Ryan Coogler’s reboot of Chris Carter’s The X-Files It’s already facing a big problem, and it’s not whether the new offering can live up to the original’s premium status. When it was first broadcast in 1993, The X-Files Capture the zeitgeist of the ’90s with a story about a deep state conspiracy to withhold information about the existence of aliens. 30 years later, there’s been a huge shift in the types of conspiracy theories gaining traction online, making an X-Files reboot scary for the next decade.
Ryan Coogler X-Files The reboot was mentioned by creator Chris Carter in an interview with On the coast with Gloria Makarenko To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the exhibition. Carter said Black Panther And creed The director has been working on a reboot of the classic show with a more diverse cast, but this Coogler has his work cut out for the amount of ground covered in the original series. The other major hurdle for The X-Files A reboot is how a conspiracy theorist like Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) updates for the age of misinformation.
Conspiracy theory culture has changed since The X-Files first aired
The X-Files played on the most popular conspiracy theories of the 1990s—the fake moon landing, the JFK assassination, Roswell—through the lens of the Cigarette Smoking Man (William B. Davis). The CSM was regularly seen to orchestrate events for the benefit of a shadowy deep state group known as the Syndicate, which is covering up the existence of aliens and a plan to colonize Earth. In an effort to expose this conspiracy, Fox Mulder has been speaking truth to power for the good of humanity itself.
Conspiracy theorists in the real world of 2023 also believe they are speaking truth to power, but are actively causing psychological stress on the regular people they claim to be protecting. 2016 X-Files The revival attempted to remedy this by introducing Tad O’Malley, an Alex Jones-style character who spread conspiracy theories online, much to Mulder’s chagrin. Yet McHale’s character never exploits the deeply injurious side of modern conspiracy theories that suggest devastating terrorist attacks like 9/11 or school shootings, or the COVID-19 pandemic are hoaxes to justify more drastic changes in the law.
This mindset is deeply disrespectful to those who live with injuries sustained, or those dealing with the losses of their loved ones. As these harmful voices sound more and more vocal in modern conspiracy theory culture, they make it difficult The X-Files To create a 2020s version of Fox Mulder without addressing this toxic aspect of culture.
How Ryan Coogler’s X-Files Exploring Conspiracy Theories
Originally X-FilesCigarette Smoking Man seems to have absolute power over all things political and cultural. He had a direct line to Saddam Hussein during the Iraq War, and he also apparently prevented the Buffalo Bills from winning the Super Bowl. The updated version of the character could be the man behind countless conspiracy theories on the internet, creating them to create enough noise to distract from what’s really going on.
Within the conspiracy theory community, there are still people like Fox Mulder, who want to believe in aliens and cryptozoology, who reject the most innocuous theories that have led to real-world harm. A Coogler reboot could explore why people believe these harmful theories, and the handful of people like Alex Jones, who make a profit out of them. Having a shadowy government group like The Syndicate actively plant these theories in online communities as a way to deflect attention from their nefarious schemes could be a powerful way to achieve this. The X-Files relevant for 2020.
