First thing: from here on in, this is probably going to get a little childish. Why? Because I'm going to be talking about each character based on how much I like the character. That's going to mean there's quite a possibility that I'm going to be talking about comedic relief before talking about other headliners. Take, for example, the fact that Skinner, Reyes and Doggett have all been called "stars" of the show at one point or another, but I'm going to be talking about John Fitzgerald Byers.
Role in show: To talk about Byers, I'm going to have to talk about The Lone Gunmen.The Lone Gunmen were introduced in the first season of the X-Files as Mulder's "tech guys", conspiracy nuts who have a knack with computers and science. The Lone Gunmen consist of Melvin Frohike, the "brains" of the operation, Richard Langly, the "technical brawn" of the group, which considering the group's function, isn't far from the "brains", and finally Byers, who plays the role of the level-headed guy, the PR guy and pretty much the only member of the trio who can behave like a human being in polite society. The Lone Gunmen apparently proved to be quite popular among viewers, and as such, a spin-off series, "The Lone Gunmen", was commissioned, running for 13 episodes. The pilot of the show is infamous (just google "Lone Gunmen Pilot Conspiracy theory" and see for yourself), but the show didn't achieve the ratings it was going for and was cancelled. This leaves me in a tricky position. I want to talk about a character featured in two different shows, but really I only want to talk about his role in one. This is going to mean I might talk about character traits of Byers not present in The X-Files, but I'll try to back up most of the things I say without going into The Lone Gunmen show.
Family: John's family isn't brought up during The X-Files at all, so I'm going to skip over this category.
Pre-1994 Life: Byers earned his unusual middle name by being born the same day that JFK was killed, giving him a natural predilection towards understanding what was going on in that situation, pretty much setting him down the road to be a conspiracy nut. Prior to 1989, Byers worked for the Federal Communications Commission, with the episode "Unusual Suspects" sort of implying that he was just a PR guy, going to tech fairs and handing out badges. In a single day in 1989, Byers was attending a tech fair, when a woman named Susanne Modeski approached him, and while claiming that Mulder was an abusive boyfriend holding her child captive, introduced the three members of the Lone Gunmen. Susanne was in reality fleeing from a government lab in which she was helping make a weapon which was to be used on civilians, and was now fleeing for her life. Susanne introduced the Gunmen to the vastness of government conspiracy,a concept to which they had all previously been ignorant, and also inadvertently introduced the three to Mulder. Byers, who has fallen for Susanne, is heartbroken when she is kidnapped right before his eyes. Between 89 and 94 nothing is really explained, but during that time Byers transforms into a member of Mulder's tech squad.
Personality: After Mulder and Scully, I must say that these posts are probably going to be considerably shorter.
Kindness: One thing that just comes up before everything else when looking at Byers is how he's just such a nice guy.Throughout the entirety of the X-Files, he is the only character who wasn't an arse to someone else. I'm pretty sure that Skinner's secretary got in more fights than this guy. Compared to every other character on the X-Files, who was willing to lie, cheat and steal to get to their own goal, I just find myself rooting again and again for the "Byers approach" to be the victorious one. I might want to backtrack a little in a moment, but I now want to talk a little too close to the end of the series, so spoilers. Bigger. SPOILERS. Red. SPOILERS. And continue. "Jump The Shark". X-Files "Jump the Shark" is possibly the worst I've felt after watching an episode of this show. Yes, I may have been tearing up a little, but overall I just felt like the episode did a real injustice to Byers. To put it simply, the Lone Gunmen die. Off screen. Langly was an arsehole. He just was the whiniest, most irritatingly pedantic jerk I think the X-Files had to offer.... well, maybe Follmer, but anyway, he wasn't important. Frohike ... well, he was a good guy too, but he was a little embittered, a little cranky.... his time had come, really. But Byers? I know the X-Files doesn't pull many punches, considering how many children have been killed, that Scully's mother is the only surviving parent of either Mulder or Scully by the end of the series (spoilers are not over) and that it's almost proud of this body count, but killing Byers was just a real kick in the teeth. Byers embodied a lot (I'll go into it in a second), but for such a good, kind, likable character to die like that? That was just too brutal. END SPOILERS. Going back, though, Byers was really what stopped the X-Files from being set in a hard-boiled crime fiction story, where everyone is just out for themselves and there is no hope left. He really is just the embodiment of the kind everyman, which is why he is far and away my favourite secondary character.
Hope: Tied in closely with Byers' kindness is his hope for the return of the American Dream.The opening to the episode "Three of A Kind" explains exactly what Byers hopes to achieve, and how he is tormented by the fact he has been torn away from the life he wanted so badly to live. This brings up a closely related aspect of Byers: the fact that he is so different to the other members of the Lone Gunmen. Frohike and Langly were never going to live normal lives. They weren't so much sacrificing their lives, just exchanging obsessions. Byers was normal. He would have lived out his existence in blissful ignorance, settled down and had 2.5 children, the American dream. What is remarkable is how he wants to return to this ideal. He still dreams of normality. He dreams of another Kennedy (who he sees as the epitome of a leader or the people) arriving, and his role being completely obsolete. Byers also is the most principled. Although it is more shown in the spin-off, he refuses to stoop to the levels of those he is working against, so that he may look back upon his actions with pride rather than regret. Overall, Byers hopes for the best, acts as he feels his morals will allow and is the best demonstration of an X-Files character with hope for the future. Seriously, there is almost no-one else in that category.
All-round Clean-Cut Persona: For a show almost entirely set in a government office, revolving around government employees, it's absolutely astounding that Byers stands out as a bureaucrat. Closely cut facial hair, perma-grey suit and carefully maintained hair all go to show exactly what profession this man has pursued in a past life. Byers' clean-cut persona is deeper than this, though. Byers is concerned with appropriate behaviour, always attempting to prevent his colleagues offending anyone and always the first to point out potential dangers in plans. Byers' concern with others and optimistic approach would easily allow the label "unworldly" or "naive" to be placed on him, and I'm not sure if I could make a coherent argument against these, but I think it's more about how Byers career shaped him. Dealing with angry nerds every day would force someone to either become aggressive or passive, and the way in which both Langly and Frohike referred to Byers as a "narc" upon first seeing him in "Unusual Suspects" leads me to think that Byers' professional mannerisms and reasonable countenance came about due to the necessity of his job.
Motives: Like Mulder, Byers' primary goal was to investigate and report on the truth, whatever that may be. He clearly was after Modeski, who sort of became a larger than life character in his mind, who was just out of his reach.
Overall, Byers was a friendly, approachable, just so likable character who was forced by his morals to lead a life counter to what he desired.
Considering I'll just be looking at secondary characters from here on in, I think I should give a few episodes for any newcomers to watch to get a reasonable understanding of the person I'm talking about.
For Byers, I'll have to go with the fifth season episode "Unusual Suspects", the sixth season episode "Three of a Kind" and finally the infamous "The Lone Gunmen" Pilot, if anyone feels like tracking it down.
I'll be back soon with another character.
Feedback welcome.
H. Rourke
Saturday, 29 December 2012
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
X-Files: Part 3- Dana Scully
Dana Katherine Scully.
Role in show: Scully is very much the straight man to Mulder's wild theories and beliefs. Her role is very much secondary to Mulder, but I think she is meant to be the everyman, the person thrown into a very strange world which the audience is unfamiliar with.
Family: Scully's father was in the navy while she was growing up, meaning that the Scully family was always living in a naval base. Bill Sr., Scully's father, was always putting work before everything else, but still managed a loving but respectful relationship with his daughter. Scully's mother seems to have been somewhat inconsequential during Scully's childhood, but was one of the main bastions for support for both Scully and Mulder during times of difficulty during their work on the X-Files. The main thing Scully took from her mother is her religion, which is often discussed throughout the show.Scully's eldest brother, Bill Jr., is in all honesty a bit of a prick. He was a bit of a bully to Scully as a child, was skeptical of her beliefs as an adult and just despised Mulder, making him difficult to like. He seems to be just a bit of a push jock, following his father into the navy. Scully's sister, Melissa, was possibly the closest sibling to Scully. Melissa's beliefs were very new age and accepting, embracing beliefs that even Mulder is a little skeptical of initially. The similarities between Melissa and Monica Reyes go a long way to showing exactly why Scully is so quick to trust Reyes, especially in the season 8 episode "Existence". I'll go into this more when I look at Reyes separately. Scully's final sibling, Charles, is a non-event, only appearing directly in flashback. I just wanted to cover my arse here by mentioning him. The main thing to be taken from Scully's family and childhood is how safe she was. She was raised in a close community, with a loving family who never had any real troubles and with a father and elder brother always willing to protect her. Compare and contrast to Mulder. Mulder lost his only sibling at a young age, which basically tore his family apart, and exposed him to the cruelties of the world. I think this is the main reason Scully has faith and science and Mulder has paranoia and the supernatural.
Pre-1994: Scully trained as a doctor, but decided top join the FBI instead of practicing medicine. Immediately prior to here appointment on the X-Files, Scully was an instructor at the FBI academy. Scully was appointed to work with Mulder so as to apply scientific reasoning to his theories and to report upon them.
Personality: As with Mulder, I think I'll just take three important elements of Scully's personality and give them a quick analysis.
I find Scully's faith is one of the most fascinating parts of her personality. Where Mulder has his famous UFO poster, Scully has her gold crucifix, given to her by her mother. Scully, being both a scientist and a believer has a great deal of difficulty taking Mulder's theories as fact. What I initially felt was an inconsistency, Scully believing in God without proof, but demanding it for any of Mulder theories, is actually not poor writing. It instead shows how Scully represents the normal. She is meant to be the average American, faithful but intelligent and able to distinguish fact from fiction. Most importantly, she is used to the world as we know it. In the world of the X-Files, often I find myself staring at the screen thinking "But you've seen so much! Why can you not believe that Mulder is right?!" The truth is that the world to pre-X-Files Scully was black and white, set up the same way the world as we know it is understood. Scully can't easily believe in aliens or other supernatural phenomena because it's not the world she can accept. God? Yes, because that is something she grew up with. Honestly, I think the idea of Scully having faith is more important to how her character developed than her skepticism, but I'll cover it too.
OK, Scully's skepticism can be broken up into three distinct and completely made up be me right now phases. Firstly, we have season 1, or "There has to be a scientific explanation". I'm not saying this phrase or phase goes away completely, but during Scully's initial forays into the odd with Mulder show exactly how Scully thinks. She isn't unbelievably unbelieving, but leans much further towards the logical and real. Secondly, seasons 2-7, or "But I need proof, Mulder!". In a nutshell, Scully has seen things that she can't explain away and is more accepting of what Mulder says, but is still unwilling to take every one of his ideas as absolute fact. Finally, there are seasons 8 & 9, or "Damn it, Doggett, I'm not making this up!". In this period, there is a complete role reversal. Scully becomes the believer, desperately trying to convince the skeptical, specifically Agent Doggett. This shows just how far Scully has come and how convincing Mulder has been. There isn't much to say on this topic, as it doesn't really need any interpretation. It's evident and the show is hardly in need of analysis for this to be evident.
I think the third most striking aspect of Scully's personality is her incorruptible loyalty. This loyalty is obviously bestowed upon Mulder, but occasionally it is shown how strong Scully becomes when she is protecting those she loves and trusts or protecting those wishes. I've already mentioned it before, but the episode "Dreamland" is a great example. When Mulder, the driving force behind the X-Files investigations, has sleeping with secretaries and playing Tiger Woods' golf on his computer become his highest priorities, Scully is torn between the history of herself and Mulder and the fact Mulder is being a dick, which I think is an aspect not explored nearly enough. Her unmovable faith in her former partner in the episode "Lazarus" demonstrates that Scully is loyal to almost everyone she has ever held dear to her.
Motives: Scully's motives are nowhere near as clear as Mulder. Whereas Mulder is driven by his belief, Scully is ultimately just dragged along. This changes in seasons 8 & 9, where her motives become much more about protecting herself and her family, although protecting Mulder is always present in her mind. I can't say as much about this as Mulder, but Scully has much more an urge for "justice" than Mulder, an urge to catch the bad guy and close the case rather than working out the science of everything.
In conclusion, despite being driven as an investigator, Scully is very careful about who she surrounds herself with, as she is willing to trust everyone she knows with her life. In "The Blessing Way", when Scully believes Skinner is attempting to kill her, the fact that she cannot comprehend this is really clear.
Feedback welcome.
H. Rourke
Role in show: Scully is very much the straight man to Mulder's wild theories and beliefs. Her role is very much secondary to Mulder, but I think she is meant to be the everyman, the person thrown into a very strange world which the audience is unfamiliar with.
Family: Scully's father was in the navy while she was growing up, meaning that the Scully family was always living in a naval base. Bill Sr., Scully's father, was always putting work before everything else, but still managed a loving but respectful relationship with his daughter. Scully's mother seems to have been somewhat inconsequential during Scully's childhood, but was one of the main bastions for support for both Scully and Mulder during times of difficulty during their work on the X-Files. The main thing Scully took from her mother is her religion, which is often discussed throughout the show.Scully's eldest brother, Bill Jr., is in all honesty a bit of a prick. He was a bit of a bully to Scully as a child, was skeptical of her beliefs as an adult and just despised Mulder, making him difficult to like. He seems to be just a bit of a push jock, following his father into the navy. Scully's sister, Melissa, was possibly the closest sibling to Scully. Melissa's beliefs were very new age and accepting, embracing beliefs that even Mulder is a little skeptical of initially. The similarities between Melissa and Monica Reyes go a long way to showing exactly why Scully is so quick to trust Reyes, especially in the season 8 episode "Existence". I'll go into this more when I look at Reyes separately. Scully's final sibling, Charles, is a non-event, only appearing directly in flashback. I just wanted to cover my arse here by mentioning him. The main thing to be taken from Scully's family and childhood is how safe she was. She was raised in a close community, with a loving family who never had any real troubles and with a father and elder brother always willing to protect her. Compare and contrast to Mulder. Mulder lost his only sibling at a young age, which basically tore his family apart, and exposed him to the cruelties of the world. I think this is the main reason Scully has faith and science and Mulder has paranoia and the supernatural.
Pre-1994: Scully trained as a doctor, but decided top join the FBI instead of practicing medicine. Immediately prior to here appointment on the X-Files, Scully was an instructor at the FBI academy. Scully was appointed to work with Mulder so as to apply scientific reasoning to his theories and to report upon them.
Personality: As with Mulder, I think I'll just take three important elements of Scully's personality and give them a quick analysis.
I find Scully's faith is one of the most fascinating parts of her personality. Where Mulder has his famous UFO poster, Scully has her gold crucifix, given to her by her mother. Scully, being both a scientist and a believer has a great deal of difficulty taking Mulder's theories as fact. What I initially felt was an inconsistency, Scully believing in God without proof, but demanding it for any of Mulder theories, is actually not poor writing. It instead shows how Scully represents the normal. She is meant to be the average American, faithful but intelligent and able to distinguish fact from fiction. Most importantly, she is used to the world as we know it. In the world of the X-Files, often I find myself staring at the screen thinking "But you've seen so much! Why can you not believe that Mulder is right?!" The truth is that the world to pre-X-Files Scully was black and white, set up the same way the world as we know it is understood. Scully can't easily believe in aliens or other supernatural phenomena because it's not the world she can accept. God? Yes, because that is something she grew up with. Honestly, I think the idea of Scully having faith is more important to how her character developed than her skepticism, but I'll cover it too.
OK, Scully's skepticism can be broken up into three distinct and completely made up be me right now phases. Firstly, we have season 1, or "There has to be a scientific explanation". I'm not saying this phrase or phase goes away completely, but during Scully's initial forays into the odd with Mulder show exactly how Scully thinks. She isn't unbelievably unbelieving, but leans much further towards the logical and real. Secondly, seasons 2-7, or "But I need proof, Mulder!". In a nutshell, Scully has seen things that she can't explain away and is more accepting of what Mulder says, but is still unwilling to take every one of his ideas as absolute fact. Finally, there are seasons 8 & 9, or "Damn it, Doggett, I'm not making this up!". In this period, there is a complete role reversal. Scully becomes the believer, desperately trying to convince the skeptical, specifically Agent Doggett. This shows just how far Scully has come and how convincing Mulder has been. There isn't much to say on this topic, as it doesn't really need any interpretation. It's evident and the show is hardly in need of analysis for this to be evident.
I think the third most striking aspect of Scully's personality is her incorruptible loyalty. This loyalty is obviously bestowed upon Mulder, but occasionally it is shown how strong Scully becomes when she is protecting those she loves and trusts or protecting those wishes. I've already mentioned it before, but the episode "Dreamland" is a great example. When Mulder, the driving force behind the X-Files investigations, has sleeping with secretaries and playing Tiger Woods' golf on his computer become his highest priorities, Scully is torn between the history of herself and Mulder and the fact Mulder is being a dick, which I think is an aspect not explored nearly enough. Her unmovable faith in her former partner in the episode "Lazarus" demonstrates that Scully is loyal to almost everyone she has ever held dear to her.
Motives: Scully's motives are nowhere near as clear as Mulder. Whereas Mulder is driven by his belief, Scully is ultimately just dragged along. This changes in seasons 8 & 9, where her motives become much more about protecting herself and her family, although protecting Mulder is always present in her mind. I can't say as much about this as Mulder, but Scully has much more an urge for "justice" than Mulder, an urge to catch the bad guy and close the case rather than working out the science of everything.
In conclusion, despite being driven as an investigator, Scully is very careful about who she surrounds herself with, as she is willing to trust everyone she knows with her life. In "The Blessing Way", when Scully believes Skinner is attempting to kill her, the fact that she cannot comprehend this is really clear.
Feedback welcome.
H. Rourke
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
X-Files: Part 2 - Fox Mulder
Before I begin, I have to say that I have no idea who, if anyone, will read this. As such, I'm unsure what levels of "spoilers" I should use. The X-Files is hardly "Lost", where even the slightest spoilers will ruin the series, but if anyone reading feels I'm being too revealing or too guarded please comment, and I'll adjust my writing style as appropriate.
Now, Fox William Mulder.
Role in show: Mulder is the star. Mulder is the obsessed alien-seeker who managed to draw a show like this out for 9 seasons and two (godawful) movies. Without the character of Mulder, the X-Files would have been two hours in a basement, with a smoking man occasionally coming in and burning files at will. Mulder's disappearance during the 9th season is the reason that a show already running out of ideas finally passed away.
Family: Let's start with Mulder's father, William. William Mulder's exact job description was never (to my knowledge) revealed in detail, although it was revealed that he had previously worked in helping hunt Communists during the McCarthy era, although during Mulder's childhood he held a shady government position, deeply involved in an incarnation of the "Syndicate" a group who had the task of somehow ensuring the human race survived a planned alien invasion, no matter what the cost. The role of Mulder's father isn't discussed too much in the show, but I think William's government job is the main reason Mulder, who seems to rebel against order, rules and the government in general at every turn pursued a career with the FBI. Next is Mulder's mother. There is really not much to say about Teena Mulder. Although she seems well adjusted enough, she really has no noticeable impact upon her son throughout the series until her death. The family member who clearly had the most impact upon Mulder was his sister, Samantha. At a young age, Samantha was taken from the family home with only her brother present. How is not completely clear, but Mulder was convinced via hypnotherapy that aliens abducted her. This is compounded on when it is revealed that Samantha was taken as part of an agreement between the Syndicate and the aliens, the aliens taking one family member of each member of the Syndicate. The desire to find Samantha is the main reason Mulder was drawn to the X-Files, as opposed to the violent crimes unit, where his profiling skill was put to use. He shows signs of guilt quite often in cases involving disappearing children, going a little too far in interrogations and investigations, out of a sense of self-hatred for having been left behind and being helpless to help his sister.
Pre-1994 Life: Mulder attended Oxford University, graduating and entering the FBI as a criminal profiler, at which he apparently was very skilled. A theme of Mulder's character is that he is often told that he had so much potential, especially during the first season or so, to emphasize the fact that he is working on the X-Files out of his own passion for them, as opposed to a punishment or due to his lack of ability as an agent.
Personality: I'll try to pick out some of the most interesting parts of Mulder's personality, or we'll be here for a little longer than I want to be.
Let's start with the quite obvious porn addiction. Scully quite often jabs at Mulder about his extensive familiarity with erotic media, the best example being a throwaway line in the season 3 episode "D.O.P" over an edition of Playboy. Another example is in the season 5 "Dreamland" episodes, in which Mulder swaps lives with a self-proclaimed "Man in Black" working at Area 51. The MiB, Fletcher, checks Mulder's answering machine in the hopes of finding out he has a girlfriend, having his hopes raised by a somewhat suggestive message, only to find out it was an ad for a phone-sex business. Dreamland is a great example of how the X-Files manages to combine their somewhat lighter topics with great character development. Mulder's porn addiction is clearly connected with his lack of passion for anything outside of the X-Files, with Mulder deeming ordinary cases as important as murders "time-wasters" or "punishments", such as the season 2 episode "The Host", where Mulder is outraged he is being forced to investigate an apparent gang hit. Mulder doesn't want anything that will distract him from the X-Files, and porn is the least investment he can have to get off.
Next, there is the willingness to believe. A major flaw in Mulder's character as I see it is his unwillingness to trust people, but the second someone mentions aliens, they can do no wrong. In one episode, season 1's "E.B.E", Deep Throat (I'll get to him in another post, hopefully) gives Mulder a doctored photo, knowing he will believe almost without question. This willingness is short of gullibility, such as when compared to Monica Reyes and his distrust of the government and authority is short of outright paranoia when compared to The Lone Gunmen, but both show a definite division of character, torn between his intelligence and logic and his desperation to believe. "I Want To Believe" is even a motto of the show, alongside "Trust No One", again sending two different messages.
The last personality trait I'll look at is the lack of self-preservation. Mulder doesn't look after himself. He will give up everything for his beliefs, including his sleep, health and life. Although Mulder never actively expects others to do the same, he seems to almost hold them to a similar level unconsciously. Take, for example, the Season 3 episode where Mulder starts telling Skinner (I'll definitely get to him in a later post) how he and Scully are willing to live outside the law and with their lives constantly in danger before Scully tells him she has a problem with this. Mulder doesn't simply expect people to have the same priorities as him, he just seems to get lost in possibilities, needing to be dragged back down to reality, this being exactly where Scully comes in.
Motives:
Throughout the show, Mulder has three clear motives:
1. Find the truth:
"The Truth" begins with Samantha, but expands to include aliens, abductions and essentially encapsulates the entire content of the FBI's X-Files.
2. Protect Scully and her family:
This emerges through seasons 7 & 8, with Mulder attempting to save Scully from "supersoldiers". I think I'll leave that as is, so as not to give too much away.
3. Survive:
Although this is probably the only motive for many characters, it only becomes one of Mulder's most driving motives during the final season, when he disappears so as to protect himself from assassins, but also to find the truth.
Overall, Mulder is a driven character, unable to quite understand other people. His main passion is the facts, even though they might be harmful or damaging to his person.
I would adore some feedback on this series, just to give me an idea of what, if anything, readers want.
Also, I know I said tomorrow. I thought this would take longer to compile. Apparently it didn't.
H. Rourke
Now, Fox William Mulder.
Role in show: Mulder is the star. Mulder is the obsessed alien-seeker who managed to draw a show like this out for 9 seasons and two (godawful) movies. Without the character of Mulder, the X-Files would have been two hours in a basement, with a smoking man occasionally coming in and burning files at will. Mulder's disappearance during the 9th season is the reason that a show already running out of ideas finally passed away.
Family: Let's start with Mulder's father, William. William Mulder's exact job description was never (to my knowledge) revealed in detail, although it was revealed that he had previously worked in helping hunt Communists during the McCarthy era, although during Mulder's childhood he held a shady government position, deeply involved in an incarnation of the "Syndicate" a group who had the task of somehow ensuring the human race survived a planned alien invasion, no matter what the cost. The role of Mulder's father isn't discussed too much in the show, but I think William's government job is the main reason Mulder, who seems to rebel against order, rules and the government in general at every turn pursued a career with the FBI. Next is Mulder's mother. There is really not much to say about Teena Mulder. Although she seems well adjusted enough, she really has no noticeable impact upon her son throughout the series until her death. The family member who clearly had the most impact upon Mulder was his sister, Samantha. At a young age, Samantha was taken from the family home with only her brother present. How is not completely clear, but Mulder was convinced via hypnotherapy that aliens abducted her. This is compounded on when it is revealed that Samantha was taken as part of an agreement between the Syndicate and the aliens, the aliens taking one family member of each member of the Syndicate. The desire to find Samantha is the main reason Mulder was drawn to the X-Files, as opposed to the violent crimes unit, where his profiling skill was put to use. He shows signs of guilt quite often in cases involving disappearing children, going a little too far in interrogations and investigations, out of a sense of self-hatred for having been left behind and being helpless to help his sister.
Pre-1994 Life: Mulder attended Oxford University, graduating and entering the FBI as a criminal profiler, at which he apparently was very skilled. A theme of Mulder's character is that he is often told that he had so much potential, especially during the first season or so, to emphasize the fact that he is working on the X-Files out of his own passion for them, as opposed to a punishment or due to his lack of ability as an agent.
Personality: I'll try to pick out some of the most interesting parts of Mulder's personality, or we'll be here for a little longer than I want to be.
Let's start with the quite obvious porn addiction. Scully quite often jabs at Mulder about his extensive familiarity with erotic media, the best example being a throwaway line in the season 3 episode "D.O.P" over an edition of Playboy. Another example is in the season 5 "Dreamland" episodes, in which Mulder swaps lives with a self-proclaimed "Man in Black" working at Area 51. The MiB, Fletcher, checks Mulder's answering machine in the hopes of finding out he has a girlfriend, having his hopes raised by a somewhat suggestive message, only to find out it was an ad for a phone-sex business. Dreamland is a great example of how the X-Files manages to combine their somewhat lighter topics with great character development. Mulder's porn addiction is clearly connected with his lack of passion for anything outside of the X-Files, with Mulder deeming ordinary cases as important as murders "time-wasters" or "punishments", such as the season 2 episode "The Host", where Mulder is outraged he is being forced to investigate an apparent gang hit. Mulder doesn't want anything that will distract him from the X-Files, and porn is the least investment he can have to get off.
Next, there is the willingness to believe. A major flaw in Mulder's character as I see it is his unwillingness to trust people, but the second someone mentions aliens, they can do no wrong. In one episode, season 1's "E.B.E", Deep Throat (I'll get to him in another post, hopefully) gives Mulder a doctored photo, knowing he will believe almost without question. This willingness is short of gullibility, such as when compared to Monica Reyes and his distrust of the government and authority is short of outright paranoia when compared to The Lone Gunmen, but both show a definite division of character, torn between his intelligence and logic and his desperation to believe. "I Want To Believe" is even a motto of the show, alongside "Trust No One", again sending two different messages.
The last personality trait I'll look at is the lack of self-preservation. Mulder doesn't look after himself. He will give up everything for his beliefs, including his sleep, health and life. Although Mulder never actively expects others to do the same, he seems to almost hold them to a similar level unconsciously. Take, for example, the Season 3 episode where Mulder starts telling Skinner (I'll definitely get to him in a later post) how he and Scully are willing to live outside the law and with their lives constantly in danger before Scully tells him she has a problem with this. Mulder doesn't simply expect people to have the same priorities as him, he just seems to get lost in possibilities, needing to be dragged back down to reality, this being exactly where Scully comes in.
Motives:
Throughout the show, Mulder has three clear motives:
1. Find the truth:
"The Truth" begins with Samantha, but expands to include aliens, abductions and essentially encapsulates the entire content of the FBI's X-Files.
2. Protect Scully and her family:
This emerges through seasons 7 & 8, with Mulder attempting to save Scully from "supersoldiers". I think I'll leave that as is, so as not to give too much away.
3. Survive:
Although this is probably the only motive for many characters, it only becomes one of Mulder's most driving motives during the final season, when he disappears so as to protect himself from assassins, but also to find the truth.
Overall, Mulder is a driven character, unable to quite understand other people. His main passion is the facts, even though they might be harmful or damaging to his person.
I would adore some feedback on this series, just to give me an idea of what, if anything, readers want.
Also, I know I said tomorrow. I thought this would take longer to compile. Apparently it didn't.
H. Rourke
X-Files: Part 1 - Overview & Introduction
Well, it's been a while since I posted anything here, and this is mainly due to the fact I really haven't had an overwhelming urge to do anything. Really, I have no excuse, I just haven't had anything to say.
I do, however, now have something to say. For those of you who read this blog for music reviews or the like, this blog is going to take a somewhat unexpected turn for the next few posts. Why? Because I'm going to be talking about the X-Files.
I love the X-Files. Although I no longer watch TV, I still make a point of re-watching at least a season of X-Files every year. For the unfortunate few who have never seen or heard of the X-Files, let me give a brief idea. The X-Files is a show about FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who investigate the titular "X-Files", which, while only technically being "unsolved" cases, have a bent for the supernatural or unexplained. The content of these cases vary from fantastically huge in scope and consequence to tongue in cheek weirdness. The shows topics are normally fun, a little odd at times, but the real draw of the show is the characters, to me at least. The easy wit and charm in dialogue between Scully and Mulder is some fine magic of idea, script and the skill of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.
I won't spoil the conclusion of the show, but to say the least December 2012 was established as a very important date in the show's universe, and as such I'm going to celebrate by offering my interpretation of core characters, looking into backgrounds, motives, lives and themes. Beginning with Fox Mulder tomorrow, I'll be continuing this series for as long as I feel like, updating whenever I want.
Feedback welcome.
H. Rourke
I do, however, now have something to say. For those of you who read this blog for music reviews or the like, this blog is going to take a somewhat unexpected turn for the next few posts. Why? Because I'm going to be talking about the X-Files.
I love the X-Files. Although I no longer watch TV, I still make a point of re-watching at least a season of X-Files every year. For the unfortunate few who have never seen or heard of the X-Files, let me give a brief idea. The X-Files is a show about FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who investigate the titular "X-Files", which, while only technically being "unsolved" cases, have a bent for the supernatural or unexplained. The content of these cases vary from fantastically huge in scope and consequence to tongue in cheek weirdness. The shows topics are normally fun, a little odd at times, but the real draw of the show is the characters, to me at least. The easy wit and charm in dialogue between Scully and Mulder is some fine magic of idea, script and the skill of Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.
I won't spoil the conclusion of the show, but to say the least December 2012 was established as a very important date in the show's universe, and as such I'm going to celebrate by offering my interpretation of core characters, looking into backgrounds, motives, lives and themes. Beginning with Fox Mulder tomorrow, I'll be continuing this series for as long as I feel like, updating whenever I want.
Feedback welcome.
H. Rourke
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