To understand queerness in The X-Files, I should first explain what I even mean by “queer”. Why look for queerness where there is none? Or is The X-Files more gay than it first appears? I am curious about a specific subset of head-canons that involve the queering of otherwise cis-het presenting characters. They might appear delusional to some, but they are joy and comfort to others.
Anyone who spends much time in the fandom’s corner of Twitter will know that it is pretty inundated with head-canons. The fandom has made the show its own, from actually influencing the choices of the writers (I’m thinking specifically of MSR-related events) to creating a culture of fanfiction and head-canon, where the choices of the writers are secondary to idealistic fans’ imaginations. Nonetheless “maybe it’s other people’s reactions to us that make us who we are” is a golden quote for the X-Files fandom. I’m not sure I would champion this as a philosophy of life, since I wouldn’t want my identity to be dependent on an outside observer (“hell is other people” and all that). In Season 4’s ‘Small Potatoes’, Mulder says: “maybe it’s other people’s reactions to us that make us who we are”. There is one notable exception that I can think of. I began this month by pointing out how The X-Files generally encourages us to believe in a human soul, citing the regular appearances of ghosts and other immortal spirits.
