Webs of Myth and Monstrosity

H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness (Part 2)

The narrator weaves the rumors of the mi-go into the fabric of local superstition – the unknown forest animal, the frightened child, the insanity of hermits, the devil-fears of the Puritans, the fairy myths of the Scotch-Irish immigrants, and the myths of Native Americans.  Yet Wilmarth pushes the boundaries of the mythology even further, until its reach is truly planetary.  He refers to “those universal legends of natural personification which filled the ancient world with fawns and dryads and satyrs…” and remarks upon the Abominable Snowmen “who lurk hideously amidst the ice and rock pinnacles of the Himalayan summits.”  The meditations demonstrate Lovecraft’s profound grasp of the mental geography of folklore and fear.  

I think there is material for an interesting analysis of Lovecraft’s vision and representation of media, though I would need to revisit other stories to paint an adequate picture.  For the moment, though, note how the Brattleboro Reformer becomes involved in a debate over the reality of mysterious monsters to such an extent that Wilmarth remarks on how it “reprinted one of my long historical and mythological summaries in full.”  As the voice of the skeptic, Wilmarth represents rational discourse, thorough scholarship, and civil debate – and in Lovecraft’s Vermont people eat it up, making him something of a celebrity.  It’s a rather slow, ponderous world of information that Lovecraft describes, a far cry from the rushing image-rivers of our internet.  The stately progression of scholarship in the story culminates in an appropriate figure: Henry Wentworth Akeley, who is described as part of “a long, locally distinguished line of jurists, administrators, and gentlemen-agriculturalists.”  You know, just your average guy.

X-Files: Darkness Falls

The X-Files, Season 1, Episode 19 – Darkness Falls

In many ways, the forest is the antagonist in this episode – yet it is also a victim.  The scenes in the deforested area are stunning.  They really provide a vision of environmental destruction, while retaining a sense of eerie beauty.  Scully’s off-the-ground confrontation with a desiccated corpse in a web is particularly memorable.  Later, a giant felled tree becomes a broken document of history – with 500 years woven into its fiber-flesh.

The “cabin in the woods” motif is done well.  That single light bulb creates a wonderfully fragile illumination, a tiny refuge amid the vast and monstrous darkness beyond.  Yet the creature that poses the danger is not some giant Wendigo, but rather very small.

“What do you know about insects, Scully?”

“… That they’re the foundation of our ecosystem.  That there are lots of them, something like 200 million per person on this planet.”

There’s a great discussion about the mystery bugs – a moment of science in the shadows, of speculation under the weight of omnipresent menace.  The X-Files so often managed to make intelligent conversations into tense and dramatic scenes.

The bugs themselves are really not that scary – more like evil pixie dust – but Scully’s panicked reaction when they appear on her skin sells the danger pretty well.  After Scully calms down, there’s a tender moment with Mulder where she notes, “They’re oxidizing enzymes… just like fireflies.”  The fear is still present in her face, voice, posture – but now she can appreciate the beauty of the organisms, and seek refuge in the structure of rational science.

The true scope of the menace only emerges with the appearance of the biohazard personnel at the conclusion.  The “monster” is an almost-invisible multitude, something requiring quarantine procedures and emergency measures.  And so the “nature” that the ecological activists were so eager to preserve is also the source of something that must be desperately fought with fire and poison – at least now that humans have disturbed its equilibrium.

Mulder hovers beside the wounded, unconscious Scully.
“I told her it was going to be a nice trip to the forest.”

Image: Getty Open Content (Robert Hooke and Caspar David Friedrich)

X-Files: Space

X-Files Season 1, Episode 8 – Space

This episode is really about Mulder, I think.  He’s like a little kid when he arrives at NASA.  He tells the ex-astronaut, Col. Belt, “I stayed up all night when I was fourteen to watch your space walk.”  Afterwards, Scully asks him “Didn’t you want to get his autograph?”  Of course, Mulder’s boyishness is a big part of the series.  After all, his obsession with the unexplained began with a childhood incident, the abduction of his sister.

In some ways, Mulder’s idealization of Belt and the space program will be challenged by this adventure.  Belt is a rather jaded figure: “You make the front page today only if you screw up.”  He lies to the press.  And, of course, he’s possessed by a space ghost – the fate of so many brave astronauts, one presumes.

The ghost is almost a cliché – a white smudge, like something out of Victorian-era fiction.  But isn’t that the essence of ghostliness? … the blurring of humanity, the inversion of a shadow, the uncertain hint of life or consciousness.  The specter is actually quite intriguing set against the high-tech world of NASA.

The episode really makes good use of architecture and décor.  In a way, it’s the fabric of the series… government installations, file cabinets and data banks, consoles, cubicles.  Such things represent the vague menace of institutional existence, the overabundance of data that clouds the truth, the labyrinth of conspiracy and bureaucracy that Mulder and Scully will have to navigate.

A lot of shows might end with the triumphant return of the space shuttle.  But the X-Files wraps up this episode with a (second) official lie and an astronaut suicide.   Then, at last, there is the close-up of the stars on the coffin – because outer space is woven into the very essence of the American flag.  That hint of hopefulness, of dream, of possibility amid the terrible realities – that’s what makes the X-Files so powerful.

Image: National Air and Space Museum Suit + Hubble Image of Mars

X-Files: The Jersey Devil

X-Files, Season 1, Episode 4: The Jersey Devil

It's telling that this episode begins with a scene from 1947.  So much of this series is about the importance of history, the ways that the past shapes the present and continues to resonate like seismic activity beneath the surface of life.  Mulder is, in many ways, not just a detective but also a historian – the guardian of personal and social memory.

This episode toys with notions of human ancestry and evolution.  We are presented with scenes from modern life that evoke our animal heritage.  Most notably, the children at a party seem savage and wild.  Scully observes, “I was just thinking about my godson’s birthday party.  Eight little six year old boys running around… talk about primitive behavior.”  The scene is quickly juxtaposed with a homeless camp – perhaps a place more closely connected to “the truth” than the suburban madhouse that Scully is visiting.  The opening shot on the street suggests this poverty is “backward” and “primitive” yet Mulder finds a homeless man who is far more honest and helpful than the local police.  Later we see Scully all dressed up on a date but perhaps uneasy with the situation – not least because the cannibal case she’s involved with makes the meat on the plate less appetizing.

Mulder want to extend the human family further back into its roots, to empathize with the “beast people” who have been mistaken for the Jersey Devil.  Scully, of course, is skeptical: “Mulder, listen to yourself, you’re already ascribing it a motive and an alibi.  This thing chewed somebody’s arm off, it’s not exactly a defensive posture.”  As with most good science fiction, the mythic/alien “other” becomes an opportunity to meditate on the human condition.  Reflecting on modern life, Mulder notes,  “Maybe we’re just beasts with big brains.”

We have strong teasers about a possible relationship between the protagonists.  I had forgotten how early in the series this began:

“What about that guy you work with?”

“Mulder?”

“Yeah, I thought you said he was cute.”

“He’s a jerk.  He’s not a jerk.  He’s obsessed with his work.”

I have to note Gillian Anderson’s consistently marvelous performances.  Watch Scully’s face as she tells Mulder, “I have a date.”  It’s a subtle mixture of pride and… embarrassment?

Mulder, stuffing his face, simply replies, “Can you cancel?”  “Unlike you, Mulder, I would like to have a life.”  Mulder, earnestly, but still unshaven from his night in the drunk tank, counters, “I have a life.”

Later, when Scully passes on another date, Mulder asks, “Don’t you have a life, Scully?”  Her reply:  “Keep that up, Mulder, and I’ll hurt you like that beast-woman.”  And she delivers it in perfect deadpan!  So cool…

Image: American Museum of Natural History

X-Files: Deep Throat

X-Files Season 1, Episode 1: Deep Throat

This episode really establishes the conspiracy theme of the series.  We have an Air Force pilot with a mysterious affliction, a top-secret base, brutal government agents wearing shades, and a great UFO scene with Mulder under the lights.

Just as importantly, we see major character development for Mulder and Scully.  We begin to realize just how far Mulder is willing to go in pursuit of his obsession, putting himself in extreme danger for the sake of the truth.  We see Scully get to practice her trademark looks of indignation, vexation, and annoyance.  And we see how tough and relentless she can be when she goes to rescue Mulder…

Security Man: There are other ways to go about this.

Scully, holding a gun to his head: Yeah, I’ve already seen where you get with tears and a sad story.

It makes you wonder why Scully’s Funko Pop! figure is holding a flashlight while Mulder’s gets the gun. (#feminism)

The show reveals its willingness to make moral reflections on society and ethics, as when Mulder asks, “When does the human cost become too high for the building of a better machine?”  Finally, we have that wonderful scene between Fox and Deep Throat on the athletic field.  I vividly remember the lines from my old cd of the score (which had dialogue mixed in!).  That delightfully evasive exchange…

Deep Throat: Mr. Mulder, why are those like yourself who believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life on this Earth not dissuaded by all the evidence to the contrary?

Mulder: Because all the evidence to the contrary is not entirely dissuasive.

Deep Throat: Precisely.

The pilot episode was okay, but this one really demonstrated the show's potential: resplendent conspiratorial fugues, brilliant chemistry between the leads, and evocative cinematography.

Delving into the X-Files

With an X-Files revival in the works, I thought I would comment on some classic episodes.  At over 20 years old, I guess the show counts as retro!  I don't know how many episodes I'll cover, but I'm planning to just focus on my favorites in  the first few seasons.  Here's a teaser photo to get you in the mood.  And don't forget to follow me on Twitter, too: https://twitter.com/sjankiew

 

The Horrors of Vermont

H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness (Part 1)

In honor of New Horizons' passage near Pluto/Yuggoth...

This may be a flawed story, in some ways, but it’s still one of my favorites.  It has such a wild start.  I love the image of a twitchy Lovecraftian protagonist who has raced away in a “commandeered motor.”  And then we’re immediately introduced to a bizarre, seemingly irrational fear of “crowded green hills” and the “endless trickle of brooks.”  For anyone else, this would be a tourist's paradise – but not for Lovecraft, or his literary creations.  The theme of a menacing geography is pretty strong, and continues in a quirky mode of expression, as with the reference to “certain caves of problematic depth.”

Lovecraft is a master of the momentary, fleeting spectacle – the horrific revelation that is also (almost) beautiful – or at least in some way awe inspiring.  “Once a specimen was seen flying – launching itself from the top of a bald, lonely hill at night and vanishing in the sky after its great flapping wings had been silhouetted an instant against the full moon.”

Almost in opposition to images of such sudden clarity, Lovecraft also immerses us in a slow tide of convoluted language.  We find hidden threats and ominous similes amidst evasive, witch-like sentences.  “It was not good, either, to listen to what they whispered at night in the forest with voices like a bee’s that tried to be like the voices of men.”  The slight awkwardness of such a sentence is, I think, a subtle element of its horror – and as we stumble through Lovecraft’s curious sentences and eldritch vocabulary, we are drawn into his world of shimmering nightmares.