Voiceless voices

It is claimed that the X Files is of its time, the 90s, which, of course it is. (cf. them0vieblog) Nobody can watch an episode today and not smile at those quaint phones, for instance. Even the themes of the show must have some relevance born of that era - until recently, could a show so paranoid and so full of conspiracy have been as successful as the X Files was in the nineties? It is not the sudden change in American politics, however, that keeps the X Files relevant. Every good story well told remains relevant in every age.

Shakespeare has the advantage of being redone, reset and revitalised. A TV show is what it is; there is no going back to change things. Those phones will forever be outdated.

Story is always human life encapsulated within a text and, as such, remains revelatory of who we are. The X Files tells tales of human beings as we were back in time, which is not so much different to how we are today. It really isn't necessary to revamp Shakespeare. King Lear tells a human story whether set as Shakespeare envisioned it or in some more modern version (cf. 'Taking Leave a King Lear for the modern era'). Whether one wishes to put the X Files on the same level as Shakespeare is a matter of personal choice, yet it remains as relevant as a version of the human story.

'El Mundo Gira', another of those WtF episodes, nevertheless has something to say that should be worthy of our attention today as it was back in the nineties. Taken at face value, it is a tale of immigrant workers and their plight as invisible, and therefore exploitable, lives that, beyond their own desperation to survive, matter to no one.

Undoubtedly, this situation exists today every bit as much as it existed in the nineties. This, alone, gives the episode relevance. But real story, the kind of story that stands the test of time in the manner of Shakespeare, must be a story that applies beyond its own parameters.

Lorenzo is a jaded cop, dealing with illegal immigrants on a daily basis, makes this so ordinary X File more than it is. His words apply as well to the world's dispossessed as they do to the immigrant worker:

…their lives are small. So they have to make these fantasies just to keep on going - to feel alive. Because they are strangers here. They feel hated, unwanted. Whenever their passions become inflamed…they make up these fantastic tales. Call it anything you want, but this is an age old story.

There are any number of situations in which individuals, groups and whole communities are made to feel invisible and commoditised. The wealth of the few will always demand a price be paid by the many.

Even the voiceless have tales to tell, though they are heard only as rumour and innuendo likely to cause as much harm as any catharsis. Despite the clumsy way the story of this episode is structured, it does clearly exemplify this process as Flakita urges the other women:

Quiet! Quiet, listen to me. It was a terrible thing. You’re not going to believe me, even when I tell you. Some say it is a story, a fairy tale. But I saw it. I saw it with my own eyes.

The disenfranchised may wreak no change upon society at large, wield no means to hold others responsible for the ruin of their lives but they certainly can exert a form of power over the fates of one another.