The X-Files Changed My Life
The series introduced me to interesting people, concepts, and fields of study I never would’ve found without it.
By BETHAN JONES
I was obsessed with the paranormal as a kid. I read true ghost stories about haunted houses, bought UFO magazines religiously, and wanted to be a parapsychologist. I also hated The X-Files (1993–2002).
One night when I was 12, my step-father told me about The X-Files, an American science-fiction/horror television series. I wasn’t convinced. I thought the show would make fun of believers and not be “real” sci-fi in the tradition of Asimov or Bradbury (to whom my granddad had introduced me). But one night, I caught a glimpse of an episode, and I was hooked.
It wasn’t simply the chemistry between Gillian Anderson and David Duchonvy, the quality of the writing, the nothing-like-this-has-been-done-before quality of the show. It was all of those, but it was also something more.
My Form 3 English teacher introduced me to fan fiction when he gave us prompts for our annual Eisteddfod. I didn’t know fic was called that then, but the first story I ever wrote was about me, my sister, and The X-Files’ Mulder (Duchovny) and Scully (Anderson) investigating alien abductions in the woods near my school.
I kept writing fan fiction, discovered the BBC Cult message boards, and shared stories online. I even wrote about The X-Files and reality for my undergraduate philosophy dissertation and was gutted when The Philosophy of The X-Files was published, stealing the idea I’d always harboured that I’d write that book.
Later, I discovered LiveJournal and fanvids and meta, and a community of fans who were all into the same show as I — and who could talk about the vagaries of truth in the same breath as squeeing about that kiss. Yes, The X-Files introduced me to interesting people, concepts, and fields of study I would never have found without it.
Because of The X-Files I’m working toward my PhD in fan studies. I’m meeting other interesting people and writing about fandom, gender, anti-fans, activism, and aca-fandom. I’m theorising my own experiences in ways I never would have before, and I hope in some small way I’m adding new knowledge to what already exists.
I recently re-read my old diary. Dated 1994, its cover pages are covered in the infamous X and the myriad sayings of The X-Files: Trust No One and I Want to Believe. One of my entries reads “Mam says The X-Files is just a TV show. What does she know?”
Twenty-one years later and The X-Files is still more than just a TV show to me. It has been, in the words of Fox Mulder, my constant, my touchstone — it’s helped me through the bad times, been there through the good, helped me discover fandom, and gotten me onto the academic path I now find myself.
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