David Lavery: Deny All Knowledge: Reading The X-Files

Filed under: Book Reviews, Chris Mitchell   

Chris Mitchell

Just what is it that makes The X-Files so popular? The television show which revolves around the investigations of FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully into all things paranormal has become incredibly popular, narrating their quest for the ever-elusive truth through a combination of police drama, gothic horror and science fiction. Deny All Knowledge is a collection of eleven academic essays which conducts its own investigation into the significance of The X-Files’ appeal.

The X-Files seems purpose built to provoke this kind of scrutiny. The series’ exploration of real life conspiracy theories and extra-terrestrial mysteries gives it a political, subversive edge, portraying its central characters as chipping away at some vast governmental cover-up. Moreover, like that other phenomenally successful American TV show The Simpsons, The X-Files is packed with allusions and references to other films, books and history.

However, simply cataloguing all these references does not make for either entertaining or erudite reading. Many of Deny All Knowledge’s essays are the academic equivalent of trainspotting, as borne out by the editors’ introduction: “One episode made the sort of demands seemingly designed for academics like ourselves, always on the look-out for television material difficult enough to present a true challenge to our encyclopaedic vocabulary of allusions and to our arsenal of critical methodologies.”

This indicates Deny all Knowledge’s fundamental problem - instead of tailoring the complexities of critical theory into the vernacular of The X-Files, the collection’s authors appear to be writing purely for other academics. As such, the prose is tortuous and the footnotes copious. Indeed, several of the authors appear to be competing for a place in Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner, as illustrated by the title of Elizabeth Kubek’s Lacanian psychoanalysis essay “You Only Expose Your Father: The Imaginary, Voyeurism and the Symbolic Order in The X-Files.”

There are a couple of saving graces. Susan J. Clerc’s discussion of the burgeoning X-Files Internet newsgroups and mailing lists, which have become virtual communities in themselves, begins to unravel the appeal of the show through the email correspondence of the fans (or X-Philes) themselves. Similarly, the essay “Rewriting Popularity” puts forward the idea that The X-Files is “the first truly post-postmodern TV show” because its slogan “The truth is out there” reasserts the existence of a concrete truth which is waiting to be discovered. Or as Mulder would say, I want to believe.

In all, though, Deny All Knowledge’s obtuseness is unlikely to be of much interest to X-Files fans. Presumably it’s been published at this time of year to cash in on the already burgeoning X-Files spin-off industry. However, those who look beyond its cover will find that perhaps it isn’t the ideal Christmas stocking filler.

Posted on December 1st, 1997.

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