RPF: The X-Files Fandom Overview

[wendelah1]

Hi! I'm wendelah1 and I'm going to be driving the van for RPF this month. Sorry for the late start. I'll try to make up for it with plenty of great fic.

This fandom has only made one appearance here, back when The X-Files was in the midst of a mini-revival centered around the lead up to the release of the second movie, I Want to Believe. In April of 2007, veils and elapses created the community where you can find most of the stories I'm going to rec: homeby_five. Probably if the 2008 film had done better at the box-office, or had even been a critical success, the parent fandom might have kept up a little more momentum. Since then the number of people actively writing RPF: The X-Files has declined dramatically. As things currently stand, the fandom qualifies for Yuletide, and as gorgeous and sexy and messed up as these people are, I don't see that changing anytime soon.



Since the last time it was featured, the driver didn't do an overview, I thought I'd give it a whirl. The problem with that plan, as I discovered when I sat down to write one, is that I don't know much about the actors--I just read the fic! The good news is, for better or worse, the character list is a pretty small one. Meet the costars of The X-Files: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.



In lieu of actual research, I'm just going to link you to my personal favorite of the XF-related tumblrs I've been following via a feed: Shit.Between.Us: Documenting the Awkward since 2010. Whoever runs this blog has a quirky sense of humor and a seemingly inexhaustible collection of photos, vids and quotes. Like me, she doesn't ship them, she just adores them. I love this Tumblr so much I've been tempted to get a blog there just so I can "like this" and "re-blog" everything they post. Yeah, that would be pretty pointless. Unless specified otherwise, any photos from hereon in can be attributed to the fuckyeahdavidgillian.tumblr.com archive. fuck yeah.



Someone called this their engagement photo. Right.

Back in the day, RPF had a pretty dodgy reputation among Philes, and it was controversial enough that most of the writers who posted it to the first XF Porn Battle created pseudonyms for that purpose, including me. There was even a mean name for the people who shipped them: snoggers. Most RPF writers have since outed themselves, so I guess we are no longer beyond the pale.



As I discovered to my shame, while wasting time on the internet doing research for this overview, there is a cutesy name people use now for the pairing: "gillovny." There is also a Twitter, a Facebook and a Forum. I don't belong to any of them, but if it makes you happy...



Themselves at the Los Angeles premiere of IWTB.



Gillian and David at the opening night of his off-off-Broadway play. More about that later..



Last but not least, David and Gillian at the recent question and answer they did in LA to raise money for SA-YES.

I was going to post more pictures today, but really, just hit the link to the tumblr archive. And stay tuned for the recs that are coming up next.

Last minute addition: A Very Special Request for tree:



Gillian licking David's face! LOL. I think this was on a TV Guide cover. Seriously. Photo reblogged from xphiles tumblr.com, another favorite.

Comments

[idella]

Nice overview. :)

[tree]

A++ overview! (eta: although might i suggest the photo where she licks his face? because, seriously.)

all portmanteaus must DIF but none more so than 'gilovny'. i can't even type it without scorn.

personally, i hope the fandom stays tiny. i'd much rather have five good fics than hundreds of awful ones. (which is why i stopped watching home by five when all the sock puppets came out of the woodwork. snobby and irrational, who me?)

[silsbee329.livejournal.com]

Woah. I love that pic of her brushing his hair back. :)
I shall be following your recs.

[frey-at-last.livejournal.com]

Nice job! That "engagement photo" picture cracks me up so much, because, like, what else was the photographer thinking of??

I'll add for historical purposes that "snoggers" aren't actually defined as "people who write RPF" (because RPF in that sense didn't really exist yet, like you point out) but as "people who literally seriously want Duchovny and Anderson to get married and who may honestly believe that David fathered Gillian's kids." And now for sane people, there is a difference, but it's just that for many years that Venn diagram was a closed circle. *g*

[write-out.livejournal.com]

Love this overview- esp the pics- and I can't wait to see what you rec! Both of those Tumblrs are favorites of mine as well.

[nyteflyer.livejournal.com]

Great overview! Gawd, I miss the X-Files!

[nic]

When I read this post at the start of the month, it catapulted me back into XF fandom. I remembered just how much I used to know about DD & GA - and yes, I read those 'illicit' RPF fics back then as well.

So thank you. :) It's been wonderful!