ESSAY1: "Mulder's Golem" (Kaddish topic)
Bernardine
ESSAY1: "Mulder's Golem"
Kaddish and TXF: EP's Challenge
Bernardine, February 21, 1997
Preface: I first approached this as a "truth" topic <really I did
EP!> but the topic that naturally evolved was more intriguing to me so
I went with it. It's a very "short essay".
................................
It's not unusual to see an episode of The X-Files reflecting a large
theme of the overall mythology. In Kaddish there is a striking
parallel between Ariel's loss of Isaac and Mulder's loss of Samantha,
the resulting grief and the need to recreate the loved one. Although
Mulder is driven more by guilt and Ariel by lost love, they both still
pursue the object of their love out of need for emotional closure.
While it is not unlikely that Ariel felt guilt at the death of her
fiance, perhaps considering "if" scenarios and imagining ways she
could have prevented the situation, this is not really dealt with in
Kaddish. Rather we see how sudden tragedy is a shock and interruption
of a normal course of emotion. The emotion continues on although the
object is no longer there. Ariel hears that her fiance is dead, but
she is unable to reconcile this new reality with the reality she knew
only moments before. Whereas in the real world survivors must work
through this sudden vacuum slowly and painfully, in X-Universe Ariel
is able to conjure back her dead lover in order to experience her
completion. She recites her marriage vow, he places a ring on her
finger and she is able to say goodbye.
Mulder is obssessed with this same need for closure. His sister's
diappearance is highly unresolved and so he seeks facts and
explanations. But even more, he is driven by survivor guilt. Mulder
feels that it was his duty to protect Samantha, that he should have
been able to save her. In flashbacks to her abduction we see the
stricken Fox struggling to find a weapon and be his sister's hero. He
fails and she is gone. While we have watched Mulder's encounters with
the adult Samantha-clone (which may well be his golem) it was somewhat
clear that he was never really convinced that this was his sister,
perhaps even that he *knew* it was not. "Paper Hearts" is by far more
illuminating. The scene where Mulder rescues Samantha (as a child)
from the car is the telling one. Being able to recreate the peril of
her abduction and this time succeed, holding his sister in joy and
relief, keeping her safe at last. If Mulder was able to create a
golem of Sam, it is likely then that his ritual with her would be to
say he was sorry, sorry he failed her.
So it is not really the truth that will free Mulder from the shackles
of his shame and fear, no more than the "truth" about who killed Isaac
freed Ariel from the bonds of her emotional need. Truth will only be
Mulder's saviour to the extent that it brings his sister back alive
and she can tell him that she never blamed him, that there was no way
he could have saved her.
.................
Danielle
pett...@istar.ca (Bernardine) writes: > ESSAY1: "Mulder's Golem"
> Kaddish and TXF: EP's Challenge
> Bernardine, February 21, 1997
>
>
> of his shame and fear, no more than the "truth" about who killed Isaac
> freed Ariel from the bonds of her emotional need. Truth will only be
> Mulder's saviour to the extent that it brings his sister back alive
> and she can tell him that she never blamed him, that there was no way
> he could have saved her.
>
> .................
>
"And if the darkness may have swallowed me by the time you read this,
you must never think there was the possibility of some secret interven-
tion, something you might have done. "
I believe she felt he would carry the burden of her death as he does the
loss of her sister...
Danielle