MISTAKEN IDENTITY: I used to watch the X-Files<\/b> on occasion, although I never became a true X-cult member (I suppose that I don\u2019t really want to believe). That show was a bit too graphic and violent for me. Nonetheless, the underlying theme of an alien invasion conspiracy was rather intriguing. Not that I believe that there really is something like that, but it made for a good story (when they used it; I never liked the \u201crogue monster\u201d episodes).<\/p>\n
The scene from the X-Files that I remember most was the time that Mulder\u2019s public identity had somehow been shifted through alien magic to some other guy, and the real Mulder was being hunted down as a dangerous renegade. If memory serves me (which these days is not guaranteed), everyone thought that Fletcher was Mulder, Fletcher being some bit part guy who showed up every now and then for reasons never fully explained (just like everything else in the X Files). Towards the end of that episode, Agent Mulder stopped at a gas-and-go convenience store late at night and went inside, pricing a gallon of milk or something under the harsh fluorescent lights. Then the ominous music started playing and the dude behind the counter decided to abandon ship. (Good move — when that ominous music starts playing you know some major plop is gonna happen). Then the stormtroopers burst in with military gear and nabbed the real but thought to be unreal Agent Mulder.<\/p>\n
As they led him away at the point of an automatic weapon, you saw Agent Dana Scully, Mulder\u2019s work partner and soulmate, together with Fletcher out by the gas pumps. Scully was obviously under the alien spell that made everyone think Fletcher is Mulder, and she was obviously pleased that the impostor has been caught. Perhaps more than pleased; you could see the look of love in her eyes for Fletcher-as-Mulder. Seeing all this in passing, the real Mulder starts screaming at the top of his lungs, \u201cSCULLY, HE\u2019S NOT ME, HE\u2019S NOT ME\u2026.\u201d As the nasty federal agents jam him into the armored paddy wagon off in a dark corner of the gas station, you hear one last desperate \u201cSCULLY, HE\u2019S…\u201d on the fade-out.<\/p>\n
Want to know why this scene got stuck in my memory circuits? Because it touches a nerve with me and most every aging person who once had a dream of a better world. Maybe one in ten people who dream such dreams in their youth get to do something with them; the rest of us are forced by fear, circumstances and lack of will into one compromise after the other. We take on a hard shell in order to survive and fulfill some of the more immediate commitments that we\u2019ve been assigned by fate (children, aging parents, attractive spouses that didn\u2019t quite share our dreams but seemed right at the time, the temptations of a comfortable suburban life with all its techno-toys). We do what we must for the bucks. After a while we may even start believing in our new image, in ourselves as successful people. But somewhere deep inside the prison of our subconscious, there\u2019s still that sensitive young soul looking out at who we\u2019ve become, with our spiffy suits and fashionable haircuts, screaming \u201cHE\u2019S NOT ME! HE\u2019S NOT ME!\u201d<\/p>\n
You might be able to think of other stories or plot lines that go something like this. The writers for the X Files weren\u2019t the first to have thought it up. It\u2019s a rather archetypal theme \u2013 the fear of inauthenticity<\/b>. Of course, in the X Files, the aliens eventually slipped (or maybe it was all a part of their game — you never really knew with the X Files) and the real Mulder made a comeback. As for me, though — I\u2019m quite not as optimistic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MISTAKEN IDENTITY: I used to watch the X-Files on occasion, although I never became a true X-cult member (I suppose that I don\u2019t really want to believe). That show was a bit too graphic and violent for me. Nonetheless, the underlying theme of an alien invasion conspiracy was rather intriguing. Not that I believe that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}