By Tessa Solomon
In the din of Prairie Light’s crowded coffee shop, Professor Theresa Geller discussed extraterrestrial experimentation as she flipped through her new book, The X-Files. At 7 p.m. today, she’ll read from its second chapter, but then, at the table, she was most interested in talking about monsters.
“I really do cover a lot of monsters in not that many pages,” she said, eyes rapidly scanning lines, light reflecting off the text’s glossy, UFO-adorned cover.
To those familiar with the cult ’90s show — a precedent-setting fandom, one arguably unmatched in its imagination and zeal — that is an exhaustive list of “Monsters of the Week.” In nine seasons and 202 episodes, FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully encounter such phenomena as parasitic slugs, inbred killers, elastic, liver-devouring sewer humanoids, and, of course, aliens.
“There are a lot of aliens episodes where they are taking the cells of aliens for medical technology,” she said. “It’s this idea that cells are being taken from aliens, unwillingly. It’s very connected to a historical realities.”
The history Geller is speaking of refers to that of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American cancer patient in the 20th century whose cells were unwillingly extracted and used in the study of cervical-cancer treatment. Neither her nor her family were reimbursed after the subsequent breakthroughs.
Represented in the alien allegory, Lack’s tale is one among many tales from history that Geller connects to the “X-Files,” “MotW” and script. A critical media analysis, the slim volume dissects to an impressive degree the cultural effects and relevance of the genre-subverting sci-fi show.
“I think the ‘X-Files’ did it so well is because it took this idea of genre and unpacked it,” Geller said. “Episodes started with a monster, but then by the end the audience was saying, don’t kill the monster.”
An associate professor of film theory and history at Grinnell College, Geller has spent decades finding deeper, theoretical meaning in various TV shows.
“TV is a way for me to talk about what is happening in the world, in politics,” she said. “The first article I ever published was on ‘Twin Peaks.’ It’s a way for me to process my pop-culture obsession.”
To Geller, TV has been the tool, more so than movies, for poignant cultural critique. Often influenced by contemporary politics, its ever-developing arc has time for relevant reflection. It’s evident in the “X-Files,” she argues, unflinchingly drawing parallels between the show’s content and contemporary discourse, like the role of the Black Lives Matter movement and illegal immigration.
“I did not pull any punches about the politics in this: I’m feminist, I’m anti-racist,” she said.
Under the analysis, though, are more primal questions: What made viewers come back, devout to the duo at the heart of Chris Carter’s elaborate, expansive mytharc?
Flipping pages, she tried to find the answer in user comments from IMDB.
“[The ‘X-Files’] is so thought-provoking,” she quoted. “That if you really let yourself dwell in its essence, it can change the way you see the world, if only just by believing the conviction that the truth is out there.”
