Monster Slayer/Child of Water aka The Mythology Behind the 'Mythology'
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| Title: | Monster Slayer/Child of Water aka The Mythology Behind the 'Mythology' |
| Creator: | Fialka |
| Date(s): | 1999 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | The X-Files |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Monster Slayer/Child of Water - Fialka, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Monster Slayer/Child of Water aka The Mythology Behind the 'Mythology' is by Fialka.
It was part of a series. The author comments that: "Many of these essays first appeared as discussions on OBSSE, Scullyfic and/or ATXA."
This essay was inspired by discussions on the OBSSE mailing list after the airing of Biogenesis. It is only mildly related to The X-Files, and instead more of a history and anthropological article about Southwestern Native Americans.
The essay was first posted to The Annotated X-Files Study Guide and is at Fialka's Candybox.
Later, it was reposted:
Sadly, when the old NBCI server went the way of so many really cool, free things on the net, I never could find another free site with enough space to house the whole Study Guide, and it didn't get enough traffic to warrant paying for 250mb on a server somewhere. Not to mention, I no longer have as much time on my hands as I did back then, so like the UFOs...well, it is another UFO. Some of it still appears to be here, if you can wade your way through all the advertising on FortuneCity. I sure won't be insulted if you don't. These essays are from the original site, and appear here unchanged. Unlinked titles got abducted by aliens somewhere along the way. If you find them wandering dazed by the side of the road, could you be so kind as to send them home?
Excerpt
In the matter of ceremony, well, while I think XF tries to handle Indian subject matter with a lot of care, it's hard not to fall back on stereotyping just by using it at all. I know there have been big arguments at Navajo over whether ceremonies such as the Blessingway should be performed for white spouses of Dineh people. It's pretty unlikely it would be done for a white stranger, and for an FBI man at that - only the second most distrusted people in Indian Country after the BIA. Not to mention that it's the wrong ceremony for the occasion. And although it was not authentic, I had trouble with the idea that they showed Albert Hosteen making a sand painting, as I have Dineh friends who would find that deeply, deeply disturbing. (As another example, I doubt that M&S would have been allowed at the funeral in Shapes as such things are usually very private.) But then they get it so right: in Biogenesis, Scully declines to enter the ceremonial hogan where prayers are being chanted for Albert. Very appropriate behaviour, especially as Sandoz -- not being either family or the ceremonial leader -- has no right to invite her to participate.