Andrew Patrick Nelson University of Exeter

Transcription

1 Review: Dean A. Kowalski, ed. (2007) The Philosophy of the X-Files (The Philosophy of Popular Culture). Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press Andrew Patrick Nelson University of Exeter For those interested in the intersection of philosophy and popular culture and those inclined to view commercial culture as a reflection of the zeitgeist or our unconscious fears and desires the long-running television series The X-Files ( ) presents a number of conundrums. Why would a television programme predicated on a search for the truth out there resonate at a time when access to information (using new technology) was increasing at a seemingly exponential rate? Why would this same programme, about a vast government conspiracy orchestrated by shadowy men at the highest levels of power, so appeal to audiences in a post-cold War, pre-9/11 period of relative peace and prosperity? What specifically in The X-Files investigations of the paranormal and extraterrestrial and concomitant considerations of systems of belief and the limits of earthly knowledge made it successful when contemporaneous TV shows and movies that attempted to tread similar ground were not? (Blockbuster films of the 1990s in which Will Smith repels an alien invasion excepted, of course). Whatever answers philosophy may have to offer to these or related questions, they are not to be found in The Philosophy of The X-Files. That the show in question achieved both commercial and critical success is moreor-less taken for granted by the collection s fourteen contributors all teachers of philosophy, ten at Wisconsin universities. Presented instead are introductions to a variety of ideas and thinkers from Socrates, Plato and Film-Philosophy ISSN:

2 Aristotle to Charles Sanders Pierce, William James and W.K. Clifford all ostensibly set against the backdrop of The X-Files universe. While there is nothing inherently misguided in this orientation, in execution The Philosophy of The X-Files is a decidedly mixed bag. At its best, the collection offers lucid introductions to key philosophical principles that are then applied to the television series in a mutually revealing way. More numerous, unfortunately, are essays comprised of lengthy philosophical expositions to which, frustratingly, The X-Files often seems an afterthought. In his introduction, editor Dean A. Kowalski lays out the volume s guiding themes. The connection between The X-Files and philosophical inquiry is not to be found in the show s paranormal subject matter the type of material that occupies the shelves of the metaphysics section in your local bookstore but in its fundamental premise that the truth is out there. This, Kowalski writes, is the mindset of the philosopher (1). The show s two protagonists FBI agents Mulder, the believer, and Scully, the skeptic represent two cardinal yet contrasting methods of seeking truth, which Kowalski characterizes by reference to Raphael s The School of Athens. Just as Mulder and Scully occupy the centre of The X-Files, the focal point of Raphael s famous painting is the philosophers Plato and Aristotle, who each make a rhetorical gesture: Plato to the heavens above, Aristotle to the earth below. This parallel proves useful not only in characterising the fundamental contrast, and conflict, at the heart of the show, but also in prompting the reader to bear in mind the complexities of that contrast. As many of the contributors note, Mulder s willingness to entertain theories about vampires, psychics and mutants is still part of a reasoned process of inquiry making him not unlike Melchert s description of Plato as both mystic and rationalist. Comparably, just as Raphael depicts Aristotle holding his Nicomachean Ethics which Aristotle denied was a work of science so does Scully, the consummate scientist, carry with her a deep Catholic faith. (Although a key facet of the show, Scully s faith is only commented upon in passing in The Philosophy of The X-Files). Film-Philosophy ISSN:

3 Following the introduction, the collection is divided into three sections. The first, The Credos, examines the show s slogans The Truth is Out There, Trust No One and I Want to Believe. The second section, The Characters, provides analyses of Mulder, Scully, the nefarious Cigarette Smoking Man and Assistant FBI Director Walter Skinner. Finally, The Episodes looks closely at two popular third season episodes and the 1998 feature film Fight the Future. Also included as appendices are a summation of the show s mythology and an episode guide. The focus throughout the collection is principally the first five seasons plus the first movie more a practical consideration than a value judgment, Kowalski explains in the introduction. The collection s most engaging essays are those that are able to balance an introduction to at times intricate concepts with an analysis of specific, pertinent aspects of the The X-Files thereby corroborating the premise that the show is intrinsically metaphysical (and confirming that the analytical tools of philosophy can be productively applied to popular consumer culture). Mark C.E. Petersen s The Truth is Out There contends, following James, that Mulder s primary method of investigation is neither induction nor deduction but abduction, the process of hypothesis formation. It is through Scully, who investigates using induction, that the viewer considers the larger existential issues at stake in the series, as her institutional mindset is constantly challenged by a barrage of paranormal phenomena and Mulder s attempts to abduct the truth (that aliens are abducting us a pun favoured throughout the essay). Petersen s entry is also notable for devoting attention to the question of whether The X-Files actually deserves philosophical attention whether the show is actually philosophical in nature, or only exhibits the trappings of existentialism. This line of inquiry is couched in a broader argument: that philosophy should turn its lens to pop culture more often. This is a refreshing change from the penchant, on display elsewhere in the collection and in many other studies of a similar nature, to preface the application of highbrow philosophy to lowbrow culture with apologetic sentiments about how some would disapprove of such analyses. Film-Philosophy ISSN:

4 From The Characters section of the collection, two essays in particular stand out. In Scully as Pragmatist Feminist: truths Out There, Erin McKenna argues that the gradual shift in Scully s scientific approach to knowledge and truth, exemplified in the seventh season episode all things (written and directed by star Gillian Anderson), mirrors the shift seen in metaphysics and epistemology following the introduction of pragmatism and feminism. Later, in Moral Musings on The Cigarette Smoking Man, Timothy Dunn and Joseph J. Foy investigate the central antagonist of The X-Files. Weighing the CSM s actions from both Kantian and utilitarian perspectives, the writers attempt to explain the villain s actions, ultimately arguing that the character represents an inversion of moral order that challenges traditional notions of morality. In contrast to these examples, however, the majority of collection s other essays take a different approach in their analysis of the series. Rather than using philosophy to illuminate aspects of The X-Files, the prevailing strategy is to draw evidence from the show to help the reader to better understand various philosophical ideas. Yet the examples invoked are often both arbitrary and abstract. Gordon Barnes s Science and the Mystery of Consciousness: A Dialogue between Mulder and Scully is just that: an imagined and lively conversation between the agents that finds them comfortably in their roles of believer and scientist, debating the nature of human consciousness. Their conversation is peppered with references to past cases, including that of the mutant cannibal Eugene Tooms, a popular villain who appeared in two firstseason episodes. Yet the selection of Tooms is entirely arbitrary his case serves as fodder for the philosophical debate not because he was a hundredyear old genetic monster who needed to consume five livers every thirty years to sustain his hibernation, but because some people suspected he was a hundred-year old genetic monster while others did not. The basic point that some people knew Tooms to be one person while others knew him as another propels a large section of the agents dialogue; yet, given that nearly every episode of The X-Files has Mulder glimpsing a deeper truth while Scully sees the surface, there could be dozens if not hundreds of other, comparable cases. Film-Philosophy ISSN:

5 A related concern is the lack of consideration given to The X-Files status as a television show; indeed, at times the inherently televisual nature of the series is wilfully ignored. In Clyde Bruckman s Final Repose Reprised, for example, Kowalski uses the episode in question about a pessimistic insurance salesmen, played by Peter Boyle, who is able to foresee the deaths of those around him to work through the conflict between determinism and human freedom, ultimately offering a critique of Aristotle s argument that a written future model seeing the future like a screenplay, rather than fully acted out necessarily entails a fatalistic attitude on the part of the foreseer. In order to proceed with this argument, however, Kowalski must first conclude that what Bruckman sees is indeed the written future. To do so requires interpreting both the hazy visual representations of Bruckman s visions and Boyle s acting methods during these visions as merely dramatic effects and not evidence that Bruckman has the ability to literally see future events (194, original emphasis). The tendency to cite examples from the show in random fashion, abstracted from their narrative context and ignoring their specific representational medium, pervades much of the The Philosophy of The X- Files, and risks undermining the collection s guiding premise that the The X- Files itself and not detached elements from it is fundamentally philosophical in nature. With these criticisms in mind, the final question to ask is: who is this book is intended for? While the collection presumes no prior knowledge of philosophy, and most of the entries do an admirable job of conveying complex ideas as straightforwardly as possible, the reader envisioned is nonetheless sophisticated. Readers with backgrounds in moving image or cultural studies are likely to be frustrated by neglect of these aspects of the series in favour of its thematic concerns. As noted above, in the majority entries the explication of philosophical concepts takes longer than their application to the television show. This will probably alienate those whose interest is The X-Files first, philosophy second which seems likely to be the majority of the book s potential readership. This is especially unfortunate, because the contributors familiarity with the show is a non-issue. Kowalski, Film-Philosophy ISSN:

6 in particular though his own contributions and his editorial notes displays a thoroughgoing knowledge of the series and its particulars. In a sense, the book s pedigree may be its undoing, as the contributors enthusiasm for philosophy clearly gets the better of their enthusiasm for The X-Files. Film-Philosophy ISSN: