The Edge of Chaos: Structural Conspiracy and Epistemology in The X-Files

Abstract

This essay argues for the latter interpretation by broadening the focus of investigation to include ways in which The X-Files situates itself in the landscape of scientific culture in the late twentieth century–especially with regard to the field called complex system dynamics, known more popularly as chaos theory. The show uses and represents concepts associated with dynamic systems theory that allow it to explore issues connected to the blurring and violation of epistemological boundaries shared between the hard sciences and the community of believers in paranormal phenomena. Chaotic dynamics informs the show's attempt to represent the relationship between rational skepticism and intuitive belief in contemporary scientific epistemology. The X-Files focuses on the paracultural discursive arena that comprises discourse between skeptics and believers regarding paranormal phenomena to represent and comment on the complex, recursive nature of scientific epistemological boundaries in the postmodern cultural milieu. It interrogates epistemological categories inherited from classical science and the new physics–categories circulated in the feedback loop connecting the paraculture, science, popular film, and television. Through this interrogation, The X-Files raises questions about the meaningfulness of those categories in ways that are not only terrifying but that also point to a deeper reflexivity and more complex appreciation of the search for meaning than usually represented in science fiction, horror, and the other genres incorporated into the show's narrative.