Believe the lie: Digital visual effects in the X-Files

Livingstone, Tom

Abstract

This chapter highlights the way in which The X-Files use of digital visual effects contributes to its reflection of its cultural, social and political contexts, intersecting with the social commentary present in the aesthetics of Monsters of the Week, and the representation of secret government facilities traditionally hidden from view in the myth-arc. The chapter contextualises The X-Files within the development of digital media at the end of the 20th century, the dominance of VFX within the moving image landscape, and the theoretical debates surrounding VFX and the digital turn. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the idiosyncratic use of VFX in The X-Files stands as a useful touchstone for understanding the emergence of digital media, its socio-cultural fallout its media-epistemological impact.

• Online Publication Date: Dec 14, 2023
• Publication Date: Dec 14, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 25, 2024
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Book Title: The Legacy of the X-Files
• Chapter Number: 4
• ISBN: 9781501387630
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11735297
• Publisher URL: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/