Day 5: Meta recs
We all know how intelligent The X-Files was, don't we? And we all know how intelligent its fans are? Well, I thought I'd make a recs post celebrating both of those things.
One of the things I like best about this fandom is that we're not afraid to take the show apart, analyse it, and put it back together again (not necessarily in the same order it was originally). And I like how we can get into debates about what something meant, or why Mulder's being a jerk in X episode, or how soon Scully fell for Mulder. I've been reading a lot (a lot) of academic and fan scholarship on The X-Files over the last few years, and I thought I'd share - in no particular order - some of the pieces that I've found particularly interesting.
Mulder as Other by LoneThinker
A thoughtful analysis of Mulder as emotionally crippled, which also draws on Briggs-Meyers personality test results.
Machines of Freedom: Author Notes by amalnahurriyeh
So, this is cheating a little, as to read the notes you must first read the fic. But it's a fascinating look at canon and transformation and how this writer does that in fic.
Femininity and Fanfiction: A Meagre Foray into the Fandom Wilds of Gender Disparity, Gender Equity, and the Epic Hoax of the Emotionally Supine Woman aka Dana Scully: "She's my story and I'm sticking to her." by amyhit
Amyhit's meta is always interesting and she invariably comes up with something new to say. This is one of those pieces.
Down the Memory Hole: Dreams, Memory, Subjective Reality and Mulder as Alice by leucocrystal
This is a wonder deconstruction of Paper Hearts and remains one of my favourite pieces of meta to date.
Don't Watch it Alone*: My Wild Ride Through the X-Files Fandom Part I: First Impressions by littlegreen42
A retrospective on becoming a fan of The X-Files - what it means to be a fan, and to rediscover fandom.
The Fowley factor: Mulder stuck between a rock and a hard place by LoneThinker
Thoughts on Mulder's relationship with Fowley following 'The End'.
Untitled by jeviltwin
Jet writes meta like she writes fic, and this celebration of The X-Files is perhaps the best I've read.
I Want To Believe: The X-Files, Symbolic Pilgrimage and Genre by kovacs77
A chapter draft on watching The X-Files as a form of symbolic pilgrimage and how that's influenced by its genre (or genre hybridity) as well as the DVD rewatch.
Reading the X-Files: Mulder and Scully's "Partnership" and the Question of Queer Marriage, Empedocles (8X17) by brooklynmili
Mulder and Scully's relationship is not a standard heterosexual love story. This blog does a great job of analysing that.
Is Scully a bitch? by emily shore
An excellent analysis of Scully as a fully realised, fully three-dimensional woman who has her strong points and has her flaws.
"Scully, what are you wearing?": The problem of feminism, subversion, and heteronormativity in The X-Files by Lacy Hodges
This is a thesis on feminism and The X-Files, rather than meta, but I've read it a lot and while I don't necessarily agree with all of it, it is an interesting read. (Opens a PDF)
And another big thank you to amalnahurriyeh for covering my day and to wendelah1 for being an amazing (and thoughtful) co-mod.
One of the things I like best about this fandom is that we're not afraid to take the show apart, analyse it, and put it back together again (not necessarily in the same order it was originally). And I like how we can get into debates about what something meant, or why Mulder's being a jerk in X episode, or how soon Scully fell for Mulder. I've been reading a lot (a lot) of academic and fan scholarship on The X-Files over the last few years, and I thought I'd share - in no particular order - some of the pieces that I've found particularly interesting.
Mulder as Other by LoneThinker
A thoughtful analysis of Mulder as emotionally crippled, which also draws on Briggs-Meyers personality test results.
Machines of Freedom: Author Notes by amalnahurriyeh
So, this is cheating a little, as to read the notes you must first read the fic. But it's a fascinating look at canon and transformation and how this writer does that in fic.
Femininity and Fanfiction: A Meagre Foray into the Fandom Wilds of Gender Disparity, Gender Equity, and the Epic Hoax of the Emotionally Supine Woman aka Dana Scully: "She's my story and I'm sticking to her." by amyhit
Amyhit's meta is always interesting and she invariably comes up with something new to say. This is one of those pieces.
Down the Memory Hole: Dreams, Memory, Subjective Reality and Mulder as Alice by leucocrystal
This is a wonder deconstruction of Paper Hearts and remains one of my favourite pieces of meta to date.
Don't Watch it Alone*: My Wild Ride Through the X-Files Fandom Part I: First Impressions by littlegreen42
A retrospective on becoming a fan of The X-Files - what it means to be a fan, and to rediscover fandom.
The Fowley factor: Mulder stuck between a rock and a hard place by LoneThinker
Thoughts on Mulder's relationship with Fowley following 'The End'.
Untitled by jeviltwin
Jet writes meta like she writes fic, and this celebration of The X-Files is perhaps the best I've read.
I Want To Believe: The X-Files, Symbolic Pilgrimage and Genre by kovacs77
A chapter draft on watching The X-Files as a form of symbolic pilgrimage and how that's influenced by its genre (or genre hybridity) as well as the DVD rewatch.
Reading the X-Files: Mulder and Scully's "Partnership" and the Question of Queer Marriage, Empedocles (8X17) by brooklynmili
Mulder and Scully's relationship is not a standard heterosexual love story. This blog does a great job of analysing that.
Is Scully a bitch? by emily shore
An excellent analysis of Scully as a fully realised, fully three-dimensional woman who has her strong points and has her flaws.
"Scully, what are you wearing?": The problem of feminism, subversion, and heteronormativity in The X-Files by Lacy Hodges
This is a thesis on feminism and The X-Files, rather than meta, but I've read it a lot and while I don't necessarily agree with all of it, it is an interesting read. (Opens a PDF)
And another big thank you to amalnahurriyeh for covering my day and to wendelah1 for being an amazing (and thoughtful) co-mod.