Story 183: "All the Children Are Insane" by MustangSally

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

In The X-Files fandom there are debatably no two authors more closely associated in the minds of fanfic readers than RivkaT, the author of our last fic, and MustangSally, who are indelibly linked by their co-authorship of "Iolokus". Which is why this week we're going to be reading "All the Children Are Insane," perhaps MustangSally's most widely read solo fic.

It's a vignette set in the summer after S5, with sex, angst, and the burnt-office base notes of existential crisis. The posting date stamp on "All The Children Are Insane" is June 18th 1998, just one day before Fight the Future hit theaters. To me the writing has always hummed with the captured tension of that summer, the fever pitch of fannish excitement and anxiety.

All the Children Are Insane

mustangsally78 is still around; sending feedback never hurts. And as always, our recommendations thread is over here.

Comments

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Leaving aside the "nothing, nothing, nothing," as I think that we can agree it's just a little bit of cute dialogue, which I would be surprised to find had a philosophical underpinning.

But I would like to know what you meant by "the nihilism at the heart of the show"? Because I don't see anything nihilistic about the series in theme or philosophy or anything really.

I think EC addressed this in her original comment:

It just occurred to me that this touches the nihilism at the heart of the show. Except for the idealism. Oh, never mind. I'm sure MA never considered that.

I do think that certain viewers are bound to see an intimation, the seed of nihilism (or is that an oxymoron?) at the heart of the story, even though the narrative itself - the personal voice of the show - was far from nihilistic. Somewhat like the one scene in For Whom the Bell Tolls, where everything is getting blasted to pieces and everyone is dying, and finally the narrative just breaks down into "Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee."

The way the mytharc is built, there are no truths, no answers. Everything is ventured in a matter of time, and nothing of certainty is ever gained.

Except love. Which makes all the difference.

I'm not sure of what EC will think of this answer, but it was my own perception of her intial statement.

[wendelah1]

The way the mytharc is built, there are no truths, no answers. Everything is ventured in a matter of time, and nothing of certainty is ever gained.

Was the mytharc planned or did it just evolve haphazardly? It's not internally consistent, but I had always thought that was a problem with the writing rather than a philosophical position... Seriously, Mulder and Scully as characters represent the antithesis of nihilism to me. Just because the truth hasn't yet been revealed doesn't mean it doesn't exist, not for Mulder. Just because we haven't brought the Consortium to justice doesn't render that goal as meaningless, not to Scully. The over-riding importance of their characters to the series trumps the incoherent narrative.

"Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada in nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee."

I don't think we're quite there yet, not even in this story. And I don't think that was the direction the show was headed, as much as it could be said it was headed anywhere when it was canceled.

Except love. Which makes all the difference.

Yes.

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Was the mytharc planned or did it just evolve haphazardly? It's not internally consistent, but I had always thought that was a problem with the writing rather than a philosophical position...

I'm sure the majority of the internal inconsistencies are flaws in the writing, but that doesn't change the impression of the story as a series of unsolvable problems that are all somehow joined together into one giant, unsolvable, unstoppable, and - to an extent - unknowable...thing.

My comment was not about the nature of the story or the characters, but about how I (and perhaps others) sometimes view the story - the impression the story gives.

[wendelah1]

the impression of the story as a series of unsolvable problems that are all somehow joined together into one giant, unsolvable, unstoppable, and - to an extent - unknowable...thing.

Sounds mysterious for sure but I'm still not seeing the connection TXF has to nihilism. But Lord knows I am no expert on philosophy.

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

I am estella_c, and I approve this message.

Frankly, the thought came to me out of the blue. I have no idea what it means. And of course M&S are determined idealists, but the show--no, I don't credit CC with a philosophical pov, other than a rather soggy and sentimental religiosity--strikes me as very Sisyphian. Yes, it's the result of bad writing, also bad longterm planning, but since when don't we get to evaluate canon when it suits our purposes?

We are surrounded by evidences of nihilism. Seinfeld is an excellent example, actually. Politics. We have love, which redeems. Talent helps too.