The X-Files and the birth of obsessive internet fandom
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| News Media Commentary | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The X-Files and the birth of obsessive internet fandom |
| Commentator: | |
| Date(s): | January 22, 2016 |
| Venue: | online |
| Fandom: | The X-Files |
| External Links: | The X-Files and the birth of obsessive internet fandom, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The X-Files and the birth of obsessive internet fandom is a 2016 article in "The Week" by Scott Meslow.
Some Topics Discussed
- the Chris Carter Effect
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost
- the difficulty in diving into the X-Files fandom to catch up with: "202 episodes that vary wildly in quality, two movies (one mediocre, one terrible), a spin-off series, a Millennium crossover, a Simpsons crossover, a couple of video games, two "seasons" of comic-book runs that pick up where the final season left off — and, beginning on Sunday, the first of six brand-new episodes reviving The X-Files as an event miniseries."
Excerpts
For the past couple days, I've been hunched over my computer, following rabbit holes within rabbit holes in my search for the truth about The X-Files. I don't mean the show's overarching conspiracy, which never even came close to a satisfying resolution. To me, the mystery is a simpler one: What was this thing, anyway?
But however far you're willing to follow The X-Files today, there's a core element of the experience that's simply missing. No matter how completely a contemporary viewer digs into The X-Files, there's one thing that simply can't be replicated: watching it alongside the growth of its fandom.
The X-Files premiered in 1993, at a time when the idea of a professional TV critic doing a weekly "TV recap" of anything was still many years away. Only a few TV shows had garnered an obsessive, internet-based following — most notably, Twin Peaks and The Simpsons, in a pair of Usenet newsgroups. Even then, those devoted communities had comprised a relatively niche corner of a show's total fandom: a fraction of a fraction of the viewers. When Twin Peaks' central mystery was resolved, and the show's quality dipped, pretty much everybody except those unusually hardcore fans moved on — and despite their best efforts, Twin Peaks died off soon after.
The X-Files was something different: a show that earned mass appeal after it had been discovered and championed by a cultish fandom. A TV show about an obsessed man digging into an all-encompassing mythology was a natural magnet for obsessed fans to dig into an all-encompassing mythology, and the show's popularity was engendered by the ever-increasing ease at which they were able to trade notes, essays, fan fiction, fan art, and — perhaps above all — complaints.
At the risk of inciting the rage of a deeply passionate fan base, I'd argue that much of The X-Files hasn't aged like fine wine. It inspired legions of imitators, and the best of those imitators managed to harness what made it great while reducing what made it so frustrating. It was arguably bested by Buffy the Vampire Slayer while it was still on the air; it was certainly bested by Lost after it was gone (though that show eventually ran aground in its own right).