The popularity of The X-Files in the 1990s seemed to reflect a growing cynicism about the U.S. government. Perhaps the TV show’s most extraordinary message is that the public figures seen in Washington, D.C., who seem to represent the nation-state in all its flag-waving glory, are much less consequential than the operatives of obscure government agencies.
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Paul A. Cantor is Clifton Waller Barrett Professor of English and Director of the Comparative Literature Program at the University of Virginia.
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| Other Independent Review articles by Paul A. Cantor | |
| Spring 2007 | Economic and Cultural Globalization |
