Squeezy for Sheezy

My first post was on the X-Files, but it was broad and unspecific. Now, lets get into some of the gross details, shall we? That is why we love it so, after all. The grossness of the monster-of-the-week episodes are the icing on the proverbial cake, secretly underlining the brilliance of the show as they were overpowered by the highly addictive conspiracy theory story line of the "mytharc" episodes. I believe that now, looking back on this AWESOME show, what is the most memorable are the monster-of-the-week episodes. The conspiracy theory episodes were highly exciting, but now I barely remember half of the shit that went on. So much happened! Black ink? Russia? The bees? The dude with the metal teeth? I remember these things but not entirely in context. Shame on you poor excuse for an X-Files fan: me.

As we all know, "Home" is without a doubt the most disgusting, disturbing, effed-up episode of the series, so I won't even bother. I do, however hold a man named Eugene Victor Tooms close to my heart. The 1st season episode "Squeeze" is about a hibernating mutant cannibal who emerges every 30 years to harvest five human livers in order to suvive his next 30 years of hibernation. Oh, and his eyes turn yellow when he spots someone that looks yummy and he can squeeze his 5'11 frame through vents and chimneys. WHAT?!??! Who comes up with this stuff? Glen Morgan and James Wong, that's who. Brilliant men. I actually came across a funny fake interview with Tooms himself. It's pretty hilarious.

I'm an early season X-Files buff, and another one of my early favorites is the episode "The Host". This one might possibly be more disgusting than a liver-eating mutant who spend most of his days covered in body-fluid paper mache. In "The Host" people are attacked and bitten by an unidentifiable creature living in the sewers. When it attacks, a worm-like specimen is inserted into the victims body and they act as an oblivious host. This episode doesn't offer much resolution, or even that much of a story come to think of it, but the creature is just so immensely disgusting its one of the more classic episodes. Besides the grossness, what is of significance in this episode is Mulder's confrontation with Skinner about the closing of the X-files and his confiding in Scully that he considers leaving the bureau, but these interactions aren't too significant in regards to the series as a whole.

Anyway, enjoy and embrace the grossness. And remember, their more scared of you than you are of them...... right?

OBSESSIVE NERD

INTERVIEW

Oh Snap, The X- Files!

So what happens when you have two sex-starved FBI agents and a bunch of spooky shit … Don’t ask me, I hardly watched the show. And for good reason, as a child I would stay up “late” on Friday nights to watch Unsolved Mysteries with my mother. I was completely transfixed by the show, starring at the television unblinking. I wasn’t that I enjoyed the show, more like enthralled. Unfortunately when it was time to go to bed in my big room, with all of the lights out, and no one to protect me or at least be sacrificed while I got away should things go bad, my imagination would get the best of me. In my mind little green men will pull their spaceship up to my backyard break in through my window and abduct me. I’d look out the large window that was just inches from my bed and whether it was my imagination or not see “things” looking back at me. Of course I would come to the realization that I lived in Queens, not Nebraska, and I was Black not White, the chances of being abducted by aliens was preeeetty slim – Or was it…

What kept me away from watching the X- Files was the fear of the unknown. Don’t get me wrong, like most young kids I thrived off of a good spook. I enjoyed sitting in pitch-black rooms trading scary movies with my cousins, watching movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, or Jason. When Michael Jackson’s Thriller would come on MTV I was the one ripping my cousins hands off of their face just as the undead were pulling themselves from their graves. But there was something about shows like the X- Files or Unsolved Mysteries something about the unknown that made it more feasible and as such, much more real to me.

I could easily look at television and say “you know what, I don’t think this Freddy guy with the melted off skin and the axe to grind is going to try and kill me in my sleep” and even if he wanted to he couldn’t that’s not humanly possible. But at night staring up at that great expansion of darkness, how could I know exactly what could or could not be lurking out there. In the ocean and on the earth itself, we are constantly finding new species of animals, so who is there to say that there isn’t something out there that doesn’t want to come down here kidnap some people and play with their butt-holes?
This is where the strength of the X- Files lies, that gray area. Although they do deal with storylines that could be fantastical in nature there are also those instances where either through science or sheer ignorance the events within can be open to possibility. As was bought up in the X- Files article a major theme in the television show was the idea of skepticism, believer vs. non-believer. Having no firm conviction (either for or against) is more frightening than believing to “know” one way or another. The dichotomy of the show exhibited through Mulder’s beliefs vs. Scully’s skepticism together is what created this gray area. Neither was right and the other wrong, things that appeared one way could turn out to be completely different later on. A viewer's "belief" in what was truly happening in the show changed frequently enough that they were never able to become definite on what was really going on. "Trust no one..." Thanks, but I'd rather deal with monster's that I know probably don't exist...

We Know Your Out There

When reading the X-files article i was particularly fascinated with the description and analysis of the episode “Hollywood AD”. This sort of self-conscious tongue and cheek parody is endlessly amusing and particularly intriguing to me. It got me thinking of other shows today that try and accomplish the same kind of self parody without being too overt about it.

South Park, for one, accomplished this notably in its first season through “Terrence & Phillip”, the foul television show watched by the children. “T&P” stands as a representation of “South Park” as it is a cartoon that should not be watched by children or, as the intro states, anyone for that matter. Yet time after time the children sat and watched the two characters use inappropriate language and make vulgar and disgusting jokes. As for myself, I, at the tender age of 12 or 13, watched them watching the program, and became equally corrupted.

Scrubs, on occasion, has been known to flaunt its self consciousness from time to time as well. Once a season an episode will come around where the narration will be taken over be another character, giving the program a chance to show us what the lead character look like in another point of view. I think this works particularly well in “Their Story” where we finally get to see what the lead, JD, looks like when he goes off into one of his day dreams, all from the point of view of an entirely different character. The humor of this scene is played upon quite well by the fact that not only do we see how ridiculous he looks, but also how much it annoys the other characters.

I feel the self conscious humor of shows like these play an important part in making the audience feel as though the show they are watching is aware that they are there, and that they know how how the show looks to them, rather than to just itself. It adds a level of interactivity to television which i feel is very well received.

Skepticism

After remembering about the X-files, the word Skepticism wouldn't leave my mind. Somehow the shows skeptic attitude made me believe in these things more and more. While not necessarily to the point of pure paranoia and conspiracy theories, but "Maybe there are aliens out there."
My mind jumps, and I begin to think about how this is so successful in paranormal documentaries like Destination Truth and Ghost Hunters. The skepticism displayed in these shows makes me question, and believe more, in real supernatural events.

Paranormal State, devoid of Skepticism, does the opposite.

Paranormal State is an A&E show, Mondays at 10pm (9Central), about a group of college students who are investigating paranormal events. This takes the same formula that other shows of this type use, like Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth. Each episode has 1 or 2 "cases" to investigate, and one entire case is gone through before the second one is introduced. Each case starts with the "lead investigator" (Ryan in the case of Paranormal State) giving an introduction into the case, and a brief synopsis of what is going on at the supposedly haunted site they'll be working on. After that, they arrive on site and interview those occupying the location, while also getting research about the place done, to learn as much as they can beforehand. Then there is a single night spent at the location to attempt to spot and document the phenomenon. This is all followed by a closing session in which the lead investigators give their ideas as to whether the place is haunted or not, and whats the best course of action for it.
In shows like Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth, the investigation attempts to be unbias. They come in with equipment to try to pick up small things, like infra-red video cameras to pick up tiny heat signatures, recorders in hopes of catching Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP), and maybe even personal experiences. Many of these episodes end in no evidence, or even finding scientific reasons as to what is actually occurring (like the "Fear cage," which is a high amount of electricity in an area from a generator or something that makes people paranoid, and potentially even cause hallucinations). At the 'worst,' they'll say "We got some spooky evidence that we currently can't substantiate, and we have to say its paranormal at this time." Rarely is it "Your place is haunted, we need an exorcism...now."
Paranormal State is the opposite. The team goes in believing everything they hear. Heck, one of the major team members is an 'Occult Expert' because they deal so often with demons. Their investigation is cleverly named "Dead Time" where they often just sit in rooms and have seances. Occasionally the group will disprove something, but its not what there mission is apparently set out to be. They are more likely to bring in a "Psychic" to feel out energies than they are to disprove anything. This show has ended with them exorcising houses, and has a constant feel that we, the audience, need to believe all this is happening...even if the show doesn't have a single image of anything disturbing other than bad acting.
The show attempts to be so dead set on being true, that it feels scripted. Perhaps its just editing as clever as John Edwards show, but their Psychic and Mystics, with "No prior knowledge," are able to guess whats haunting the houses in the first guess pretty well. And the fact that there was an under story that the lead investigator, Ryan, was being chased by the demon Belial (every mention of Belial in the show was actually bleeped out to 'protect' the audience from his wrath) went through a few episodes really makes the show hard to believe. It comes out so often believing everything, and expecting the audience to follow, that it ruins its own credibility.

But maybe the show is true in claiming to be 'reality TV.' Maybe these events are real, and 100% proof of the existence of the paranormal. Maybe the occult expert is right and Belial, the ruler of Northern Hell, has nothing better to do than haunt people for having messy houses. If its all true, its lack of skepticism makes it impossible to believe. After episodes of Ghost Hunters, even if they disprove a haunting, I still go to sleep thinking "What about that next house..." Its skepticism that really keeps our minds focussed on an idea, and allow for the potential of hauntings, demons, and alien abductions to exist.

But one compliment to Paranormal State; it did have the coolest ad campaign. Two huge billboards that used ultrasound to shoot messages to passerby's that sounded like whispers that you could only hear at specific places? Yes, included and you can see it here due to the magic of youtube.

X-Philes!

This blog post is difficult for me...
Because, well, I never watched the X-Files.

I don’t think I had anything against it. It was just always that show on “FOX” for me. But perhaps FOX snobbery is undeserved, they have aired some gems like Arrested Development...at least I hear it’s a gem, I didn’t watch it because it was on FOX....

Anyway, so, in order to understand the popularity of the show better, I thought it best to go right to the fan source: the X-Philes.

What is convenient about all this is that, as we discussed in class, the X-Files came to popularity with the rise of the Internet. So popping “X-Philes” into google leads to a variety of results.

Who knew that there were so many different factions of X-philia?

The first link that pops up is the “X-Phile Finis Romantics Society.” Yeah. This was (the site is no longer active) a coalition of like-minded X-philiacs who wanted to see their beloved Mulder and Scully wait until the end of the series to explore a romantic relationship. Fair enough, I’d say...keep that tension and expectation charging on into the unknown.

Another X-Phile site is specifically dedicated to Mulder.

Oh David Duchovny, how you slayyyy me. With that boy-next-door mousy-brown hair and that voice with that distinctive back-of-the-throat-sort-of-in-his-nose tonal quality...mmmmmhmmmm. I understand you, you “X-Philes for Mulder.”

But on a more serious note: This site was last updated on April 4, 2002. There’s a poignant mission statement on the site’s main page:

“The latest statements issued from X-Files Central (most particularly those recently printed in the September 22, 2000, issue of Entertainment Weekly) have led us to conclude that the amazing contribution David Duchovny has made to the success of The X-Files over the years - in his portrayal of Mulder, in his writing and direction, and in his sheer dedication - has been all but forgotten in the face of 1013 and Fox Inc.'s pursuit of a new format for the show. *Mulder* himself appears to have been forgotten.”

It’s nice to see that this fan site had a motive beyond Duchovny’s cute squinty eyes.

And then you’ve got websites such as this.

Fan fiction! The place where an X-philiac’s desires can come true. It’s great. I love the concept of fan fiction. Why wait for the creators of the show to give you what you want when you can just give it to yourself. (Not intended to be a sexual innuendo.)

This site is divided up into neat things such as “Category Listings” and “Story Listings” in order to help the X-philiac navigate with more efficiency. But it’s a little dated looking, lacking in pizzazz, much like the other two sites I already mentioned.

What’s interesting about all three of these sites is none have been, or appear to be, updated in a while (the last story submitted to the fan fiction site was in December).

Whereas the show has ended, it seems like the upcoming film and reruns should keep the Internet buzz a little higher than these websites suggest.

However, I feel like it may be the fault of these sites and not a lack of general interest. Like the X-Files, the Internet started slow, and then took off. The use of websites to generate and maintain the fan base went hand and hand with this. Whereas the X-Files tried to adapt and change with the times, it seems that these websites, in format and style, are stuck in their original structure.

It’s time to get your act together X-Philiacs! Drum up some hype and make the next film a summer blockbuster! You just may get a third film in the pipeline...

X-Files: A Better Twin Peaks?

I must be honest. I was never a fan of the X-Files, and largely, I am still not. However, examining shows like the X-Files for class has gotten me somewhat interested in exploring these types of shows much deeper. Before this class I had no idea what Twin Peaks was. I had certainly heard of it, but knew very little about it. When we watched the episodes in class, I became interested in seeing more, largely due to the fact that it is quite a unique show. When reading the Strange TV article about the X-Files, I noticed there were quite a few references to Twin Peaks. This got me thinking about the two shows. There are a lot of similarities there.

Let’s take a look at some of the similarities between the pilot of the X-files and Twin Peaks. The show starts with the mysterious murder of a young, attractive female. Because of the mystery surrounding the case, a special agent of the FBI is called in to investigate, who is known for, shall we say, his somewhat strange and interesting practices. Which show am I talking about here? Exactly. Both. Now, of course, there is a large difference here. Twin Peaks largely surrounds the single case of Laura Palmer’s death, while X-Files seems to largely contain a case per episode: the monster of the week, as others have so eloquently put it. I think this what makes the X-Files more watch-able, since the story arches are smaller, as opposed to the series-long main arches of the soap-opera-esque Twin Peaks.

Both the X-Files and Twin Peaks seem to have an interesting self-awareness. There is a campy-ness to them, while still attempting to be at the very least somewhat serious: The X-Files does a much better job with its seriousness than Twin Peaks. Even the grotesque humor is an indication of this. Agents Cooper/Mulder are able to see the dead as objects, and often may be able to joke about them; whereas Agent Scully/Sheriff Truman, don’t seem to be able to share the same abilities.

Throughout the X-Files series, there are many episodes that one might call experimental. I can recall the X-Cops episode that was a parody of another Fox show at the time: Cops. While Twin Peaks ran too short to have ever explored these kinds of episodes, I do feel that the campy-ness is shared between them. I think that because the X-Files largely tried to keep a seriousness about itself, these episodes were a release of sorts: a tip of the hat, if you will, to the very overt campy-ness that Twin Peaks has.

Now up to this point, I have not even mentioned the supernatural similarities between the two shows. I feel that this is a fairly obvious connection for anyone who has seen an episode of both shows, or has even a little knowledge of the genre of the shows. Certainly both shows surround the topic of the supernatural, or the paranormal, which is, within the show, met with a great deal of skepticism. However, the X-Files deals largely with the idea of alien invasion of earth; an idea that never really appeared in Twin Peaks.

Certainly this is just a basic overview of the similarities. If you’re interested in further reading, there is one short website that I found that deals with the cast crossovers between the two shows. Apparently there was a lot:

http://www.angelfire.com/il/Fetterolfs/xfiles.html

Far From a Damsel in Distress

The article on The X-Files made me think of something I really appreciated about the show.

Gillian Anderson, who played Special Agent Dana Scully through the series' entire run, was an attractive woman, and yet her character was consistently allowed to remain intelligent, tough, and dignified. (And appropriately dressed!)



Ms. Anderson clearly realized that her show was not Baywatch, and that she was the "anti-Pam". Interesting considering that the network was apparently looking for a Pamela Anderson type at first.

The show pokes fun at its unconventional views. Any jealousy between the two or resentment of others was generally played in a humorous fashion, such as in "War of the Copropahges", as mentioned in the article. Scully's maternal relationship with Mulder is also sometimes played for humor. I remember one particular episode, "Detour", wherein Mulder asks Scully to sing to him while stranded in the woods. Her chosen song? Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World".

When watching the pilot the other day, I noticed that her character was treated this way almost from teh beginning. While in the hotel in Oregon, there is a scene where she is seen taking her clothes off for a shower. When she notices the marks on her back, she runs into Mulder's room in her bathrobe. However, there are no lingering glances and no inappropriate comments. Both are only concerned about her well-being.

I think this speaks volumes about Mulder and Scully's relationship. While there may be some lingering, unconsummated romantic tension (I never really saw it, personally, but I watched most of the show while in elementary and middle school), they clearly have a respectful, professional relationship. They can work well together and be friends, but she is not forced into a position of always having to be sexy around him. The show didn't try to sex anything up with a lasting exterior love interest, either. Scully apparently had a boyfriend in the original drafts of the pilot, whom was subsequently written out. Too often, women on television are shown to have a constant need for men in their life. Scully may well have needed Mulder, but he was primarily an intellectual foil, not romantic.

In the book Fantasy Girls: Gender in the New Universe of Science Fiction and Fantasy (ed. Elyse Rae Helford) Linda Badley argues that Scully is not as progressive as some may think.

...Scully subverts patriarchal heteronormativity through her role as both a cybercop and forensic investigator, penetrating inert, male bodies with an unfeminine, carnivorous promiscuity (p. 81). On the other hand, Scully’s powerful position vis-à-vis alien(ated) men is destabilized and subsequently contained through the introduction of an abuse survivor/abductee narrative.

While I can see where she's coming from, I disagree with her view. Yes, Scully was abducted and abused. However, she was far from a hapless female. Mulder was never consistently having to save her; sometimes, he got captured and had to be rescued by her as well. The characters were not treated especially differently in this regard.


Dana Scully paved the way for many other strong female characters in supernatural or science fiction TV shows. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Captain Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager, Xena, Zoe Washburne of Firefly, etc. However, I think the character she had to strongest influence on was Willow Rosenberg, also of Buffy. Scully didn't quite have the quirky cutesyness of Willow, but both women were strong, intelligent, and a little geeky. They got to play botht the heroine and the victim, as did the male characters on their series. I think this is the most natural way of showing real human strengths and interactions.

(They're also both redheaded. Mustn't forget that.)