Monsters Inc(orporated)
The X-Files, Metaphor, and ‘Monster Theory’ Chloe Campbell University of Sunderland (2014)
Like Mulder and Scully, we exist in a world full of monsters. For as long as there have been humans, there have been myths, legends, folklore and fairy tales full of monsters, attempting to explore what it means to be human, civilised and safe. In his essay ‘Monster Culture (Seven Theses)’ Jeffrey Jerome Cohen explores the view that the monstrous body is a metaphor for the cultural body, as monsters in their various forms anthropomorphise anxieties and act as literal manifestations of cultural unease. When considering a TV series as progressive and culturally aware as The X-Files, it is imperative to understand that the monsters pervading the narratives are not there by accident—they embody that which threatens and terrifies. The monster is ‘an embodiment of difference, a breaker of category, and a resistant Other’, much like the progressive characters of Special Agent Fox Mulder and Special Agent Dana Scully. Watercooler Journal
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For this reason, the seven theses of Monster Theory can be extended to their characterisation and narrative arcs, providing insight and commentary into contemporary societal and cultural fears. Cohen expresses that monsters serve as ‘the ultimate incorporation of our anxieties—about history, about identity, about our very own humanity’ (Cohen, 1996, xii). In applying Cohen’s Monster Theory to The X-Files, we can gain an understanding of the topical concerns that exist in the complex narratives of both the script and our society. Thesis I: The Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body Monsters have always been, and continue to be, ‘an embodiment of a certain cultural moment—of a time, a feeling, and a place’ as they ‘literally incorporate fear, desire, anxiety’ (Cohen, 1996, p.4). The monsters of The X-Files ‘reflect the mindset of a generation’ (Lavery, 1996) by conveying and fuelling the show’s themes of distrust and suspicion through monstrous ‘metaphor and symbolism’ (Jones, 1996). The evil of the series is represented in the threat of alien invasion and the monsters-ofthe-week, but also manifest in ‘the self-serving and manipulating shadow government’ (Bush, 2008) called the Syndicate, who conspire with alien colonists planning to invade planet earth. The characters, protagonists and narratives of The X-Files constantly ‘question dominant ideologies’ (Hodges, 2005), audaciously confronting popular post-Cold War ‘fears and concerns about technology, alien invasion, and the United States government’ (Hodges, 2005). The narrative characterises these anxieties, giving them literal and corporeal form as monsters and other tangible expressions of evil. The ‘paranoia’ of the text is most confidently expressed by Agent Fox Mulder in his unrelenting belief in conspiracy and the arcane, an untrusting response to the ‘all-seeing, allknowing, all-controlling malevolent patriarchy’ (Hodges, 2005) of the postwar climate and prevailing consumer culture. Neatly coinciding with the birth of the Internet as we know it (Bush, 2008), The X-Files played on cultural and societal anxieties relating to technology, the dawn of the computer age, and artificial intelligence. Concerns over autonomous, and potentially rogue, artificial intelligence is explored in episodes such as ‘Ghost in the Machine’, ‘Kill Switch’ and ‘First Person Shooter’, where computers thinking and acting autonomously results in chaos and death. Anxiety over technology, personal violation and surveillance is given form in instances when the aliens, monsters and corrupt humans use advanced technology to ‘torture, implant, and track their human test subjects’ (Hodges, 2005). When presented with explicit images and storylines which allude to the violation and surveillance of the human body and the human race, we, the audience, are reminded of the Orwellian climate in which we live—where issues of online privacy and data collection have recently penetrated the collective consciousness of our technology-reliant and permanently switched-on society. Not only do the microchip-like implants (which are inserted into the human test subjects 2
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during abduction) provide the aliens and the government with surveillance-related information, but, if removed, they trigger a terminal cancer within the individual. Here we see extreme reliance on technology personified and presented to the audience through monstrous means. Thesis II: The Monster Always Escapes Fear is inescapable, and intrinsic to the human condition—both physiologically and psychologically. The monsters (and the monstrous elements) presented in The X-Files demonstrate that the most terrifying of evils cannot be eliminated, because the very real concepts they represent cannot be entirely eradicated either. The monster’s ‘threat is in its propensity to shift’ (Cohen, 1996, p.5), allowing it to evade capture time after time. This can be seen in the character of the Cigarette Smoking Man, a malevolent primary figure in the government conspiracy who serves as Mulder’s arch nemesis and foil. Throughout The X-Files, we see the Cigarette Smoking Man seemingly assassinated twice (‘Requiem’, ‘The Truth’ and ‘My Struggle’). In true monster form, this villainous character survives and returns, prompting the viewer to consider the geography of the villain(s) ‘within the intricate matrix of relations that generate them’ (Cohen, 1996, p.5) and to examine the climates (and anxieties) which keep these monsters alive. In not explicitly defeating all forms of the monstrous, The X-Files ‘refrains from passing final judgement’ (Lavery, 1996). Throughout the show’s run, the audience was continuously left without definite answers or outcomes, an observation that has inspired commentary and reflection:
The real pleasure of The X-Files wasn’t having your worst fears about the government confirmed; it was realising that our world might still contain phenomena that are unexplained, and perhaps unexplainable. (North, 2016)
Thesis III: The Monster is the Harbinger of Category Crisis One of the most concerning things about monsters is that they threaten conformity—a concept integral to human society. Dating back to Classical mythology, monsters have often been constructed from many parts of different beings (the Chimera, the Manticore, the Lamia), often combining human traits with the animalistic. Hybridity in this way ‘rebels against nature’, thus assigning these amalgamated monsters the role of ‘a form suspended between forms’ (Cohen, 1996, p.6). When an audience is presented with such a crossbreed of form and reason, viewers are encouraged to undertake a ‘radical rethinking of boundary and normality’ (Cohen, 1996, p.6). Unconcerned with physical conformity and categorisation, the monsters of The X-Files violate established perceptions of rationality, acceptance, identity and expression. The multiple Watercooler Journal
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extraterrestrial forms presented in the show range from stereotypical Greys to shape-shifting bounty hunters, regenerative Super Soldiers, terrorist rebel aliens, alien DNA, human hybrids, and the elusive and seemingly unstoppable Black Oil. The boundary defying monsters of The X-Files perhaps represent ‘new and interconnected methods of perceiving the world’ (Cohen, 1996, p.6), and the similarly co-dependent real life anxieties for which they serve as metaphor. The monsters of The X-Files fall into—and crawl between—three domains: ‘There’s Something in the House’, ‘There’s Something in the Woods’, and ‘There’s Something in the Government’ (Jones, 1996). The creatures of There’s Something in the House (‘Squeeze’, ‘Tooms’, and ‘Irresistible’) allude to anxieties concerning ourselves and our domestic partners: security, privacy, gender, sexuality, mental health, trust, deceit and commitment. There’s Something in the Woods (‘Pilot’, ‘Jersey Devil’) implies concerns regarding invasion and territory, the concepts of ‘centre’ vs ‘periphery’ (Jones, 1996) and the ‘boundaries of civilisation’ as we know it (Jones, 1996). The storylines and villainy encompassed within There’s Something in the Government (‘Erlenmeyer Flask’, ‘Anasazi’ and ‘My Struggle’) suggest fears and mistrust concerning authority, conspiracy, totalitarianism, terrorism, security, autonomy and the surveillance state. If we look to where the creatures choose to operate, and which boundaries they cross, we can reflect upon where our deepest fears and anxieties exist. When the monsters and aliens defy boundary and categorisation, the polarising binaries associated with prejudice and conformity become startlingly apparent.
“The monsters (and the monstrous elements) presented in The X-Files demonstrate that the most terrifying of evils cannot be eliminated, because the very concepts they represent cannot be entirely eradicated either.” Thesis IV: The Monster Dwells at the Gates of Difference Cohen asserts ‘the monster is difference made flesh, come to dwell among us’, as a confrontational and ‘dialectical Other’ (1996, p.7). Otherness is a state of nonconformity with the norms of a collective, which results in an individual (or individuals) being placed on the societal margins, or ‘the Outside’ (Cohen, 1996, p.7). Both monsters and human characters in The X-Files serve as manifestations and personifications of what it means to be the Other, as they refuse to conform or remain dormant. Cultural and xenophobic anxieties are explored in episodes such as ‘Shapes’ and ‘Kaddish’, where the monsters in each narrative are derivative of legends specific to Native American and Jewish folklore, respectively. The presence of each monster allows the episodes to provide a 4
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commentary on cultural stereotypes, racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and hate crime. Many of The X-Files’ monsters are excellent metaphors for Otherness (The Great Mutato from the Emmy-winning episode ‘The Postmodern Prometheus,’ for instance, is misunderstood and Othered because of his artificial genesis and physical appearance). However, it is Mulder and Scully who most evidently dwell at the gates of difference. Both Mulder and Scully are aligned with the monstrous, each embodying the concept of ‘difference made flesh’ (Cohen, 1996). Mulder achieves this transgression through his belief in, and unyielding dedication to, the paranormal—which earns him a reputation as ‘spooky’ (‘Pilot’), a concept synonymous with the supernatural. Assigned to an office in the basement, and left to investigate the oft-mocked X-Files, Mulder is physically and professionally hidden from the central domains of the bureau. As the show’s resident believer in the mystic, Mulder occupies a typically feminine domain; his belief in the esoteric causes many to see him as irrational and he is Othered by the primarily masculine, obedience-driven and logically thinking bureau. Scully, on the other hand, is Othered by her ‘scientific rationalism’ (Hodges, 2005, p. 67), a dedication and profession that has, in the past, usually been assigned to male characters. Rational, methodical, and logical, Scully goes against the many stereotypes that have been assigned to the female gender. We can also see Scully’s occupancy of Otherness when examining her alignment to the monstrous elements in The X-Files; some have theorised that her attempts to have a baby are similar to the clinical attempts of alien-human hybridisation, and she embraces the monstrous in a physical sense, as a rejection of her extraterrestrial implant would result in terminal cancer (Hodges, 2005, p.69). Perhaps her alignment to the monstrous is a comment upon the fact that as a woman, as an FBI agent and as a scientist, Scully is simultaneously Other to the patriarchy and to heteronormative concepts of femininity. The concept of the monstrous Other brings the audience’s attention to the cultural, societal and personal fears which manifest themselves as prejudice against those who are different from ourselves, and from the structures we conform to:
‘Difference that exists out of the system is terrifying because it reveals the truth of the system.’ (Cohen, 1996, p. 11)
Thesis V: The Monster Polices the Borders of the Possible Thesis V of Monster Theory states that monsters act as border control, ‘preventing mobility’ from the confines of safe and socially acceptable domains. In crossing these ‘borders’ humans will encounter a monstrous attack and even risk the terrible fate of becoming monstrous themselves (p.18). Perhaps genetic mutants and creatures which draw characterisation from Frankenstein’s creature (read: the Great Mutato) warn of the dangers of experimental science, genetic engineering, cloning, stem cell research, and ‘playing God’ (‘Eve’ and ‘Emily’). Watercooler Journal
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Monsters appear to police personal borders too, especially those relating to sexuality. The controversial episode ‘Home’ clearly alludes to what Cohen calls the ‘incest taboo’ (p.15), as those who have committed such acts are represented as physically deformed and monstrous, though not paranormal in origin. A product of consanguineous relations, the monsters in ‘Home’ are humans who appear grotesque and monster-like (an allusion to the genetic disorders and deformity associated with inbreeding) and express inhumane, murderous behaviour. Allegory of socially unacceptable sexual impulses can be identified in episodes such as ‘3’, ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Irresistible’, where we can see the vampiric practices and the death-fetishist serial killer act as embodiments of ‘sexual practices that must not be committed’ (Cohen, 1996, p.14). Curiosity may have killed the cat, but deviation gave birth to the monster of prohibition.
Thesis VI: Fear of the Monster is Really a Kind of Desire Monsters, in their many fragmented and allegorical forms, can ‘serve as secondary bodies through which the possibility of other genders, other sexualities, and other social customs can be explored’ (Cohen, 1996, p.18). The murders in ‘Gender Bender’ are committed by a member of the Kindred—an isolated, originally extraterrestrial community, whose members don’t conform to established gender binaries. In the episode, a series of casual sexual encounters end in murder, thanks to the expression of
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lethal amounts of pheromones from the perpetrator. The supernatural and death-related elements in the episode act as manifestations of the anxieties surrounding sexual autonomy, promiscuity, homosexuality and bisexuality, transgender and gender-fluid identity, and stereotypical gender roles (Booker, 2002). In this narrative, the ‘monster of the week’ acts on their instinctive desire to occupy more than one gender and to partake in casual sexual encounters. The deadly consequences of these acts comment upon how we, as a society, have viewed these concepts in the past and how we may continue to view them. Thesis VII: The Monster Stands at the Threshold... of Becoming
Monsters ask us how we perceive the world, and how we have misrepresented what we have attempted to place. They ask us to reevaluate our cultural assumptions about race, gender, sexuality, our perception of difference, our tolerance towards its expression. They ask us why we have created them. (Cohen, 2005, p.20)
If we subscribe to the Jungian theory of the ‘collective unconscious’, which suggests that fears are inherited from our ancestors and manifest themselves as archetypes (universal symbols such as the Great Mother, the Wise Old Man and the Shadow) throughout myth and literature, it is evident that the monsters of The X-Files are apparitions and personifications of these inherited anxieties; ‘If myth is, as some Jungians have argued, the collective dream of a society, then The X-Files may well be the nightmare of the fin de siècle’ (Jones, 1996, p.78). The monsters and their variants (as some of the human characters are aligned with the monstrous due to their practices and beliefs) embody the modern apprehensions that exist in our post-war, technologically progressive world. The series ‘operates mythically’ (Jones, 1996) presenting our societal and personal anxieties to us in the forms of monsters, whether they are aliens, mutants, serial killers, conspiring government officials—or all of the above. Mulder and Scully offer both radical and logical perspectives on many monstrous narratives, allowing viewers to process, evaluate and reconsider common fears from alternate frames of reference.
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image credits © FOX bibliography Booker, M. Keith (2002). Strange TV: Innovative Television Series from The Twilight Zone to The X-Files. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32373-9. Bush, M. 2008. Myth-X. [E-book] lulu.com. Available at: Google Books [Accessed 13 March 2016] Cohen, J.J. 1996. Monster Theory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Hodges, L. 2005. Scully, What Are You Wearing? The Problem of Feminism, Subversion and Heteronormativity in The X Files. [Online] Available at: http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0010507/hodges_l. pdf [Accessed 12 March 2016] Jones, L. 1996. Last Week We Had An Omen: The Mythological X-Files. In: D. Lavery, ed. 1996. Deny All Knowledge: Reading The X Files. Syracuse University Press. Ch 5 Koven, M.J. 2007. The Folklore Files: In(corp)orating Legend in The X Files. In: S.R. Yang, ed. 2007. The X Files and Literature: Unweaving the Story, Unraveling the Lie to Find the Truth. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lavery, D., Hague, A., Cartwright, M. 1996. Deny All Knowledge: Reading The X Files. Syracuse University Press North, A. 2016. ‘The X Files’ in the Age of Truthers. The New York Times. January 22. Yang, S.R. 2007. The X Files and Literature: Unweaving the Story, Unraveling the Lie to Find the Truth. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing Zevellos, Z. 2011. What is Otherness?, The Other Sociologist. [Online] Available at: http:// othersociologist.com/otherness-resources/ [Accessed 20 March 2016]
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