The truth is still out there

I'm very ambivalent towards "The X-Files".

The claustrophobic conspiracism of Chris Carter's series feels even more relevant today than it did during the 1990's, when guys like Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and Vaclav Havel at least created the illusion that progress, prosperity and democracy were on the rise. I didn't believe it either, and precisely for that reason I felt almost suffocated by the pessimistic super-conspiracism of "The X-Files". The series was darker than anything I could come up with.

On the other hand, it was often great fun to watch the "monster of the week" episodes, especially since they were often intended to poke fun at the paranormal. (Back then, I was a self-proclaimed atheist and materialist.) The monsters in the series often smacked me as being even more bizarre than those mentioned in the Fortean magazines I read as a kind of guilty pleasure. John Keel was a pretty conventional guy compared to Fox Mulder and Dana Scully! The best episode features a green alien dragon abducting two teenagers, and makes excellent fun of the entire UFO-conspiracist subculture.

But, of course, the main plot of "The X-Files" is the increasingly complex and convoluted battle between Mulder and a UFO-related government conspiracy, led by Cancer Man a.k.a. The Smoker. Many conspiracy theories are inherently pessimistic, and "The X-Files" never really resolves the issue either - the last episode is a cop-out of major proportions, with Mulder realizing that humans are immortal souls, and that the alien invasion of 2012 therefore doesn't matter much. An almost literal deux ex machina!

Still, "The X-Files" is an interesting pop culture phenomenon, with its mainstreaming of conspiracy theories usually associated with the lunatic fringe. The Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter even attacked the series on its editorial page about 10 years ago. The attack was written by one of those "official optimists" who believed that "The X-Files" might have worked during the pessimistic (!) atmosphere of the 1990's, but during the glorious 2000's, with all curves pointing upwards, it felt like a bizarre anachronism. I wonder where this guy is today? Probably in the same editorial office, desperately attacking all "extremists" who want to "take advantage" of the Euro-crisis. Ah, feels like the "pessimistic" 1990's all over again...

I'm not sure how to rate the claustrophobic, lunatic, fringey, hilarious "X-Files", but eventually I give it four stars.

The truth is out there, agent Mulder. I want to believe.