Open Borders

A whole town called 'Home', population "only a few hundred. Everybody knows everybody pretty much." Oh, and "folks…never lock the door." Idyllic. So much so, the sheriff doesn't "even wear a gun." (That's such a quaint American image, isn't it? The gun as merely another thing one chooses to 'wear', along with the right tie and matching socks.)

It is noted that small, quirky communities like Home and their disappearance are a recurring theme throughout the X Files:

One of the recurring themes of The X-Files is the idea that the quirky little spaces and communities are gradually being eroded by modernity. (cf. them0vieblog.com)

Sheriff Taylor makes this point a couple of times in this episode. After bringing Mulder and Scully up to speed with the current case, he says rather wistfully, "Now, I want to find whoever did this... but in doing so, I'd like it if the way things are around here didn't have to change." And later, as he sits on his porch, he tells his wife that he is "Taking one good last look around before it all changes.” (cf. insidethex.co.uk)

Ironically, as he's the one who invited in the FBI, he's as responsible for that change as anyone - probably more so. Sheriff Andy Taylor is, whether he likes it or not, an agent of change. He is, after all, a black man become sheriff in a small American town - and what's that if not a sign of change?

Andy is something of a realist dreamer. He desires to hold on to what he has but, at the same time, realizes he is trying to keep ahold of Brigadoon - "I knew we couldn't stay hidden forever…" In the 1954 film, Tommy Albright (the always brilliant Gene Kelly) is only able to have the dream if he is willing to give up entirely his modern New York lifestyle. Not wanting to spoil the film for those of you who haven't seen it (which you must do at once!), let me just say that I've already mentioned why Brigadoon is beyond Sheriff Taylor's grasp.

An integral part of Home's innocence is the lack of a need to lock one's doors. Because everybody pretty much knows everybody else, what need is there to erect borders? Traditionally, there are few borders as strong as the threshold - read Jim Butcher's 'The Dresden Files' for clarification. Or watch any proper vampire movie, in which the vampire cannot enter the home without an invitation. The home is the mother of all borders. By not locking his doors, Andy foregoes the protection of the border - and it costs him dear.

Of course we would all love to live in Andy's idealized world, but we are left in no doubt that it is never anything but a dream. A dream Mulder seems to share:

God, this brings back a lot of memories. My sister... all day pick-up games out on the vineyard, ride your bikes down to the beach, eat bologna sandwiches. Only place you had to be on time was home for dinner. Never had to lock your doors. No modems, no faxes, no cell phones.

By now we know that Mulder's sister was abducted as a young girl. His memories, another recurring theme, are false. Just as false as Sheriff Andy Taylor's perception of his Home.

If it is as idyllic as he makes out, why do we not meet any other inhabitants of the town? We see the boys playing baseball, but they are as much a plot device as the identical Canadian kids who watch the repairman die in 'Herronvolk'. We can't really count the Peacocks, as they live outside the boundaries of Eden. The only other person we meet is the sheriff's deputy, Barney Pastor. And he's only there long enough to warn Mulder and Scully of the dangers of entering the Peacock residence.

Open borders are an ideal and, as such, remain a utopian dream bound up in nostalgia for a time that never was.