I Want to Believe: The X-Files, Symbolic Pilgrimage and Genre

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Title:	I Want to Believe: The X-Files, Symbolic Pilgrimage and Genre
Creator:	kovacs777
Date(s):	June 11, 2005
Medium:	online
Fandom:
Topic:
External Links:	I Want to Believe: The X-Files, Symbolic Pilgrimage and Genre, Archived version
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I Want to Believe: The X-Files, Symbolic Pilgrimage and Genre is an essay by kovacs77 that was posted on LiveJournal.

The subject was "fandom" as a pilgrimage or journey.

Introduction

"Hello X-Files community. Some time ago I asked if people here could answer a survey for me about the experience of watching the show. I've now finished a draft of my chapter for the forthcoming book (edited by 3 other people) on various aspects of fandom. I was told I had to keep it to 6000 words, so I've just been cutting a bit to bring it under that limit.

This is an essay grounded in pilgrimage theory and specifically in the work of ROGER C. ADEN, who wrote a chapter on The X-Files and "symbolic pilgrimage" in 1999. To be honest, if you don't know or care about that kind of academic theory, you may find my chapter pretty dull. But you can still skim it for stuff that might interest you!