This post has gotten more attention than I usually get, by thousands of times. Thanks to those who have engaged with it, I’ve seen discussions in lots of different corners of the web, and a lot of it has been really fun and interesting!
There has been some slightly less pleasant parts however - my first unwanted internet discourse, yay! - so I would like to clarify a few things that seem to be frequently brought up.
- As I mention in the piece, I am well aware the 90s were not perfect for those living through them. Far from it! Bad things happened. Many of the same issues we see today were seen then, perhaps in different forms, and were no less difficult. I note that a view through rose-tinted glasses is easy to have; nostalgia can be blinding and unwarranted.
- I am aware that a fictional television show is not a realistic portrayal of the time, I thought that would be implicitly understood lol
- I am not American!
- I was born in the 2000s and so I cannot possibly know what the 90s were actually like in order to fairly compare that time to now. This article was not a sincere comparison of real life in the 90s to my life today; it was a ramble primarily focusing on the aesthetics of the show, which I found intriguing as The X-Files has been the first 90s media I have deeply engaged with.
- This exploration of the show’s aesthetic qualities is wrapped in a very surface level critique of modern tech culture and lifestyles, which seems to be the part that people are focusing on. This was a thrown together emotive ramble for my handful of substack subscribers that are mostly my friends. It is not a deep political analysis requiring high levels of scrutiny, personal jibes, or inter-generational conflict.
This was supposed to be a somewhat humorous way to convince my peers to watch The X-Files, and show how exasperated I am with the current state of the internet, and I fear some have maybe taken it a bit too literally.
Anyways, I appreciate the engagement and it has been heartening seeing original fans of the show share their joy and own sense of nostalgia. Seeing a range of perspectives has been really enjoyable (when people were being normal about it, lol), but I do think there’s been some unfair interpretations of what I have stated. It’s been a solid reminder that the internet can tear apart anything you feed it, no matter how small or silly. I will have to get used to that! More clarity in my tone in future perhaps…
I normally talk about birds, so I look forward to going back to normal discussions about my lukewarm ornithology takes and basic analyses.
The Truth Is Out There! Just probably not found in my blog posts ;)
Don’t worry about the nit-pickers. Some people will find a way to be annoyed or insulted by anything and will act as if only their righteous indignation can set things right. 🙄
I thoroughly enjoyed this piece. While I was around for the 90’s I didn’t watch the show until a month ago. You captured it well.
You have the mind of an aesthete with all this focus on cinematography. The show trades much of its effects for superior writing, especially in the comedy and pacing, by the time of the sixth season, a rapid-fire zenith. (You'll know once they start mocking Home Owner's Associations.) Don't worry about the Mulder and Scully relationship as it's a rollercoaster lurching where you expect it to go (yet also to places no one could have expected).
Another facet to this dynamic is the Lone Gunmen. In the 90's, they are 3 people who have a small newsletter, a devoted fan-base, and generally decent lives.
In the 2020's, they would be in a dozen toxic Discord servers running like 100 different crypto scams.
There is definitely a very raw joy and satisfaction to physical buttons and physical places. That said people in the 90s still wasted a ton of their lives sitting in front of random crap TV. My dad would "channel surf" which meant rapidly flipping through channels, theoretically looking for something interesting to watch but in practice never actually stopping on anything for more than 30 seconds or so. This behavior drove me crazy! But I realize now is probably not dissimilar from scrolling tiktok. It's not so much the times, as what you choose to do with them.
Edit: Of course this site is being an *incredible* pain about merely letting me post this comment so you know what maybe it is actually the times, fuck the modern internet lol.
"I don’t think I would have been normal about him."
As someone who WAS around for the original series, none of us were normal about him (or Scully)!
Anyway, this is quite fascinating to read as someone who grew up with the show, and I'm curious to see what you think of the reboot from a few years back (when you get to it) when they DO take a look at modern technology and the disappearance of the idea of "truth."
Anti-nostalgia Gen Xer here. This is a very good show, and of course you are free to decide what you think about it and what it says about the 90s.
However, consider that the X-Files isn’t itself very much like the 1990s; it was nostalgic and out of step with the zeitgeist. It was referencing a cinematic mood that goes all the way back to the 1930s. The slow pace of the investigations is more of a trope for visual storytelling than an indication of what life was like.
The X-Files stood out because it was different. It was on TV on late Friday nights because the audience were nerds and teenagers who didn’t have dates.
Popular media in the 1990s was lurid, high contrast, quick cuts, highly processed and edited. Culturally it was a far stupider, less cosmopolitan, and less sophisticated time. It gave you all the tech billionaires of today and Kid Rock.
I completed a rewatch of the show last year, and agree with so much of what you wrote about how well-made it is! It was genuinely shocking how much craft went into every episode, especially by the fourth season when pretty much every frame looks as good as a movie.
Pro tip: it's your first time through, so you're probably going to ignore this... But you should stop watching when you reach the end of season 8. That season and that finale leaves all the characters and the X-Files themselves in good places, and everything that follows is... well, unnecessary. To be polite.
It's very encouraging to read about someone your age being aware of the lack of human connection we experience today. Maybe you're one voice of many? Maybe we'll see more people rebelling against being controlled by tech. I'm from the generation who remembers the great technological advancement of remote controls for TVs. Before that, my parents used me as one!
This post has gotten more attention than I usually get, by thousands of times. Thanks to those who have engaged with it, I’ve seen discussions in lots of different corners of the web, and a lot of it has been really fun and interesting!
There has been some slightly less pleasant parts however - my first unwanted internet discourse, yay! - so I would like to clarify a few things that seem to be frequently brought up.
- As I mention in the piece, I am well aware the 90s were not perfect for those living through them. Far from it! Bad things happened. Many of the same issues we see today were seen then, perhaps in different forms, and were no less difficult. I note that a view through rose-tinted glasses is easy to have; nostalgia can be blinding and unwarranted.
- I am aware that a fictional television show is not a realistic portrayal of the time, I thought that would be implicitly understood lol
- I am not American!
- I was born in the 2000s and so I cannot possibly know what the 90s were actually like in order to fairly compare that time to now. This article was not a sincere comparison of real life in the 90s to my life today; it was a ramble primarily focusing on the aesthetics of the show, which I found intriguing as The X-Files has been the first 90s media I have deeply engaged with.
- This exploration of the show’s aesthetic qualities is wrapped in a very surface level critique of modern tech culture and lifestyles, which seems to be the part that people are focusing on. This was a thrown together emotive ramble for my handful of substack subscribers that are mostly my friends. It is not a deep political analysis requiring high levels of scrutiny, personal jibes, or inter-generational conflict.
This was supposed to be a somewhat humorous way to convince my peers to watch The X-Files, and show how exasperated I am with the current state of the internet, and I fear some have maybe taken it a bit too literally.
Anyways, I appreciate the engagement and it has been heartening seeing original fans of the show share their joy and own sense of nostalgia. Seeing a range of perspectives has been really enjoyable (when people were being normal about it, lol), but I do think there’s been some unfair interpretations of what I have stated. It’s been a solid reminder that the internet can tear apart anything you feed it, no matter how small or silly. I will have to get used to that! More clarity in my tone in future perhaps…
I normally talk about birds, so I look forward to going back to normal discussions about my lukewarm ornithology takes and basic analyses.
The Truth Is Out There! Just probably not found in my blog posts ;)
Don’t worry about the nit-pickers. Some people will find a way to be annoyed or insulted by anything and will act as if only their righteous indignation can set things right. 🙄
I thoroughly enjoyed this piece. While I was around for the 90’s I didn’t watch the show until a month ago. You captured it well.
Based on what you've written, another 90s media you might enjoy is Northern Exposure.
Take no notice of the naysayers, just enjoy your life.
You have the mind of an aesthete with all this focus on cinematography. The show trades much of its effects for superior writing, especially in the comedy and pacing, by the time of the sixth season, a rapid-fire zenith. (You'll know once they start mocking Home Owner's Associations.) Don't worry about the Mulder and Scully relationship as it's a rollercoaster lurching where you expect it to go (yet also to places no one could have expected).
Another facet to this dynamic is the Lone Gunmen. In the 90's, they are 3 people who have a small newsletter, a devoted fan-base, and generally decent lives.
In the 2020's, they would be in a dozen toxic Discord servers running like 100 different crypto scams.
The Lone Gunmen predicted something very important in the pilot episode, I shall say no more to avoid spoilers.
There is definitely a very raw joy and satisfaction to physical buttons and physical places. That said people in the 90s still wasted a ton of their lives sitting in front of random crap TV. My dad would "channel surf" which meant rapidly flipping through channels, theoretically looking for something interesting to watch but in practice never actually stopping on anything for more than 30 seconds or so. This behavior drove me crazy! But I realize now is probably not dissimilar from scrolling tiktok. It's not so much the times, as what you choose to do with them.
Edit: Of course this site is being an *incredible* pain about merely letting me post this comment so you know what maybe it is actually the times, fuck the modern internet lol.
"I don’t think I would have been normal about him."
As someone who WAS around for the original series, none of us were normal about him (or Scully)!
Anyway, this is quite fascinating to read as someone who grew up with the show, and I'm curious to see what you think of the reboot from a few years back (when you get to it) when they DO take a look at modern technology and the disappearance of the idea of "truth."
I hope you enjoy your first watch so much!
Just here to confirm: We were not normal about Fox Mulder. (And I don’t think it was only Nicholes/Nicoles.)
Once you have finished with the X-Files may I recommend the British version of Utopia to watch next -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3gxwIqqzB4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJnN3WMwDsk
Also congratulations, you made it on Hacker News, you can find the discussion here -
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47977583
PS Here have a sub.
Anti-nostalgia Gen Xer here. This is a very good show, and of course you are free to decide what you think about it and what it says about the 90s.
However, consider that the X-Files isn’t itself very much like the 1990s; it was nostalgic and out of step with the zeitgeist. It was referencing a cinematic mood that goes all the way back to the 1930s. The slow pace of the investigations is more of a trope for visual storytelling than an indication of what life was like.
The X-Files stood out because it was different. It was on TV on late Friday nights because the audience were nerds and teenagers who didn’t have dates.
Popular media in the 1990s was lurid, high contrast, quick cuts, highly processed and edited. Culturally it was a far stupider, less cosmopolitan, and less sophisticated time. It gave you all the tech billionaires of today and Kid Rock.
I completed a rewatch of the show last year, and agree with so much of what you wrote about how well-made it is! It was genuinely shocking how much craft went into every episode, especially by the fourth season when pretty much every frame looks as good as a movie.
Pro tip: it's your first time through, so you're probably going to ignore this... But you should stop watching when you reach the end of season 8. That season and that finale leaves all the characters and the X-Files themselves in good places, and everything that follows is... well, unnecessary. To be polite.
watch the episode Kill Switch if you hate AI so much
Your malaise of the current culture is like Farscape and John putting space info on the moon for Earth to get it
It's very encouraging to read about someone your age being aware of the lack of human connection we experience today. Maybe you're one voice of many? Maybe we'll see more people rebelling against being controlled by tech. I'm from the generation who remembers the great technological advancement of remote controls for TVs. Before that, my parents used me as one!
The 4th season of The X-Files is the end of the show's golden era. Season 5 is when the show was moved to Sunday nights and began to delcine.
Have you seen Last Night In Soho?