Science fiction has always been a genre that, whether intentionally or not, has been able to somewhat predict the future. Be it through advanced technology, the use of media, or general political theater, sci-fi often feels remarkably relevant. This is especially true of a show like The X-Files, which, although it ended for the second time almost a decade ago now, remains the gold standard within the genre. The adventures of Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigate everything from alien abductions and government corruption to demonic hauntings and mind-bending mutants continue to be some of the greatest science fiction triumphs of recent times. Just be careful not to watch it too late at night…
‘The X-Files’ Tackled Concepts That Feel Even More Real Now
Primarily following FBI agents Mulder and Scully, The X-Files delved into everything weird, unexplainable, and macabre week in and week out. But perhaps what makes the Fox program so particularly (and uncomfortably) relevant in our modern day is the show’s underlying emphasis on the conspiratorial factions within our government. Now, there’s no evidence that The X-Files contributes to overly-conspiratorial beliefs in people (and some would even argue that the show was anti-conspiracy in nature, though that’s a bit of a stretch in this author’s view), but for better or worse, we live in an untrusting world. The X-Files‘ tagline, “Trust no one,” has rung true and been largely tested by time, and in a world where what we see in the news or on social media is not always the truth, The X-Files stands out as a precursor to our age of distrust.
While series creator Chris Carter was inspired by the Watergate scandal when crafting his sci-fi world, there’s a reason that the revival seasons dialed into the government cover-up space even further, including more conspiracy-minded personalities like Joel McHale‘s Tad O’Malley (no matter how poorly received the character was) in the wake of the Lone Gunmen’s deaths in the show’s initial run. So often do Mulder and Scully think they’ve finally found proof of the conspiracy, only for it to slip into the shadows and out of their grasp. Our modern conversations about the “Deep State” behind many of the nation’s evils exist just downstream from what audiences saw on The X-Files 30 years ago with the Syndicate, who controlled the world secretly from the shadows. And let’s also not forget about our contemporary age of alien disclosure, where government institutions are now acknowledging the existence of UFOs or UAPs, something this Fox drama did everything it could to prove back in the ’90s (well, in-universe, of course).
The Tension Between Skeptic and Believer Is As True Today as When ‘The X-Files’ Aired
Yet, although specific plotlines and ideas make The X-Files relevant to our modern-day, it’s the leading characters themselves who feel remarkably timeless, no matter how many years pass. The show’s trademark tension between the believer and the skeptic archetypes is particularly of note as they not only helped establish that trope across the genre at large, but played on the audience’s own perceptions of reality. Both parties are represented here: those who believe in extraterrestrial life and multi-layered government conspiracies, and those who are skeptical of the ideas as a whole. In Fox Mulder, we also have an apparent layman (though Mulder is certainly a capable agent and profiler) who adores sports and pop culture, and in Dana Scully, we find a woman of faith who has pursued a career in science and medicine. In these two, anyone can find something or someone to root for and identify with, even if neither fully embodies one’s own personal experience in this world.
But where The X-Files noticeably differs from our world today is that the show brings the believer and skeptic archetypes together rather than keeping them separate within their own echo chambers. Too often, real-world believers and skeptics talk past each other without a single care for the other’s opinion, experience, or the facts that form them. But on The X-Files, Mulder and Scully both openly voiced their ideas, explored the evidence for them, and stood by each other in the pursuit of objective truth, a concept foreign to many of us these days. In some ways, the show is most relevant in the sense that it challenges us to do better. “The truth is out there,” the show’s main tag reads, and just as Mulder and Scully are willing to lock arms in pursuit of that truth, so ought we to do the same — believers and skeptics alike.
The X-Files is available for streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
