The Media Lineage of The X-Files

X-Files was a defining program for so many reasons in the 90s, but it was mostly born out of the Watergate paranoia of the 70s. The references are incredibly clear (including meeting Deep Throat in a parking lot) but I wonder if what's less known is that it's also a response to the media of the 70s itself. I spent some time this week with 70s sci-fi and fantasy and while X-Files showrunner Chris Carter took from plenty of different sources, it became pretty clear to me that the building blocks were 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1972-1975 Kolchak: The Night Stalker, a series of TV movies and single full episode season. (Also hilarious that Carter calls the aliens in Close Encounters warm and fuzzy. Those aliens! The ones that terrorized a woman in her home for no reason and kidnapped a three year old! Warm and fuzzy!)

On Saturday, after finishing Close Encounters, I didn't feel like bright pop and blare of The Saint or the neon-noir gothic of Riverdale, but instead watched an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which I hadn't gone back to in over a year. (Kolchak as in vampires, not Kojak the lollipop detective. They aired at the same time which I think is cruel.) I think my brain was subconsciously picking up the pieces and placing them together. The cynical and workmanlike Darren McGavin peering into the dark corners of Chicago on a journalistic hunch paired with the awe and fearsome power of beings you don't understand from another planet.

Both stories deal in conspiracy, but of slightly different flavor. The scientific branch of the government is gatekeeping, but understandably wants an area of control during a huge undertaking. No one was allowed on base at the moon landing either. Conversely, the willful ignorance of everyone in Chicago is staggeringly frustrating. Not only will no one will listen to Kolchak, but they will burn his proof. The fantasy metaphor makes it easier to deal with the themes of conspiracy and cover-up, but it also inherently keeps the reality of government on daily life awkwardly distant. The government is denying everything but it's because they're dealing with ETs, not voter fraud.

X-Files explicitly makes connection between the two pieces - the government is always hiding things and Watergate is pedestrian in comparison. A show like All The President's Men that directly addresses governmental problems could keep all the flavor but would probably attract a different core audience. Post Watergate, truth is at a premium, and it's hard work to get at it. Sometimes the rewards could be as breathtaking as a full alien spaceship landing at Devils Tower, or could lead you to a sunken tomb in the lost city beneath Seattle, but it's always worth the price of admission.

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