In "The X-Files", the male agent (Mulder) is the true believer, while the female ditto (Scully) is the skeptic. Apparently, the creator of the series - Chris Carter - deliberately wanted to reverse the standard gender stereotypes. Males are usually depicted as hard-nosed skeptics and rational thinkers, while females are emotion-driven and somewhat irrational true believers.
But did he really succeed in reversing the stereotypes? While Mulder is clearly unhinged, he is also right! In the in-story universe of "The X-Files", alien abductions do happen, there is a vast conspiracy to hide the truth, and even "the monster of the week" is real. And Mulder sees it all, pursues it and wants to expose it. But this is just another version of the Rational Male (and Brave Explorer) stereotype. What could be more rational than trusting your five natural senses?
Scully, by contrast, is wrong. So strictly speaking *she* is the irrational person, not wanting to see what´s right in front of her. Note also that Scully is a devout Catholic. That is: the faith-is-female stereotype.
So when all is said and done, it´s not clear whether we´ve really moved the needle here.
Jo, men i de vanliga filmerna om spökhus är det för det mesta tvärtom. Där är det kvinnan (ibland tillsammans med barnet) som är den "irrationella" - som mot slutet visar sig ha rätt.
ReplyDeleteHur man ställer sig i dessa beror, liksom i X Files, lite på graden av ens materialism. Om man tror att "det finns mer mellan himmel och jord" etc. kommer man i spökfilmer att tycka att kvinnan ytterst är dem mest rationella liksom man i X Files kommer att sympatisera med mannen.
Om man är en hårdför materialist kommer man i båda fallen att reagera tvärtom.
Erik R