fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3939 ]

[ SECRET POST #3939 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3939 ⌋

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In The X-Files, which character do you view as the most central/main/important character, Mulder, Scully, or both equally? (Or some other answer, if you think it applies.)

You don't have to have been an avid X-Files viewer to answer this question. I'm looking for opinions from not just fans, but also casual viewers. Basically, if you've seen enough of the show to have an opinion, bring it on. :)

Mulder and Scully equally.

Both of them are main characters, but in fundamentally different ways. Scully is much more of an audience-identification-figure, whereas Mulder is much more the straightforward heroic protagonist within the series mythology - what you might call the Matter of the X-Files is basically and fundamentally his story.

So, if pressed, I would say Mulder is the more correct answer.

I really like this response. When I first saw the question I was like, "both!", then went, "wait, Mulder maybe?" and this works really well for me as a rationale.

I've seen the first few seasons and I'd say both equally.

Mulder's the 'hero' of the story, but Scully is just as important, while not fitting the same... hero spot? IDEK how to explain it. But I'd say Mulder is the main character.

Mulder because Scully always got proven wrong

Maybe this belongs up there with things I just don't get, but after three seasons (which is all I watched) of Scully seeing weird shit exist and happen with her own eyes, why did she never say "You know what Mulder, I think you have a point." I liked the show and someday I might watch more of it but I could never figure that out.

So I think in general, with a few exceptions, Scully is mostly pretty reasonable about things? It's not really the case that she's a blanket denialist. In general, I would say that she is willing to accept that weird things happen when there's evidence for them. But sometimes there's not evidence. And more importantly, the fact that something weird is happening doesn't mean that Mulder is always right about everything. Maybe he's wrong about some individual things that happen; maybe he's wrong about the overarching conspiracy narrative.

Three good example episodes in s3: Quagmire (episode 22) and Nisei/731 (episodes 9 and 10). In Quagmire, Mulder thinks that a bunch of deaths near a lake are being caused by a prehistoric lake monster, and it turns out to be an alligator (although the tweeeeest of the episode is that the lake monster also exists, it wasn't doing the killings). And in Nisei/731, Scully is presented with a whole alternate narrative where all the conspiracy stuff is a military-government conspiracy, rather than an alien invasion plot like Mulder thinks.

So, yeah, it would be silly if Scully was just denying that weird shit ever happened. But I don't think that's really what she does. She retains a healthy skepticism about individual instances of weird shit happening, and a healthy skepticism about the causes of weird shit.

I hope this didn't come off as rude! It's really interesting to me and it's one of the things that I really like about the show.

No, it didn't come off as rude at all.

And when I think about it there were other instances where Mulder was wrong - like the episode with the bugs. There was something weird going on but (at least as far as I remember) it wasn't connected with the deaths.

I do see your point about Scully not being a blanket denialist. Also I think I kind of jumped to a conclusion that we as the viewers "know" what's really true and we're on Mulder's "side" when the whole thing is much more complicated than that.

Seconding your entire comment. I've always found it strange that people find her continued skepticism silly and inexplicable.

She retains a healthy skepticism about individual instances of weird shit happening

This is a good point. Her skepticism wasn't "None of that stuff we saw last week existed" her skepticism was, "The weird shit we saw last week doesn't somehow prove or explain your theory about what we're investigating this week." Scully's skepticism was always maintained because they were (almost) always facing something new and unexplained. And also because they almost never fully managed to explain the weird shit they experienced. She would manage to link the case to science but not explain it with science; therefore Scully could never make the kinds of scientific breakthroughs that would allow her to apply new scientific understandings to her future cases.

Personally, I think Scully's inexhaustible determination to prove and scientifically explain the strange phenomena she and Mulder encounter is really commendable. It's so much easier to do what Mulder does, just wildly believe stuff because it feels right - base one's conviction on one's conviction. Meanwhile, what Scully does is hard, but also responsible. It's her job to be the diligent stick in the mud; to say, "Mulder, our witnessing of the weird thing doesn't mean jack unless we can get some evidence of the weird thing and start to figure out what that evidence tells us factually about the weird thing."

In the pilot we see that Mulder was spinning his wheels without her. He needs her discipline, her skepticism, and her ideological determination, to balance out his zeal, his credulousness, and his very emotionally-based determination. If Scully threw in the towel at any point in the series, and just went, "Fuck it, aliens are real, let's go try to get abducted or whatever," their investigative abilities would've seriously suffered, they probably would've both gotten fired in a matter of weeks, and if not, I can't imagine it would've taken them long to get killed due to the increasing lack of discipline in their investigative efforts.

I think at first it's Mulder, because it focuses so much on his belief and experiences, but as the show goes on, Scully very much rises as a MC on her own footing,as the viewer discovers more about her and sees her on her journey.

I also think it's Mulder because he's a man and it was the 90s and aliens and that "weird stuff" is generally associated with men, not women. But that's just my cynical opinion.

They're both equal, no question in my mind. Maybe there are times early in the series where Mulder is more central, and there are definitely times later in the series where Scully is more central, but overall they're both vitally and equally important to the story.

I've only seen the first two seasons and a bit of season three, but I can see the argument for all three options.

For me personally, I view Mulder as the main character because of his backstory with Samantha's disappearance. But I also think the intention is that Scully is the main character because she's given the task of reigning in Mulder's wilder impulses and reporting back to the bureau about it, so you get more of her write ups, iirc. It's been a while since I was watching.

Both. (Casual fan back in the day.)

As a pretty avid fan of the first seven seasons (I watched it after, but was not an avid fan), early on it was Mulder, then a few times it was Scully, then it was both, but every once in a while, it was the MOTW, or Skinner, or The Lone Gunmen, or someone else.

Truthfully, I'm a little disappointed because I lost the debate. I'm a long-time X-Files fan and in my opinion they are both equally important and equally main characters. I'm pretty sure that opinion is highly common among hardcore X-Files fans, but my friend who's a casual watcher feels that Mulder is the main character and argued that most casual watchers would agree with him. I thought he was wrong. However, it looks like he won this one.

*grumbles eternally*

But all the same, thanks for participating!

Heh, looks like if I count my own vote, it's actually a tie. :P

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[ SECRET POST #3939 ]

Question, because I'm having a debate with my friend

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Re: Question, because I'm having a debate with my friend

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Thanks for answering my question, everyone!

Re: Thanks for answering my question, everyone!