

(I suppose this essay is, in a way, an attempt to figure out what's been bugging me about this show all these years.)

Author Biography

Rita Malenczyk, Eastern Connecticut State University

Rita Malenczyk is professor of English and director of the Writing Program and Writing Center at Eastern Connecticut State University.  She has spent too much time over the last 10 years thinking about Mulder and Scully, and hopes this article will end the whole thing.

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Published

2012-10-05

Issue

No. 8 (2012)

Section

Issue #8

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