Deny All Knowledge: Reading the X Files

250 Pages·1996·15.333 MB·English

by  David Lavery, Angela Hague

“Deny
All
Knowledge”
Reading the
FILES
Edited by David Lavery,
Angela Hague,
and
Marla Cartwright
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/denyallknowledgeOOOOIave
"Deny All Knowledge"
The Television Series
Robert J. Thompson, Series Editor

Deny All Knowledge"
READING THE
EDITED BY
David Lavery, Angela Hague,
AND
Marla Cartwright
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 1996 by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse, New York 13244-5160
All Rights Reserved
First Edition
96 97 98 99 00 01 6 5 4 3 2 1
"How to Talk the Unknown into Existence: An Exercise in X-Filology,"
copyright © 1996 by Alec McHoul
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. (po)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Deny all knowledge : reading the X-files / edited by David Lavery, Angela
Hague, and Marla Cartwright. — 1st ed.
p. cm.—(The television series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8156-2717-3 (cloth : alk. paper).—ISBN 0-8156-0407-6
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. X-files (Television program) I. Lavery, David, 1949- .
II. Hague, Angela. III. Cartwright, Marla. IV. Series.
PN1992.77.X22T78 1996
791.45'72—dc20 96-28814
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Acknowledgments / vii
Contributors / ix
1. Introduction
GENERATION X— THEX-FILES AND THE CULTURAL MOMENT
David Lavery, Angela Hague, and Marla Cartwright / 1
2. Rewriting Popularity
THE CULT FILES
Jimmie L. Reeves, Mark C. Rodgers, and Michael Epstein / 22
3. DDEB, GATB, MPPB, and Ratboy
THE X-FILES' MEDIA FANDOM, ONLINE AND OFF
Susan J.CIerc / 36
4. "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?"
CONSPIRACY THEORY AND THE X-FILES
Allison Graham / 52
5. "I Want to Believe ... in the FBI"
THE SPECIAL AGENT AND THE X-FILES
Michele Malach / 63
6. "Last Week We Had an Omen"
THE MYTHOLOGICAL X-FILES
Leslie Jones / 77

Contributors
Undo Badley is professor of English at Middle Tennessee State Univer¬
sity. She is the author of a two-volume study. Film, Horror*, and the Body
Fantastic and Writing Horror and the Body: The Fiction of Stephen King,
Clive Barker, and Anne Rice.
Marla Cartwright is an instructor in the English department at Middle
Tennessee State University
Susan J. Clerc is a doctoral candidate in American Cultural Studies at
Bowling Green State University Her essay "Estrogen Brigades and
'Big Tits' Threads: Media Fandom Online and Off" was published in
Wired Women: Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace.
Michael Epstein is a Ph.D. candidate in American Culture at the Uni¬
versity of Michigan.
Allison Graham is associate professor of communication at the Univer¬
sity of Memphis. She is the author of a book on Lindsay Anderson and
coproducer/director/writer of the 1993 Emmy-nominated film At the
River I Stand.
Angela Hague is professor of English at Middle Tennessee State Uni¬
versity and is author of Iris Murdoch's Comic Vision. She is a state
section director for Tennessee MUFON.
Leslie Jones earned the Ph.D. in Folkflore and Mythology from UCLA.
A professional writer and independent scholar, she is the author of
several essays and of Happy is the Bride the Sun Shines On: Wedding
Beliefs, Traditions, and Customs and Druids, Shamans, and Priests.
Elizabeth B. Kubek earned her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester. She
is an instructor in the English and Textual Studies program at Syracuse
University.
IX
Contributors
X
David Lavery is professor of English and chair of the English depart¬
ment at Middle Tennessee State University. He is the author of Late for
the Sky: The Mentality of the Space Age and editor of Full of Secrets:
Critical Approaches to "Twin Peaks."
Michele Malach teaches communication at Fort Lewis College in Du¬
rango, Colorado, and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas.
Alec McHoul is professor of linguistics at Murdoch University, Austra¬
lia, and author of numerous articles on cultural matters.
Lisa Parks is a doctoral candidate in communication at the University
of Wisconsin.
Jimmie L. Reeves is assistant professor of communication at Texas Tech
University. He is the author (with Dick Campbell) of Cracked Coverage:
Television News, the Anti-Cocaine Crusade, and the Reagan Legacy.
Mark C. Rodgers is a Ph.D. candidate in American Culture at the Uni¬
versity of Michigan.
Rhonda Wilcox is assistant professor of English at Gordon College. She
won a 1994 award from the Popular Culture Association of the South
for her essay on Northern Exposure.
J. P. Williams teaches at Georgia Southern College and is the author of
several published articles (including an essay on Moonlighting in The
Journal of Popular Film and Television).