Naming The Boogeyman: Constructing Marginalized Religion As Threats To White Bodies In The X-Files

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Richards, O. (2023). Naming The Boogeyman: Constructing Marginalized Religion As Threats To White Bodies In The X-Files. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

The X-Files is an American science fiction television series that ran from 1993 to 2002, spawning an extended universe of books, two feature films, and an additional two seasons of the show which aired in 2016 and 2018. The show revolves around two FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who specialize in unsolved cases featuring potential paranormal phenomena. This thesis focuses on the ways that The X-Files constructs marginalized religions as threats to the American body politic, represented through white womanhood and white bodies. In this thesis, I examine three episodes from The X-Files as examples of how The X-Files is engaged in a broader project of boundary maintenance. I argue its constructions of the paranormal function to maintain and negotiate certain cultural narratives around what religion looks like in the United States. In the world imagined by The X-Files, marginalized religions are dangerous, and the narrative consequences of the episodes demonstrate this threat.

Details
Author

Richards, Oliver

Title

Naming The Boogeyman: Constructing Marginalized Religion As Threats To White Bodies In The X-Files

Physical Description

1 online resource ( pages) : PDF

Date

2023

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

The X-Files is an American science fiction television series that ran from 1993 to 2002, spawning an extended universe of books, two feature films, and an additional two seasons of the show which aired in 2016 and 2018. The show revolves around two FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who specialize in unsolved cases featuring potential paranormal phenomena. This thesis focuses on the ways that The X-Files constructs marginalized religions as threats to the American body politic, represented through white womanhood and white bodies. In this thesis, I examine three episodes from The X-Files as examples of how The X-Files is engaged in a broader project of boundary maintenance. I argue its constructions of the paranormal function to maintain and negotiate certain cultural narratives around what religion looks like in the United States. In the world imagined by The X-Files, marginalized religions are dangerous, and the narrative consequences of the episodes demonstrate this threat.

Genre

masters theses

Subjects--Topics

Religion
Area studies

Subjects--Places

America

Degree

M.A.

Keywords

Gender
Religion
X Files

Subject Area

Religious Studies

Advisor(s)

McCloud, Sean

Committee Members

Hoenes del Pinal, Eric
Sherman, William

Degree Note

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2023.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Richards_uncc_0694N_13509

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:3266