X-Files: Gender Bender and other thoughts

[sqbr]

I've been watching season one of X-files (also Xena. At this rate I'll get into Battlestar around 2020) It's been pretty good.

But when I saw the title of this episode I thought "Oh man, this is not going to be good". And certainly the episode could be read as playing into trans panic and the whole "bisexual men will kill you with their deadly sex" AIDS thing (especially with this being from 93) On the plus side the gender-ambiguous character's gender-ambiguity wasn't played up as being extra-specially scary or weird, they were scary because they went around killing people, and the plot was actually kind of interesting (what we saw of it, a lot wasn't really explained), on the downside it was still "gender ambiguous character kills people with sex" which..yeah.

I don't know if anyone reading this will REMEMBER this episode but hey :)

Anyway, I had some not very deep spoilery thoughts:

*********SPOILERS and TRIGGERS*****

I wasn't very far in before I thought "Am I really watching a real live action gender-swapping alien sex pollen story?" And I was! I'm not sure if showing the guy Scully kissed later as a woman would be interesting or playing into Torchwood-esque evil-bisexual-woman-with-sex-pollen territory. Maybe both. But I imagine the possibility of this in people's mind is one reason it wasn't Mulder who got almost-raped (not that I think the show quite thought of it that way. I don't know, it was weird).

Also I spent most of the episode trying to figure out why it all felt so familiar before I realised: where have I seen "Gender swapping alien runs away from it's pod to have fun sexing and murdering humans" before? The Rocky Horror Picture Show! But with Amish people!

Also people's hair length should not change when they magically change gender. Height/weight etc? I can suspend my disbelief. But hair length is just silly.

Some spoilery thoughts about the season so far:

"Eve" was also kind of interesting. I think that given how badly clones tend to be handled it was at least somewhat thoughtful. I liked how we ended up sympathising with Eve 8 (the one who escaped, gained a measure of sanity, and tried to make improved clones of herself), who was both the same as her sisters and her own person, and they at least suggested the idea of moving past one's genetic destiny. Of course they also had the girls being Pure Evil and Not Really My Daughter so..yeah.

I also really liked how Mulder was so convinced it was aliens and was totally wrong.The main reason I avoided X-files at the time was that I was imaging Mulder being all smug and annoying and fey and always right, the way spiritual types-vs-skeptics tend to be in "Everything's real!" fictional settings. But he has a sense of humour about his own wierdness, and Scully is awesome and not stupidly skeptical when it makes no sense to be. And the episode before this Mulder was the skeptic because he just really disliked the psychic, huzzah.

As much as I'm enjoying the cool female characters in this and Xena it's a bit depressing that tv reached that in the 90s and still sucks overall. Every time I hit something in X-files that reminds me of Supernatural I keep expecting the women characters to die or be evil and they (mostly) don't and it's awesome. (Apologies to my Supernatural fan friends, I realise the show has a lot of unique things going for it, but for me and my tastes X-files is "Like Supernatural, but good". The fact I prefer sf to fantasy and het to incestuous slash probably helps)

I don't know, maybe the fact it's so old means I'm willing to cut it more slack.

Comments

[hl]

I kinda shamefully love the X-Files.

I treasure the times Mulder was wrong, really, because so many of the times he isn't.

Curiously, I didn't see Genderbender as particularly bad in that sense, though I was dreading it, mainly because they all shifted, but they had only one rogue (who they wanted to keep under control, even); so it's not like the fact they were like that was the reason he attacked. As biological imperatives go, this one was rather less enforced than most. (This is a big point of contention for me with this series. Biological imperatives annoy me greatly.)

(Their treatment of clones/hypnosis/almost every bit of science beyond the first episodes really annoys me. Mainly I have to shut that part of my brain off to watch.)

The hair is rather silly. And the fact they had Lea acting. I'm hoping someone out there has written a terrific ff explaining that, but I haven't found it.

But UST! Casefiles! Cool episodes! There are episodes that I just love to bits.

How are you watching? Just random or are you following an order?

And... er... sorry for the outburst of fanninesh there. -_-

[sqbr]

Oh no, anything but FANNISHNESS. Because I hate it so :)

Yeah, gender bender was a lot better than I was expecting, while I think the subtext was still a bit problematic it was at least in an interesting complex way beyond the usual "people of ambiguous gender are SCARY AND EVIL (and maybe tragic)". Especially since, yes, so many of the episodes have the subtext "people *in unusual group X* are SCARY AND EVIL (and maybe tragic)" :/ Did you see The X-Files, the Other, and the Mutant Enemy on metafandom, about the treatment of mutants and The Other on the show? I'm deliberately not rereading it for fear of spoilers :)

And the fact they had Lea acting

*is confused* *is dumb?*

I'm watching it in order, am up to disk 6 of season 1.

[hl]

They had an actor doing a two bit part (the guy who landed in the hospital?) that later he has a bigger part, as a named character and all. -_-

I've read that article. I've on purpose avoided commenting on it; mainly, my opinion falls near to what this commenter said, though I think they played the 'biology is destiny' stronger than what I would've liked.

Ohh, cool about you watching it in order! If you want to discuss any one in particular, we could do a watch together thing (like, we watch it at the same time or whatever).

I did that, just until before the seventh season. I've to get back at it, btw.

[sqbr]

Ahhhh.

It's funny once you start recognising bit part actors, the same ones pop up all over the place.

I tend to watch things in big chunks with large gaps in between so I wouldn't want to make you stick to the same schedule, but if you happen to rewatch from season 1 and meta about it I will read it happily :)

[tree]

"I also really liked how Mulder was so convinced it was aliens and was totally wrong. The main reason I avoided X-files at the time was that I was imaging Mulder being all smug and annoying and fey and always right"

mulder is almost always wrong and is convinced that he's almost always right. (there's an episode in S7 where he actually quotes a statistic that he CLEARLY just made up.)

X-files is "Like Supernatural, but good"

WIN. i remember the boy and i watched the first two episodes of supernatural and we were like, "it's like they took the offspring of XF and buffy and made it suck."

needless to say i maybe might kind of like this x-files show about which you are talking. and S1 is love just because they are such babies in it! gillian was only 24! *collapses in a puddle of fangoo*

[sqbr]

She's so tiny and cute! It's weird after watching her all grown up in Dickens adaptations and stuff :)

[aquaeri]

The relationship between Mulder and Scully and the scepticism/aliens win ratio is fine in the early seasons of the X-Files, but they screw it up badly (in the predictable way) later, and that's mainly why I lost interest in the show. I think the high point for me is second season - they've figured out what they're doing and they haven't stuffed it up yet.

[sqbr]

So few shows make it a good third season, and even fewer to a good fourth, it's rather sad really. Still, I guess it means I don't have TOO much further to go until I can read fic :D

[attentive]

The X-Files is way, way ahead of Supernatural.

There are two more minor characters in the X-Files that I find really fascinating: Krycek and Spender. The way they're positioned in relation to, and interact with Mulder is awesome.

In my opinion the X-Files / Supernatural differences don't really resemble the sf / fantasy divide. It's more "good" vs. "bad". The X-Files has better characters, more complex structures of status and power between them, and much more interesting and better researched source material.

I didn't mind Supernatural initially, but if they needed a supernatural road trip show that mixed Biblical themes with Americana they could've just adapted Preacher for TV. Which would've been about a million times better.

Normally when a show's central relationship is an odd couple the differences are made explicit by contrasting actions, but in Mulder and Scully's case, the differences are intellectual and they otherwise have a similar modus operandi. That's what enables the Beckettian humour of the show - the fact that they stand around in matching outfits and set their philosophies on each other.

I don't know how much of it you've watched, or will watch, but there is an absolutely brilliant all-dialogue episode in about season 4 or 5.

[sqbr]

I haven't gotten to Kryceck and Spender yet, but have heard good things about Krycek.

I have some things I could say to defend Supernatural, but I really don't like the show enough to bother :D

Normally when a show's central relationship is an odd couple the differences are made explicit by contrasting actions, but in Mulder and Scully's case, the differences are intellectual and they otherwise have a similar modus operandi. That's what enables the Beckettian humour of the show - the fact that they stand around in matching outfits and set their philosophies on each other.

Yes, I like that too (though I would not have said it so well :))

[attentive]

Why thank you. And yeah, Supernatural really isn't worth the bother.

Re the latter seasons of the X-Files and their indubitable slowly diminishing quality, for me it was a bit like the Dune novels: the concepts, the plot and the sheer amount of stuff they'd packed into it started to burden it without an obvious resolution in sight. And the resolution when it came was breathtakingly simplistic and/or nonexistent, depending on your point of view.

But I like things like that, which become absurd under the weight of contradictions and loose ends in plot and setting.

[sqbr]

But I like things like that, which become absurd under the weight of contradictions and loose ends in plot and setting.

Ah. I really don't. Are you a fan of Lost by any chance?

[attentive]

No but I'm thinking of becoming one. Tommo keeps saying the final couple of seasons really brought the plot together, so it might be worth it.

[sqbr]

Yeah, he keeps saying that. Personally I just don't care enough to try.