I feel like I want to explain to young tumblr users who weren't born yet that MulderxScully was a revolutionary ship. No, it was not queer but that is not the only way to be revolutionary.
In the 90s when The X Files was airing, media was like misogyny soup. Yes, there were exceptions. But casual sexism was so ubiquitous it was like we were all frogs simmering in it and if you dared to say, hey, uh, isn't this joke a little shitty to the wife? Or maybe this female character could do something other than pose and ask questions so the male lead can answer them? Then you were a hairy feminist outcast loser.
Scully was a lot of things but she was not that. All the "You're not going to believe this, Scully!" memes are based on the fact that Mulder, an attractive white dude, wanted nothing more in his entire life than to share his passions with this tiny redhead. Was he nuts? Yes. But on many other shows, he would have talked down to her, would've ignored her, would've mocked her. He didn't.
When you go back and watch The X Files, there's these moments where Mulder and Scully look at each other like, "wait did Jack Black really just say that" and the significance to fan history isn't just the sexual tension. It's that, yeah, and the origin of the word ship, and the 'will-they-won't-they'. But the most important thing about those looks is how they told the audience that Mulder was looking to Scully for something. A man was looking at a woman and asking with his eyes "what do you think about this?" Was he also saying "and do you want to bone about it?" Yeah, yeah he was. But the first thing was sexy as hell.
Respecting a woman's expertise and folding information she provided into his worldview was a revolutionary thing for a man to do on television at the time. Thank you for coming to my MSR ted talk.
I happened to be writing for a TV magazine back in the early 90s, and remember getting the very first tape (VHS! hah!) of The X-Files to review. I watched it about five times, and of all things that hit me and I couldn't stop squawking about in the article that resulted was the complete upending of the usual dynamic between male and female characters. It wasn't just the respect for Scully that Mulder displayed (even in that first episode where he was deeply suspicious and wary of a new partner being forced on him, and before he had the opportunity to fully appreciate her expertise) but it was the inversion of trope of the unreliable, flighty female and the rock solid, dependable man. A tv show that actually allowed the main lead to have EMOTIONS! That allowed the female lead to be analytical, and head-first, and possibly even smarter than him!
You are a very lucky person if you don't realise just how revolutionary this was.
(And I was a women's studies major at the time, so was pretty steeped in a wide range of media, and still I tell you - REVOLUTIONARY.)
(plus they were both so hot it was insane even before Scully was allowed to dress a little less dumpy scully)
I read somewhere that David Duchovny decided to play Mulder as though Scully’s opinion was the one that mattered most to him in the room. and i think that shows
I never really got into The X-Files (Conspiracy Theory plots never interested me), but the dynamic between them struck me as unique even watching a scene or two as I was flipping between channels while the commercials were airing on another show.
Like Mulder's "I want to believe" poster ... It's usually (and back then, by 'usually' I mean 'always') the woman who was the daydream believer.
Also, the fact that Mulder called her "Scully." Back then, the men were addressed by their surnames, and women were always addressed by their first names.
Listen there's a reason I own this shirt: https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/63714266-fight-the-future-with-me