Thank Goddess for Dana Scully!! \o/

I LOVE THE X-FILES!! I watched the show religiously, even when it made no sense (did we ever really find out what happened to his sister? How did Scully get pregnant?) But I always felt a little twinge about the Scully/Mulder relationship. I did want them to be together because obviously their love was pure and holy but Mulder (or really the X-files) did ruin her life, dead sister, cancer, one dead half alien daughter, son up for adoption, all personal safety and finally her freedom (I do wonder how they are going to not be fugitives all of a sudden). Like a lot of other female sci-fi leads she changed her whole life to support her man. That always bugged me.

But on the other hand......."I haven't even had anything to eat today except for a cream cheese bagel and it wasn't even real cream cheese. It was light cream cheese. IT'S ALL FOR YOU, MULDER. I DO IT ALL FOR YOU! Don't you touch that bed."

(It posted under my user name Starzki6, not my screen name of ElleStar, so it's me again!)

Yes, Edgy1004, it does seem like she changed her life for her man, but it's also really hard to separate him from her chosen career. She even stuck with the X-Files for a while after he took off. So it could also be argued that she changed her life more for her career (and pursuit of the TRUTH) than for Mulder.

Bad Blood is my favorite episode ("His neck was kind of... gnawed on.") But my favorite Scully line was in the first season when she thought that the guy (Boggs) on death row had set Mulder up to be shot and nearly killed: "Well, I came here to tell you that if he dies because of what you've done, four days from now, no one will be able to stop me from being the one That Will Throw The Switch And GAS YOU OUT OF THIS LIFE FOR GOOD, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Scully rules and i can't wait for the movie to come out too.

You know i never realixed that Scully almost always won her fights before.

I'm planning to re-watch the whole series someday (excluding the seasons sans Mulder and Scully, natch), and am very much looking forward to the movie. So yeah, ever so slightly obsessed over here, but it's good, good stuff. So, thanks for this post! :)

I absolutely loved X-Files growing up, and Scully was an awesome role model (why is it that sci-fi is about the only tv genre with tough women? Scully, Starbuck, Zoe and River from Firefly)

But I disagree with what you say about Mulder. I've just started watching Seasons 1 and 2, and I have a different perspective compared to how I felt when it originally came out: Mulder is a dick.

It's true! In retrospect, he is really condescending to Scully in a number of episodes... a phrase that comes to mind is "Move those little legs, Scully!" I suspect it gets better in later seasons as their characters develop, but he really is pretty rude in those first couple of seasons!

There used to be a woman who did sort of a feminist review of X-Files episodes. I don't know if it's out there anymore, but I wish I could find it-- I think I would agree with a lot of what she had to say now!

Holy crap, I did manage to find it-- it looks like this might be a good primer if you haven't watched in a while! (Hope you don't mind the link, Starzki!)

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Vault/1411/main_rev.html

BabyFem, I don't disagree with you: Mulder was a bit of a dick to Scully when they started out. He didn't trust her. He tended to ditch her and have her clean up his messes rather than have someone talk sense to him. He was really smart and knew more about aliens and the occult and always had a wry, condescending delivery. But he still respected her.

I was 14 when this started and into unexplained phenomena and always was as exasperated with Scully as Mulder was. She was awesomely stubborn and just as condescending back to him. Unfortunately, she was just usually wrong, or right in a way that proved Mulder's points.

(And "Move those little legs" was a line from Bad Blood, again my favorite episode, and that was a line told from Sculy's perspective that did illustrate how she felt he treated her, but probably wasn't accurate.)

And thanks for the link. It's not too anti-Mulder, is it? I don't mind hearing about his (and the show's) faults, but only if it comes from love. If it's too negative, it would be like someone badmouthing my sister. Yes, I have my issues with her, but I also do really love her and you can't say anything bad about her unless you love her, too.

Thanks so much for this Starzki/Ellestar(!) I love this so much! I've always thought Scully was far and away the only female protagonist I could ever identify with. She was such an incredibly unusual character on television in the 90's and despite everything that came in her wake( and because of her) no character, for me anyway, has ever come close to being as fully realized as she. I've never believed in any one character on TV as much as I believed in her and truth be told I miss her. She seemed like a good laugh and a good friend and TV just ain't the same without her. I can't wait for the movie. Roll on July 25th!! (August 1st in my case but hey, by then the cat'll be outta the bag anyway!)

Ellestar--

The link does not really do any Mulder bad-mouthing, but the writer is honest about when he's being sexist. She has a great write-up on "Never Again," which I think epitomizes a lot of the power dynamic between Mulder and Scully (e.g. Scully's name is not on the door, she doesn't have a proper desk, he sulks when she leaves him out of her activities yet he's off gallivanting around with Deep Throat and Mr. X without her all the time). Given Mulder's tendency towards smugness, it doesn't always feel like he extended the respect towards her that she had for him-- she was quite often right about cases, and Mulder had a rather annoying tendency to ignore her perspective until he came around to it on his own (remember the episode "Eve"? Scully is the first to say "I was beginning to suspect the girls" while Mulder was busy talking about aliens playing doctor on cows-- yet at the end he recognizes the poison and saves Scully).

Don't get me wrong-- it's very clear the writers intended for Mulder to be sexist in a lot of ways (e.g. his porn addiction that they kept bringing up, for whatever reason) and Scully often brings up her frustration about breaking into the FBI boy's club (see "Soft Light"). It is just interesting to me, because I had not noticed a lot of Mulder's treatment of Scully when I watched it, and now that I'm older and can view it through a more feminist lens, I'm finding a lot more nuance to their relationship. Do I think their relationship is bad? No, just more complicated than I initially realized when the series first aired.

I hope Scully gets to kick some serious butt in the movie.

Okay, thanks BabyFem.

Yes, "Never Again" is one of my favorites, even though at a time I was shipping Mulder and Scully hardcore. It did bring a harsh light to a relationship that I'd made all fuzzy in my mind. Just the end "All this because I didn't get you a desk?" was really heartbreaking and telling of how clueless Mulder could be. I disliked how it was portrayed as Scully "acting out" by getting a tattoo and getting (possibly) laid, which in turn doomed her to violence. (Although, to be fair, when Mulder got laid in "3", the same thing happened, kind of.)

But I did love that Scully stood up for herself and could be pushed to a point where she outright demanded more respect from her partner. Yes Mulder did absolutely have his sexist tendencies (and today I'd be pissed as hell about the pornography at work even though it was supposed to be comic relief/indicative of his lonely life) that I have to fight to keep from defending because I love him and the show so much.

So I'll check out the link. Thanks so much for it. (And with all of this XF talk, I think I'll go watch my seasons 1-4 on DVD.)

I don't remember the show that well, but I'll always remember pulling up to an abandoned warehouse where Mulder has left the lady etymologist to wait outside.

"Are you Dana?

Scully: (Pause) "You must be Bambi."

erinelizabeth, that would be "War of the Coprophages" (another fave of mine). I especially love the next line:

Scully: *cocking her gun* This is no place for an entymologist.

also:

Scully: Are you sure it wasn't a girly scream?

and:

Mulder: Scully, I never thought I'd say this but... You smell bad.

(Oh, I could go on, but I'll force myself to stop here. *grin*)

This article is completely perfect - my sister just got the complete season of X-Files on DVD a couple months ago so we have X-Files parties every Sunday.

It's so refreshing to watch a strong woman on a popular TV show when there is so much garbage on the telly.

Thank you, Gillian Anderson.

And I'm so excited for the movie :)

Babyfem&Ellestar- At risk of revealing my X-Files geekiness, I wanted to point out that the line about 'little legs' in Bad Blood was during the part where Mulder and Scully were telling their respective stories to each other. Remember how exaggerated M/S's personalities were during those scenes? (Mulder being more assholey/loony than usual, Scully staring dreamily at Sheriff Hartwell, etc)

That being said, Ellestar, 'Beyond the Sea' (the episode with Boggs) is one of the best Scully eps I've ever seen. Gillian's acting in that episode was A+ fantastic and it only helped to cement my ginormous crush on her (A crush that is still going strong).

So glad to see a post about Scully on here! She made me a feminist before I even knew what a feminist really was.

I've recently started rewatching The X-Files and it has totally rekindled my crush on Scully.

I can remember watching the show when I was little and telling my mom I wanted to be an FBI agent/doctor just like Scully.

Although I stopped watching when the really plot heavy stuff started coming in. I was much more a fan of the show when it was sort of Law & Order: Alien Edition and you could sort of follow the plot with the guy who helped out Mulder but you didn't really have to.

A-fucking-men! This is why I just named my kitten Scully, because she's strong and fierce :)

(ps Scully also digs the wire: http://flickr.com/photos/sijeka/2664859206/)

So much fun to hear the other X-files love.

Ellestar, it was my freshman year of high school, too, when the show started. Scully was an important role model for me in high school. I was a girl who was really interested in science, and she gave me an example of who I wanted to be. I know the show was far from perfect, but her character was a light in the darkness to me.

And Ellestar, you mention grad school. I have to ask if you ended up in a sci/math/tech field. Wound up in physics, myself.

electronBlue: Actually, I'm in grad school for criminal justice. I started with psychology thinking I'd like to maybe try at profiling (yes, I watch waaaay to much TV, but it's all turned out). Went into criminal justice with my eye on the FBI until I discovered that's what EVERYONE did, so I'm more focused on research methodology (the sciency part of behavioral sciences) which is way more likely to find me a job.

Sadly, in my high school, they steered girls away from science. They made it so unpleasant (most teachers openly hostile to girls in advanced science classes) that I didn't pursue it after I clawed my way into A's in high school science classes.

I loved it that Scully never screamed. She may have cried out in shock, but never screamed. Never helpless. When Donnie Faster had her tied up, she never gave up. Mulder may have taken out Faster, but Scully wore his creepy butt out which made it easy for Mulder. And Lord, that woman could haul ass in heels!

"BUT I JUST PUT MONEY IN THE MAGIC FINGERS!"

I was excited to see a posting on here about Dana Scully. Great article!
The impending movie stirred up what was thought to be a long dead interest in the X-files and I've recently come into a new realization. I was obsessed with X-files as a child. I wanted to be Scully. Now, watching X-files through the objective eyes of a twenty-something, I began to question whether or not Chris Carter understood women. Yes, Scully was smart. Yes, Scully was tough. However, the show's creators made it seem like to be both those things you could not have a sense of humor or sexual drive. For the lack of a better word, she was a very one-dimensional woman (whereas Mulder was emotional and witty). Am I wrong? Honestly, I feel like the first episode that showed Scully as a multi-layered character was the episode Gillian Anderson wrote and directed ("All Things" was one of the best episodes of the show!) It was only towards the end of the series that her character became warmer and more relatable (which I feel was because of Anderson's desire to make her character more dimensional). Also, though she was super independent, she fiercly stuck by a weirdo that always abandoned her. Now I want Mulder and Scully to live happlier ever after as well, but how can I respect a woman who puts up with that guy's constant crap!? Because of him she got cancer, her sister got killed, she had 2 kids (one that died and the other that she had to give up), and had to deal with a plethora of aliens, liver-eaters, and serial killers that tried to kill her. Her devotion seemed to outweigh what he did for her.
Ok, I gotta stop...this is breaking my heart realizing this...:P

Wow. I never considered Scully one-dimensional. She was emotionally guarded at times, but if that makes someone one-dimensional, so are many people I know. She was written with her own wit and humor, different from Mulder's, and she was just as passionate and emotional about science, standing toe-to-toe against Mulder whenever he stopped making sense, as Mulder was about the unexplained.

I will agree that she didn't show much sex drive (although the first season did have an old boyfriend show up and they reminisced about sharing a cabin). However, the context of the show was the work environment. I'd say Scully showed more professionalism than Mulder in not bringing sex (a la porn) to the office.

And I would argue that Scully wasn't so much "staying with Mulder" than she was doing a job she loved. Her partnership with Mulder was a big part of the job, but even after he left, she stayed in the X-Files. It wasn't all about the man, it was about the work they did and could do together.

I remember feeling like I would do anything just to get some more personal lives for Mulder and Scully, but that wasn't what the show was about originally.