Youth Fantasies: Reading “The X-Files” Psychoanalytically

Abstract

Based on extensive interviews with serious fans of the television series “The X-Files” between the ages of 15 and 20 in Canada and Austria, this article uses a Lacanian psychoanalytical approach to analyze the enduring fascination of “The X-Files” through an examination of the psychic structure of selected episodes. The Lacanian psychic register of the Real, the circulation of desire, and the surplus enjoyment of jouissance are utilized to articulate the fantasy structure of the series. The paranormal and alien presence in this television series may be understood as an act of resistance to the incomprehensibility of a techno-global information age.