Cult TV Blog

The introduction to this series of posts on the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 So I've reached the end of Season 4 and I think I can truthfully say I'm now burned out at this series of posts and shouldn't pick it up for another whole season. Of course I may comment if an episode I watch in the future particularly makes me think of the subject. I have three over-riding conclusions from doing this series of posts. The first is that as an outsider the picture of the American dream which is in my head is probably formed by The X-Files. That's why the show makes me think of the subject, and obviously blogging is cheaping than therapy. I have realised that actual Americans tend to see the subject differently and accentuate different things. The second is that the show tends to foreground something (for example part of the series mythology or a monste...

The introduction to this series of posts on the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files can be found at: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 4x17 Tempus Fugit and 4x18 Max (Core Mythology) I'm a bit surprised on rewatching this two-parter to find that I didn't find it replete with possible references to the dream, which was what I was expecting. Instead the criticism of the dream which is hammered home at length is, of course, that there is a huge conspiracy and the justice and freedom from fear you might expect are possible illusory. 4x19 Synchrony (Monster of the Week) No apparent reference to the American dream. 4x20 Small Potatoes (Monster of the Week) No apparent reference to the American dream. 4x21 Zero Sum (Core Mythology) I'm not a great believer in the 'few bad apples' argument whether applied to law enforcement or churches, because the few bad apples are usually just what you know about and t...

The introduction to this series of posts on the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 4x05 The Field Where I Died (Monster of the Week) The Field Where I Died is reminding me of why I like to blog about things which interest me or I think I know about, because there is just so much in this one that I'm almost certain to make several howlers. In fact, watching the episode with more attention, it's apparent why it's usually had rather lukewarm reviews, because frankly it's a bit of a mess. It's also got plot holes you could drive a Cadillac Series 62 through, because obviously nobody in their right mind would have questioned Melissa in the mental state she was in and Scully clearly has a professional duty to go to Skinner and tell him Mulder has finally lost it. As always there is a foreground to the episode: the dissociative personality vs past liv...

The introduction to this series of posts about the American dream as depicted and criticised in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 I am delighted that we are now hitting a couple of episodes where their relationship to the American dream will pretty much write itself with no help from me: apart from anything else this is a bit of a relief because at times I've been wondering whether I was imagining that the show featured the dream. 4x02 Home (Monster of the Week) Luckily I'm not the only one who says this episode references the American dream: it is even gets on to the episode's Wikipedia page! I was going to say that you could say this episode is criticising the dream; that in a society where if you work hard everyone can get as far as their God-given ability will take them, there are bound to be casualties. Some of those casualties are bound to be found among people (who obviously exist internation...

The introduction to this series of posts about the American dream as depicted and criticised in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 Now you may say that it is slightly ridiculous that I left this series of posts for a break and since then have only managed one general round up post and have come back again. All I can say is that it was like that time Patsy Stone gave up drinking: it was the worst eight hours of her life. And also like heavy drinking, I think I will need another break after this one. 4x01 Herrenvolk (Core Mythology) Of course the reason I've returned to these posts is that the events of the last week made me think of one aspect of this episode in particular. That aspect is the alien bounty hunter, and since the phrase 'I hope the bondsman has a good bounty hunter' has been rather thrown around the internet in the past week, it made me look the subject up. I had assumed that bounty hunt...

The introduction to this series of posts about the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 I have now gone through three series of the show in detail, looking out for possible references to the American dream. I am going to pause after this post to decide on whether or how to continue, because I'm finding it very difficult and really don't understand the subject. I would also predict that fewer episodes from now on might reference the dream, so may just do selected episodes. Here, therefore are some impressions and conclusions that I have drawn so far. I have been surprised in my reading to find that the idea of the American dream is endlessly mutable, and its nebulousness is one of the things which has made this series of posts difficult. I have also been surprised to find that the show deals with the idea of the American dream I had to start off with (details...

The introduction to this series of posts about the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 I am delighted to announce that Mitchell Hadley of itsabouttv.com describes this series of posts (or possibly me, I do hope so) as provocative, which is one of the nicest compliments I could have. To undershoot and merely be controversial would be such a waste. He also made me realise something in the comments he helpfully left on my last post which I'm going to have to try to weave in. 3x19 Hell Money (Monster of the Week) The obvious connection to the American dream here is that of immigrants going to America so that they can improve themselves. However the episode also depicts Chinese immigrants in that exact position who are also at risk from the perceived danger of their home culture. I am a bit surprised that I haven't seen this in any of the commentary on this epis...

The introduction to this series of posts about the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 3x14 Grotesque (Monster of the Week) No apparent reference to the American dream. 3x15 Piper Maru (Core Mythology) The episode reflects badly on US justice with the suggestion of government complicity or corruption when the investigation of SCully's sister's death is halted despite new evidence being uncovered. At this stage I'm not clear whether Krycek is supposed still to be an FBI agent but he and Jeraldine are selling government secrets so there must be some source within the government for them. Once again we have the impact of the US military-industrial complex on its own citizens: I'm not sure whether this model for military being exposed to radiation was publicly available in the nineties but again a real world example of this actually happening would be t...

The introduction to this series of posts about the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files may be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 3x09 Nisei and 3x10 731 (Core Mythology) These two series mythology episodes were intended to be a single Monster of the Week episode, based on the atrocities of the famous Unit 731 run by the Japanese in occupied China from 1937 to 1945. The experiments on humans were just as cruel as the experiments the Nazis were carrying out in Europe and of course you know the reason it's appearing on this show is that the US paid the scientists involved for their research and paid them stipends. We're back in similar territory to Operation Paperclip.  As depicted here the experiments are adapted for the series mythology - an alienification if you like - to involve alien autopsies. Although the commentary on these episodes has tended to be that they depict the erosion of public confi...

  https://twitter.com/7Veritas4/status/1681421067737350150 The introduction to this series of posts about how the American dream is depicted and criticised in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 3x06 2Shy (Monster of the Week) Unfortunately the obvious reference to the American dream that this episode makes is to one of Roosevelt's four freedoms, freedom from want, or rather in true dystopian X-Files mode, to its extreme of obesity. A serial killer who only attacks obese women is rather calculated to alarm an audience in the USA since CDC figures say the prevalence of obesity stood at 30.5% at the end of the nineties, rising to 41.9% in March 2020. The uncomfortable fact here is that globally you would expect poor people to be thin, but this is also combined in the USA with a diet industry and high incidence of cosmetic surgery, leading to an occurence of rich people starving themselves to be thin and poor pe...

The introduction to this series of posts about the depiction and criticism of the American dream in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 3x01 The Blessing Way and 3x02 Paper Clip (Core Mythology) Anasazi, The Blessing Way, and Paper Clip are essentially a three-parter spread over the gap in two seasons, and I am going to include all of them among my episodes with significant American dream content because they cover the familiar territory already mentioned in bucketloads. To summarise: they all include the themes of government corruption, the government's involvement in a government conspiracy of silence about extra terrestrials, the shadowy Syndicate, the presence of native Americans and thus a reminder of how badly the settlers have treated them. The Blessing Way draws on the dynamic I talked about in Fresh Bones, where the ancient traditions (or 'superstitions') here save one of the white immigrants...

The introduction to this series of posts about how the American dream is depicted and criticised in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 Another pause for reflection now that I've got to the end of Season 2. When I started this series of posts I adopted a definiton of the American dream taken straight from the relevant Wikipedia page, of the national ethos of the US including representative, democracy, rights, liberty, and equality, in which freedom is interpreted as the opportunity for individual prosperity and success. I have since added to this another one I found, where the national ethos is defined as the rule of law, equal opportunity, equal justice, hope for the oppressed, and human rights. I was subsequently a little surprised to find that this isn't necessarily how citizens of the USA see it themselves and that the definition of the dream is apparently endlessly mutable. The table from a survey wh...

The introduction to this series of posts on how the American dream is depicted and criticised in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 2x22 F Emasculata (Monster of the Week) The deeply-flawed F. Emasculata introduces a new aspect of the American dream which hasn't appeared before. Remember how a part of the dream is that capitalism should be pretty much uncontrolled to allow the opportunities that people need to better themselves? Here we see this principle attached to healthcare, and as we know the US healthcare system is therefore driven by profit for companies rather than promoting the health of the population. Specifically in this episode 'Big Pharma' comes under criticism - the criticism is that in a capitalist system, Big Pharma wants to find remedies for purposes of profit and either isn't bothered by the damage it does or covers up the damage when it happens. This fear of Big Pharma makes n...

For the introduction to this series of posts about the American dream as it is depicted and criticised in The X-Files see here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 2x19 Dod Kalm (Monster of the Week) No apparent reference to the American dream (but would have made a mean Sapphire and Steel). 2x20 Humbug (Monster of the Week) For my original post on this episode which made me think about The X-Files and the American dream, see here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/circus-season-humbug-x-files.html?m=1 2x21 The Calusari (Monster of the Week) It may not seem that this episode, which is about an apparent secret mystical or magical society originating in Romania, has an immediate relevance to the American dream, I believe there is a possible distant connection, which may only be in my head as an outsider. In recent posts I have reflected on the way the USA, as a nation composed of a majority of immigrants or descendants of immigrants, can s...

The introduction to this series of posts about the American dream as it is depicted in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1 2x15 Fresh Bones (Monster of the Week) It's hard to know where to start with the amount of stuff about the dream in this episode. Once again, it is of course in the background of the immediate subject of the episode which is 'voodoo'. But first, of course, we have the subject of the military which keeps coming up here. Obviously the connection to the dream is that if your country is a dream democracy of hope and freedom, then you want to be able to defend it because everyone else will want to enter it. However I have to say I'm not convinced that it is actually necessary to spend $800 billion dollars on protecting your dream, especially when any other prospective combatants aren't spending that much. But this isn't simply a reference to the military-industrial complex:...