Can't believe I'm just getting to this now! I didn't know you were also into the "Scully as role model" aspect of the show. That's definitely what did it for me. I don't know what it was about her character, and I'm not up enough on old television shows to say this definitively, but I feel like there hadn't been a female character like her before XF. I know some of my friends have mentioned female tv heroes from before then (Emma Peel comes to mind), but any shows I liked before then had men in the lead roles with (usually helpless and often not as bright) female sidekicks. I think Scully was intended to be that way at first (which was reflected in the pay differential for a disgracefully long time), but Gillian did something to that role.. I truly think XF wouldn't have been the same show without her. I guess I'll give CC some credit for intentionally flipping gender stereotypes (Mulder was gullible and passionate, Scully cool and rational), but Gillian filled out the part, often with just small changes in expression, and made the character much more than just a female character designed to pay lip service to the idea that women can be smart too.
I might have mentioned this, but when I joined the group which will remain nameless so this isn't google-able, I assumed anything devoted to Gillian Anderson fandom and a sci-fi show would be full of teenage boys. (no that's NOT why I joined!). Come to find out it was made up almost entirely of professional/ educated women in my age range (back then, mid-20s- mid30s), many in the sciences or medical fields. Clearly she struck a chord with women who appreciated finally seeing someone like themselves on tv, or at least someone who they aspired to be.
Speaking of said group, it was also my first foray into social networking (back then a mailing list and website), meeting people based on a fandom, and, for better or for worse, wasting too damn much time online. I guess it helped me sort out early on the pros and cons of online life and what's worth spending time on and what isn't (for me). I somehow avoided getting sucked into anything after that until tumblr did me in a year or so ago.
And I don't know if we would have been as good friends without the initial XF connection starting off the correspondence. Maybe we would have.. I still had an apartment in Boston and maybe you would have crashed there with your friends anyway :) Oh, and there's always How.. I mean, he who shall not be named :)
Oh, and both Jim and I thought your XF script was good! Ok, now I'm wanting to watch the show again..
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I might have mentioned this, but when I joined the group which will remain nameless so this isn't google-able, I assumed anything devoted to Gillian Anderson fandom and a sci-fi show would be full of teenage boys. (no that's NOT why I joined!). Come to find out it was made up almost entirely of professional/ educated women in my age range (back then, mid-20s- mid30s), many in the sciences or medical fields. Clearly she struck a chord with women who appreciated finally seeing someone like themselves on tv, or at least someone who they aspired to be.
Speaking of said group, it was also my first foray into social networking (back then a mailing list and website), meeting people based on a fandom, and, for better or for worse, wasting too damn much time online. I guess it helped me sort out early on the pros and cons of online life and what's worth spending time on and what isn't (for me). I somehow avoided getting sucked into anything after that until tumblr did me in a year or so ago.
And I don't know if we would have been as good friends without the initial XF connection starting off the correspondence. Maybe we would have.. I still had an apartment in Boston and maybe you would have crashed there with your friends anyway :) Oh, and there's always
How.. I mean, he who shall not be named :)Oh, and both Jim and I thought your XF script was good! Ok, now I'm wanting to watch the show again..