The American Dream in The X-Files: Miracle Man, Shapes, Darkness Falls, Tooms

The introduction to this series of posts about the American dream as it appears in The X-Files can be found here: https://culttvblog.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-american-dream-in-x-files.html?m=1

1x17 Miracle Man (Monster of the Week)

Once again we have the reference to religion, which in the context of the American dream is predicated on freedom of religion; as I said about Gender Bender, this is, of course, one of Roosevelt's four freedoms. Here, however, we have a particularly American form of religion (I'm writing this in Europe, remember, so am quite prepared to be reading this wrong): one where religion meets other aspects of the American dream, capitalism and self-advancement. As is usually the case with the American dream in the X-Files it is in the background, but we see the large car and house which the Hartleys make from their healing ministry. The dream where anyone can set up a church and live in prosperity (I'm not even necessarily thinking of the prosperity gospel, just comfort and a better life than you would otherwise have had) is turned by this episode into a nightmare: it is continually suggested that the ministry is a scam and Samuel's gift, while presented as if genuine, is apparently used as a false prophet. So the dream becomes a setting for scammers and snake oil salesman, in this episode.

Also in the background is a clash between the State (in the form of the justice system) and religion, where religion claims to be answerable to a higher court and actively tries to obstruct the course of justice. By presenting religion and the system where there is equal justice for all, the show again presents a significant conflict in the American dream. Now I now that you're going to say that that isn't a problem because y'all have separation of church and state, right? All well and good, but the problem is that that isn't some people's dream at all, and they actively want religion, meaning only their specific religion, to run the state. And that's where it gets very difficult indeed. (That said, in the UK we're all a bit shell shocked that the unelected House of Lords is the only thing really standing up to the elected (by a minority) government, so sometimes having bishops in government works out).

Because of the significant content about religion, a specifically American form of religion, prosperity, and a clash between church and state, I am going to include Miracle Man as one of the episodes with significant subject matter about the American dream.

1x18 Shapes (Monster of the Week)

Despite the reference to a killing of a Native American, the intention of the killer wasn't actually to kill him but the beast he may have transformed into. Nonetheless this episode takes place against a background of an utterly unhappy community, mostly caused by conflict between the Native American populaton and the white population, highlighting the reality that colonising a country tends to leave the indigenous population unhappy at best. The sheriff walks a very thin line between the law of the US and what the local native population want. This isn't a dream at all, this is a nightmare.

Both Mulder and Scully start talking to people (Do you believe in shape shifting?) at the funeral in a way which you really wouldn't. I wonder whether this is deliberately as a symbol of the intrusion of the white colonisers into America.

Because of the First Nations and conflict content I am going to include this episode among the ones with signifcant subject matter relating to the American dream, and once again the show highlights the negative aspects of the dream.

1x19 Darkness Falls (Monster of the Week)

As it relates to the American dream I am going to interpret this one in an idiosyncratic way, which I haven't seen in any other commentary about this episode. Above I commented on references to the colonialism which underlies the American dream, which is apparently so little noted that some Americans forget it originated in a collection of colonies to the extent they expect immigrants to speak English because they think the indigenous population do. I think this episode refers to colonialism in an oblique way, in the fear of the ancient nature that is portrayed as so dangerous. Colonials always always look on their colonies as dangerous places to be tamed, and inferior to their 'home' countries. I think it is possible to read that attitude in this episode, only transformed so that the ancient, natural and indigenous histories of the USA are seen as scary and inferior to the forces of civilsation and safe modernity, represented as the FBI agents. The suspected eco-terrorist is so despised because he is on the side of the ancient world, rather than the modern world: he's a coloniser but has gone native. I did say that this would be a very idiosyncratic interpretation of this episode but I honestly think it's a valid one. The way this relates to the American dream is that it is really only a dream for the colonisers and doesn't feature the original population or conserving the environment in any way whatsoever. As always The X-Files show us what happens when the opposite of the dream starts to fight back.

At the end, government officials are seen attempting to stop the ancient, scary natural thing from destroying the Dream. Nature has been colonised again. Chris Carter explicitly said that the ending of the episode where a doctor said that failure to contain the green things is not an option, was inspired by having grown up in the years following the Watergate scandal when he developed a profound distrust in the government (see, I said that liberty and justice for all was turned on its head in The X-Files).

I am not, however going to include this amongst my list of episodes significantly relating to the American dream, because I am the only person I have ever seen with this interpretation of it, and it is more often interpreted as having a straightforward ecological theme.

1x20 Tooms (Monster of the Week)

No significant content about the American dream. We do, however see the Cigarette Smoking Man again, who has previously been depicted as a CIA fixer, whose appearance here indicates that the government knows the X-Files and onto the truth and are actively covering it up.

As I go through these posts I am going to keep a tally of how many episodes of Core Mythology and Monster of the Week types have significant content making the American dream in effect part of the plot rather than the omnipresent setting, and so far we have 

Core Mythology: 5 (3 with signifcant content relating to the American dream: Deep Throat, Fallen Angel, and E.B.E.)

Monster of the Week: 16 (5 with significant content relating to the American dream: Eve, Beyond the Sea, Young at Heart, Miracle Man and Shapes.)

As always, I'm totally unequipped to do this so if I've missed anything corrections are very welcome in the comments.