10. Playing Against Stereotype
During this time, both film and television were undergoing a change in how they presented their female characters. In many cases they were no longer presented as ditzy women who relied too much on a man to rescue them, but were becoming strong, independent women capable of doing a man's job. Special Agent Dana Scully is one such woman who was a strong investigator in her own right. Chris Carter, the creator of X-Files was influenced by Jodie Foster's role as Clarice Starling when coming up with Scully and it's easy to see the influence here. What is more about Scully though is the role reversal between her and Mulder. Generally in this type of science fiction it was the woman who was the believer in the fantastical and the man the skeptic, but it is flipped around in the show. Mulder is the firm believer in the extraterrestrial and paranormal while Scully remains skeptical, making futile attempts to bring Mulder's beliefs back down to Earth (no pun intended). This forces most viewers to relate to her more as many, like herself, would not be so willing to indulge Mulder's way of thinking.