Chris Carter

[Guest zombieromero]

Good to know that everyone knows their stuff!

[nothing i do is magic]

ok, this is awkward. i'm going to derail this PMP train and ask a question about our TV god, for which i may seem irreverent and/or insensitive.

so we all agree on the wonderfulness that is MM, and the innovativeness that is CC (et al). the dark storylines, the questioning of science, religion, reality, etc; the primal fears splayed out before us on the TV and characters' faces, the deep unease and conversely comfort which often dully result from partaking in XF or MM.

but i'm wondering about the man himself. i know, roughly, that MM came about b/c he wanted to do something even darker and more realistically grounded than XF. i know the XF eps Fire and the Host are based, somewhat, on childhood fears and memories of CC. i know Grotesque was kind of a seminal moment in the preconception of MM. (and i know Home was Fox relaxing the rules a bit b/c of his new show but i don't think it's as related.)

but my knowledge of what led CC to the ideas and concepts of MM is limited to my explanation to myself that "Chris Carter has demons." i don't know and have never known what these are or if they can even be summarized as events/in words, etc. i seem to recall hearing something about one or both parents, and seem to remember a Rolling Stone clipping i have at home that may independently confirm this. i'll look it up as soon as i get home, but it was only five or six lines, and obviously very vague. i just came across someone's post here - unfortunately i can't remember where, exactly - that basically stated CC believes in the actual good/evil struggle, and demons (? can't quite remember), which to me is something wholly outside of having literarily expressed demons.

i get that he's an intensely personal man. i get that my questions may be incredibly out of line, insensitive, nosy, rude; if you think so don't hesitate to say so. i'll stop asking (others), edit my post, whatever. it's just, i've *always* wondered (since whenever i formed/heard this phrase – can’t remember) what exactly it meant for CC to have demons. this was driven home the other day in my class, where it was iterated and reiterated that characters aren't people. to paraphrase: "Frank Black is not a person, and nor should it be thought of as one." but these and other characters have their basis somewhere, in someone, about whom i’ve always wondered, and the explication of whom, in my opinion, could shed even more light on MM.

- nothing

[Libby]

I think that as long as this topic is conducted with the degree of sensitivity you've already shown, there shouldn't be a problem. After all, you have raised a question that is pertinent, in terms of what an individual brings of their own personality and experiences to their work.

In fact, a few days ago I'd drafted a response to another posting in terms of looking at just those aspects as it relates to the various showrunners over the three seasons. Obviously, what attracts us as individuals to a particular show, or version of that show, has a lot to do with the main creative people behind the show, plus our own individual responses. I haven't done any more work on that draft, feeling that I actually don't know what I'm talking about – this gets more into the realm of literary criticism and I'm only too well aware that I haven't done any of that to any extent since I left school in the sixties!

I do find it interesting that in interviews CC has stressed the aspect of the yellow house - that it represents hope. In terms of demons and whatever, I recall someone asking if CC is a Catholic, as far as I know (from rumour) he was raised a Southern Baptist. I don't have much idea of the views of Southern Baptists, but is it a church that focusses on demons or evil in the way that is portrayed in Millennium?

As for Frank Black not being a person - well, of course he isn't, in the contrary sense that Napoleon and Henry IV were people (and most of what we know about them is what other people have written) - but I thought the whole point of creating a character was to explore the human condition through that character. And, as you say, having some idea of what informed the creation of that character and his story can lead to a deeper understanding. It's just that whereas people can feel comfortable delving into the personal details of, say, Dickens, in this case the creator is not only alive and well (and probably balancing on a surfboard somewhere) but also could very well find our humble abode here at TIWWA and if so we'd want him to feel comfortable about reading these posts.

Anyway, I think this is something that could be explored, but with the same degree of care and courtesy that we already extend to each other here.