jennifer's x-file
the inherent queerness of horror comedies, Jennifer's Body, and the Flukeman as a queer icon
Hi there and welcome to the sewers.
This is the phrase that greets visitors on www.angelfire.com, one fansite among the billions of archived webpages on the Wayback Machine, when they click on the Flukeman image on its landing page. The Flukeman, featured in season 2, episode 2 of The X-Files, “The Host,” is an anthropomorphic parasitic worm-like monster Mulder discovers while investigating the death of a New Jersey sanitation worker. This creature’s search for hosts for his larvae is more than a small concern for both scruffy season 2 Mulder and baby-faced Scully, who involves herself in the putrid autopsy simply to work with Mulder again. Perhaps even more disturbing is the government’s possible involvement in the Flukeman’s creation.
Screenwriter and director Darin Morgan is the writer of beloved episodes like “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose” in season three. However, his first role in The X-Files was suiting up as the sewer monster. This required many hours in a thick latex suit constructed with many folds that limited his movement, but the result was worthwhile. The episode is a fan favorite, often described as a crucial monster-of-the-week episode for the series.
“The Host” is a nauseating watch, but despite the fear Flukeman strikes in the heart of many viewers (Google safe search blurs a lot of the creature’s images), he is an icon to others. His role is prominent among fan art, geocities sites, and forums alike. In a show that has always found prominent space in the heart of weirdos, the Flukeman was destined to find his own affectionate place. I’ve made jokes in the past calling Flukeman a queer icon, but I’m only 40% joking. While there’s nothing about the website above that suggests a queer author, Etsy shops like misterandoff sell Flukeman stickers alongside queer-focused zines, pins, and other products.
I recently made a meme post on instagram combining Jennifer’s Body quotes with X-Files screencaps. In the aftermath of this crossover, suggested by my partner, I wondered why this resonated with others the way it did with me upon hearing the idea. The plot has inspired many high school horror movies since: sexy, powerful, demon-possessed student Jennifer (played by Megan Fox) starts killing high school boys to the horror of her nerdy best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried). However, Diablo Cody’s 2009 film Jennifer’s Body did not achieve critical success upon release. Instead, it has been reclaimed by feminists and queers in recent years.
The bridge between horror and queerness is discussed extensively in It Came from The Closet, ed. by Joe Vallese. While a lot of the book’s essays dedicate space to the power of being undefinable, Carmen Maria Machado’s essay on Jennifer’s Body, “Both Ways,” captures the specificity of bisexual self-discovery in a world of assimilation.
Needy and Jennifer are devoted to their friendship that others see as either weird or outright gay, and when their desires briefly converge in an unexpected make out scene, Needy must accept that she’s “veering from the path” of heterosexuality. However, whether it’s love, lust, or something else entirely, Jennifer’s “teeth-first” bisexual desire is a terror not even Needy can handle. Our society has always feared bisexuality’s movement across socially acceptable lines, defining it as dangerous or impossible. Jennifer’s confident existence, despite packaged in a conventionally attractive appearance, is a threat to all who stand in her path with the force of assimilation and compulsory heterosexuality behind them.
The X-Files and Jennifer’s Body both speak to queer horror fans, combining iconic comedy one-liners with beautiful shots, beautiful actors, and gruesome supernatural murders. Jennifer and The Flukeman are certainly different threats, but they both are misunderstood, and frankly, I’m brave enough to admit that they both have sex appeal. In any case, in their quests shaped by survival and escape from society’s tentacles, they are both condemned as monsters. And that is something LGBTQIA+ people can certainly understand.
Notes from the field report: things that have caught my eye recently
my local humane society shared this photo of Deena, proof of alien life
stumbled upon this picture from when i met a fellow x-phile in college and we made this cake to celebrate fox mulder’s birthday
this substack post about the hermit and the chariot in the tarot
a book i had my local library order that i’m so excited to read
