Significance of 'space' in Mulder's apartment
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Significance of 'space' in Mulder's apartment |
| Creator: | Zuffy |
| Date(s): | late 1990s |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | X-Files |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | The X-Files commentary and analysis: Mulder's apartment, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Significance of 'space' in Mulder's apartment is an essay by Zuffy.
It is one of many essays at The Cave's X-Files Commentary Archives.
Excerpt
Herewith: Zuffy going bonkers with symbolism!Mulder's home has always been an extension of his work, a comment on the fact that The X-Files are his life, that he has no "home" to go to, only another center for his work, and the more secret stuff at that. There is some indication, I think, that Scully's apartment was her "retreat" (as the fanfic writers put it), but I've never had a sense that his apartment is a retreat for Mulder. It is, in addition, where the X-Files are when there are no X-Files. As such, Scully has occupied the space less than his space in the office, but with the same free access and with the same sense of mission, including the care of wounded Mulder, of course, or locating an absent Mulder. The appearance of his apartment in *Two Fathers/One Son falls into this category, I think.
If we go back to "The End", we can add two other significant uses of his apartment to the ones you listed in season 6: her caring for him after his attack on Spender while their fates are being decided. Then in FTF, she appears reluctantly at his apartment to tell him she is leaving. She steps straight into the very psychic core of The X-Files -- Mulder's fixation with his father's role and his family's fate -- in order to announce her departure. She obviously cannot stay in this "sacred" core a moment longer than necessary to deliver the news, but in leaving she pulls him out of this mental center/fixation as well. He chases her down the hall to make his plea, showing in physical action how both of them break out of their established common territory and, ironically, make a more private expression of affection in a more public space. Later, in *The Unnatural, their private encounter likewise occurs in a very public space, outside of the claims of the files.