The many ways in which the 1993 fox tv show, The X Files, permanently changed the world of television, film, and fandom culture. A thread:...

First off, for those who don’t know, The X Files is about two FBI agents: Dana Scully and Fox Mulder. Scully is a skeptic and a scientist, she herself is a medical doctor. Fox Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, rooted in the disappearance of his sister when he was a child.

Together, they investigate unexplained cases that may have evidence of paranormal phenomena. Fox Mulder is played by David Duchovny, and Gillian Anderson, whom many of you currently know as Jean Milburn from Sex Education, is Dana Scully.

Ok #1. Shipping: the term “shipping” is well known around all fandoms in this modern day, but not many people know that shipping originates in the x files fandom. Since many people shipped the two leads, the term went from “relationshippers” to “rshippers” to just “shippers.” /

And that’s how the term “ship” and “shipping” came about.

2. The Scully Effect. While not related to the world of television, TSE is a scientifically proven study that shows that the character of Dana Scully, being a doctor and an FBI agent, led more women into fields of science and law enforcement. Shoutout to Dana Scully everyone.

3. The Theme Song. Let’s be honest, many of us know this song today. It’s been used in many memes since it’s original resurgence back in Vine, and the opening title sequence set the mood for every episode. Ending with “The Truth is Out There.” Makes a powerful statement to start/

Off the episode, and if I’m being genuinely honest, the composer, Mark Snow, deserves a lot more recognition than he receives.

4. The Scully/Mulder Dynamic: The X Files created the whole new cliché of using a believer and a skeptic working together with their conflicting beliefs. This archetype is really common in present day media, but without the creation of the x files it would not be so.

5. Paranormal Tv: We all have heard of buzzfeed unsolved and shows like supernatural. It is my opinion that neither of these shows, nor any show like them, would exist without the x files. Supernatural itself consistently references the x files, to the point where there is a /

complete parody episode. BU is remarkably similar to the x files in the way of having two people look into unexplained cases/myths. A lot of the cryptic culture and focus on the unexplained and “spooky” we see today comes from the x files bringing these ideas to light. /

Point: Cryptic Culture would not be as strong as it is today without the x files. There’s no getting around that point, it’s a fact.

6. Conspiracy Theories: the x files has a strong focus on government conspiracies. The main villain of the show is an old white man with incredible political power. The emphasis on the belief that the gov keeps secrets from the people was heavily influenced by the cold war /

and the Nixon watergate scandal, but is something that only gets more and more serious in modern day. Though the show does also focus on aliens and et life, txf consistently links these two together. Aliens may be an antagonist we’re not aware of, very few trust the government.

7. The Lighting: txf was revolutionary in the lighting department. The dark pallets of color we all can barely see in film and tv today is heavily based off of technics from txf. Next time you can’t see what’s going on, blame txf. Back in the day, no other show looked like it.

8. Vancouver: Vancouver Canada is a very common place for television shows to be filmed now, but it wasn’t in 1993. Txf was the first show to be a success that filmed in Vancouver and aired in the U.S. Thanks to that, Canadian sci fi is sometimes considered it’s own sub genre /

Txf creator, Chris Carter, said that he wanted to film in Vancouver because “that’s where the good forests are.” So Vancouver’s forests are what you have to thank for the city being the “Production Capitol of North America” that it is today. Thank the x files

9. Monster of the Week: the term motw originates (wow!) in the x files. Since txf has a complicated overarching plot, not every episode could tie into it. many of the episodes are unrelated to the main plot,and since Mulder and Scully tended to find monsters, the episodes /

that didn’t arc were dubbed “monster of the week.” This term I have lately seen being used heavily in the Witcher fandoms, so thank the x files.

10. The Writers: Once the show really got on its feet, the main writers for many years were Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, Frank Spotnitz, and John Shiban. Chris Carter himself is best known for the x files. Vince Gilligan may stick out to you because he is also /

The creator and writer of hit tv show: breaking bad. V.G.’s first big writing break was in the x files, so consider that next time you watch it, or it’s spin off, better call Saul. Frank Spotnitz is the creator of Medici on Netflix, with many of my followers should recognize lol/

Many of the actors in breaking bad got their jobs because Vince Gilligan originally met them while working on the x files. Brian Cranston, Raymond Cruz, Danny Trejo, Michael Bowen, Dean Norris, Aaron Paul and many writers of breaking bad worked with Gilligan on the x files. /

Breaking Bad and it’s spin offs would not exist without the x files, that’s just how it is.

11. Guest Stars: several of txf’s minor character actors became big names. Before fame, Ryan Reynolds, Jack Black, Micheal Buble, Shia Lebœuf, Lucy Liu, Felicity Huffman, Luke Wilson, and many others had roles in the show, helping to promote them and their names. /

Maybe some of these celebrities wouldn’t be as famous as they are now without their roles in the x files, who knows?

12. The X Files ran in its original run from 1993 to 2002, with a movie in 1998. Another movie came out in 2008, and the show renewed for a tenth season in 2016, finally finishing (for now) for an eleventh season in 2018. Maybe that’s not relevant to this thread, but it’s a fact

13. Taglines: Txf is well known for a few phrases “the truth is out there” “I want to believe” “trust no one” and sometimes “resist or serve.” The truth is out there is fairly iconic in my mind, because the x files as a show is a search for the truth. The truth itself is a motif/

That keeps the show moving. Everyone wants to know the truth, but how far are you willing to go for it?

I’m sure I can come up with more, so maybe I’ll add to this thread later, but these are all the ones off the top of my head. So now you all know how obsessed I am with the x files. If you read all this then you’re my favorite person on this app and I hope you learned something