This Shit Looked So Fun

Mulder, Scully, and the 5 Love Languages

(Credit to: @reduxfiles)

I find MSR-- romantic and noromo-- intriguing when viewed through the 5 Love Languages lens.

Mulder's love language: physical touch. Undoubtedly. His exes could betray him, his father could ice him out, his mother could slap him, his partner could snipe at him, but he will always, always reach out.

Scully's love language: acts of service. Starbuck to her Ahab, habitually acting on her abilities to bring justice to a world filled with villainy. She accepts physical affection, gifts, and one-on-one time with her close loved ones (even if sometimes accompanied by an upturned eyebrow); but the natural language of her devotion, platonic and romantic, is in her work ethic and steadfast loyalty.

The genius of this dynamic: Mulder and Scully don't communicate "normally" because they don't need to in order to share and receive love (largely.) Mulder feels loved without verbal confirmation as long as he's physically included. Scully, too, feels loved in silence as long as Mulder acknowledges her strengths as a doctor and scientist. Both don't exchange gifts frequently (Tempus Fugit), don't intentionally carve out quality time together (Small Potatoes, The Unnatural), don't regularly exchange words of affirmation (Fight the Future)-- and yet, they remain uncannily in sync.

The weakness of this dynamic: Mulder and Scully avoid intimate, personal, or revealing conversations in order to shrink from rejection. No "I appreciate you", no "I love you", no "I need you"-- instead, they code their allegiance in terms committed to the work: "Mulder, I wouldn't put myself on the line for anybody but you"/"You have to believe me... you're my one-in-five billion."

Why it succeeds: Mulder and Scully take their sweet time healing and working on themselves before canonically tackling a relationship. By weaving around words of affirmation, in-depth quality time, and personalized gifts, they are able to sustain plausible deniability as long as possible without feeling excluded, discarded, or used-- until it's time for a direct approach. As their partnership progresses, so, too, do the fundamentals. So, too, do their communication and expectations. So, too, do they.

The X-Files S1E2

- action sequence right of the bat, nice

- I think that guy messed up the count

- that rash is NASTY

- it's the meme music!!!!

- that is..... that is the shittiest, most low-budget ass title sequence I've ever seen I love it

- GILLIAN ANDERSON

- sir that is not how you approach a coworker

- "it's 2 o'clock in the afternoon Agent Mulder" these chuckleheads are flirting already

- (sorry I'm still thinking about that title sequence. It's oddly..... refreshing??)

- guy at the bar is sus

- ah yes, it was the Russians excuse

- don't corner people in the restroom. It's disgusting and violating and disgusting

- (like really, is anyone else tired of those highly specialised prestige TV intros? I'm getting worked up about something I didn't even realize was bothering me)

- Mulder gets in trouble bc he refuses to stop investigating..... and now he has tiny scary lady working with him. Worst Fucking Nightmare

- damn she pretty

- I refuse to believe this wet cat loser can coo- his phone is tapped!!! and he's being watched!!!

- HIS HAND ON HER BACK

- "the government is not above the law" HAHAAHAHAHHA (internal sobbing intensifies)

- that man is Gone (hope he gets better)

- alas some people deal with trauma by pretending it doesn't exist

- height difference

- SUCKER

- she's gonna have a damn awful crick in her neck

- oooh light show, also how many apple boxes is she standing on?

- spies? terrorists? nah stoned kids

- fed thosw dumbasses dinner and dropped them off at home? Mulder and Scully you have my heart

- Scully looks so cute when she's smiling her "you idiot" smile (that's what it's called now, no arguments)

- Roswell! Wasn't that also a show?

- Mulder's kinda gotta a point

- "Mulder you're crazy" no hesitation, none, love it

- please stop making women run in heels, also that smile. Why are you smiling like that at Mulder, Scully?

- 'came back wrong' is one of my favourite tropes, I love this

- it's not him. Clone? Brainwashing? Selective memory wipe?

- Mulder's kinda got a point again

- Mulder's got jokes

- Scully can't watch Mulder being hurt. Second episode, this is the second episode

- "something else?" She is so done with him

- this groundwork being laid as to how both their thought processes work is really well done

- Scully's face when she hears the car

- I can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that the kids helped him. If a single camera caught them, they could be in serious trouble, I mean, look what they're doing to their own soldiers

- Scully misses the proof again

- no don't hurt the wet cat loser!!!

- they cut the phone lines didn't they?

- hey that actor that shows up in a lot of shows in bit parts. Get that paycheck sir

- so Mulder was right beat for beat. Experimental aircraft derived from UFO technology. The poor pilots were collateral damage

- reporter guy??? Dammit Scully left her gun

- he was the one in the car earlier! Also love it no hesitation from Scully

- get his ass Scully

- man those kids are so good. Came back to tell her about Mulder. I headcannon nothing bad ever happens to them and they live long happy lives

- they're wiping his memory

- wait the security guy wipes at his eye right after the scene Mulder is administered something in his eye (thematic parallel). Is this base keeping even it's own security on a tight memory leash? Sheesh

- Scully.... took an army security guy hostage.... to save Mulder..... in the second episode

- (screams)

- yeah he knows she'll shoot his ass. Keep cooperating asshole

- Mulder! What did they do to my boy?!

- shut up asshole

- dammit Mulder saw a UFO and they took that away from him. Y'all gonna catch these hands

- that poor woman

- I think Scully's scared, she can't quite look at Mulder for long

- she makes a point to mention in her report that she saw those weird lights too

- you walked all that way to conspicuously have that conversation in the middle of an empty football field??

- is this guy supposed to be the Deep Throat? As in THAT Deep Throat?

I really enjoy the "Booth shoots a clown and is forced to build a barbecue grill in his therapist's backyard" subplot.

*puts hands on hollywood exec's shoulders, staring unblinking into their eyes* listen to me. you will never get people who hate musicals to like musicals by making your musical less of a musical. if you hide the fact that your film is a musical in the advertising, you're going to get a lot of low ratings from people who hate musicals and went into your movie not expecting a musical and got one anyway. people who hate musicals will hate them no matter how realistic and diegetic and lowkey you try to make it. they will hate musicals even if you completely excise anything complicated, over the top, silly, or even slightly challenging. they will hate musicals even if you cut half the songs. they will hate musicals even if you cast that a-lister who can't sing worth a damn. stop trying to market to people who hate musicals. they're a lost cause. your audience should be people who love musicals. this half-assed middle ground pisses off both camps. just embrace the fact that your movie is a musical. lean into it. don't try and trick musical haters into coming to your film when you could be marketing to the theater kids. better cringe than a coward.

children existing in public spaces is genuinely like. necessary for the continuation of society. it doesnt have to be your kids you dont have to volunteer at a daycare or whatever but you need to be able to tolerate the presence of someone who is learning how to exist as a human and interact with people

The Dragon Dance

watching bridgerton and obviously there were a lot of things wrong with the way socializing has worked in the past, but honestly the idea of a "calling hour" is so appealing. office hours for friendship. you can show up unannounced at my home between 1 and 3pm. you must leave by 3pm. I may give you a pastry. lets bring that back

Imagine having been born in 1905... And all your life it doesn't fucking stop. The Great War, the Spanish Flu, and then you go out of your mind for 7 years. Everyone is traumatised and nothing matters. Then another crash. And then the rise of fascism, and the War to end all Wars didn't and it's 1945 and you're just about still there. You may have fought or ferried the boys from Dunkirk or sabotaged the Nazi occupiers or worked in the factories and put out fires during the Blitz and you're lucky to be alive, because not all your friends made it. But you are and finally, fucking finally, it stops. It stops. You are tough as nails and you can put that strength to work into building something and you do, and people have cars and can buy icecream and you have a pension fund and the kids have money of their own and no nightmares.

I want that for us. I so want that for us. I want to be the generation that has seen fucking everything and is like a MRSA bug and unfazed and when that Cheeto finally dies, I want us to. Plant the gardens and clean the seas because we can and we want to and we remember some joy, some time of trust even when it got broken and we can say to the 20 somethings "let us show you what we can build, how it can feel."

And maybe Gen beta will take it all for granted like the boomers did, but we can give Gen Z and Alpha some peace because we, and Gen Z and Alpha have seen the Dark Times and fuck that noise.

she took his hand in hers and put it under her cheek :((((((