Hungry Men Chaste Scully
Eleven episodes from now, in ‘Theef’, we’ll have the apparent suicide of a character suffering from Kuru – no, not his shoes! Granted, it’s not a New Guinea tribesman that winds up hanging in the hallway and nor, one supposes, had the victim been a connoisseur of human brains. Nor is his name Rob Roberts, though it might have been, for Rob does spend his hour devouring the “little grey cells” of his neighbours, the workplace bully and the man in street.
‘Hungry’ is a monster-of-the-week episode presented from the monster’s perspective. This, I gather, is supposed to create the rather odd effect of making him sympathetic. I sound somewhat disparaging of the notion that a monster can be anything less than monstrous because, while a nice trick to play with an established TV show, it is precisely the kind of ruse that enabled real-life monster, Ted Bundy, to prey on scores of young women.
Fortunately, I suppose, Rob preys mainly upon other men – maybe a comparison with John Wayne Gacy or Jeffrey Dahmer would be more appropriate – yet it still seems a tad insensitive to portray a gluttonous serial feeder as anything other than the killer he is. Rob Roberts doesn’t become the epitome of virtue because he struggles with his addiction to killing. There is nothing noble about Rob Roberts. The customer in the teaser is damned annoying, certainly, but this hardly makes him deserving of having his brain eaten right out of his skull. Derwood Spinks might actually be deserving in a certain view of justice. But only if you are a supporter of the death penalty.
As them0vieblog.com points out, there does seem to be a recurring Zombie theme running through Season Seven. This episode, ‘Theef’ can be linked in and, certainly, the next episode, ‘Millennium’ which actually has – gasp! – Zombies. Whoever thought the X Files would stoop so low?
Monsters are metaphors, of course, we all get that. And good metaphors will make you work for their meaning. But, Zombies? Who can be bothered?
‘Hungry’ is actually a pretty good episode and the beauty of a good metaphor is its multivalency – Rob’s “eating disorder” can be seen any number of ways, even as a jibe at obese people for eating themselves overweight. Would the X Files be so cruel? Well, if a serial rapist can be presented in an entirely sympathetic light, who’s to say?
It’s a disturbing fact that, for all its genius, the X Files could be insensitive and even down-right insulting – to women (especially Scully!) and to racial minorities and, possibly, obese people. This is probably inevitable. How does a fairly small group of writers and producers find the inspiration for twenty-two episodes a year without standards slipping occasionally and the odd pinch of insensitivity slipping into the mix? Especially when the vast majority of that small group are men!
Little wonder that Scully is seen as chaste and men are seen as hungry!
‘Hungry’ is a monster-of-the-week episode presented from the monster’s perspective. This, I gather, is supposed to create the rather odd effect of making him sympathetic. I sound somewhat disparaging of the notion that a monster can be anything less than monstrous because, while a nice trick to play with an established TV show, it is precisely the kind of ruse that enabled real-life monster, Ted Bundy, to prey on scores of young women.
Fortunately, I suppose, Rob preys mainly upon other men – maybe a comparison with John Wayne Gacy or Jeffrey Dahmer would be more appropriate – yet it still seems a tad insensitive to portray a gluttonous serial feeder as anything other than the killer he is. Rob Roberts doesn’t become the epitome of virtue because he struggles with his addiction to killing. There is nothing noble about Rob Roberts. The customer in the teaser is damned annoying, certainly, but this hardly makes him deserving of having his brain eaten right out of his skull. Derwood Spinks might actually be deserving in a certain view of justice. But only if you are a supporter of the death penalty.
As them0vieblog.com points out, there does seem to be a recurring Zombie theme running through Season Seven. This episode, ‘Theef’ can be linked in and, certainly, the next episode, ‘Millennium’ which actually has – gasp! – Zombies. Whoever thought the X Files would stoop so low?
Monsters are metaphors, of course, we all get that. And good metaphors will make you work for their meaning. But, Zombies? Who can be bothered?
‘Hungry’ is actually a pretty good episode and the beauty of a good metaphor is its multivalency – Rob’s “eating disorder” can be seen any number of ways, even as a jibe at obese people for eating themselves overweight. Would the X Files be so cruel? Well, if a serial rapist can be presented in an entirely sympathetic light, who’s to say?
It’s a disturbing fact that, for all its genius, the X Files could be insensitive and even down-right insulting – to women (especially Scully!) and to racial minorities and, possibly, obese people. This is probably inevitable. How does a fairly small group of writers and producers find the inspiration for twenty-two episodes a year without standards slipping occasionally and the odd pinch of insensitivity slipping into the mix? Especially when the vast majority of that small group are men!
Little wonder that Scully is seen as chaste and men are seen as hungry!
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