Alien(ating) ideology and the American media

Abstract

The pervasiveness of the alien image in the contemporary American media raises a host of questions. The article’s objective is to offer one possible means of theoretically apprehending the use of the alien image in the American media, particularly in television programming. In this respect, no single television series better exemplifies the public intrigue with the alien than Fox’s The X-Files. Utilizing a textual analysis of The X-Files focused on those episodes of the first five seasons constituting the progressive alien-government conspiracy narrative, the article provides a theoretical basis for addressing the sociopolitical and ideological implications of the currency of the alien in the media. It is suggested that the very complexities within this mainstream media text reflect possible conflicting ideological perspectives in the realm of cultural production.