The X-Files Season 11: 10 Biggest Reveals From 'The Lost Art Of Forehead Sweat'
1. The Episode Is As Much About The Nature Of Truth As It Is About Memory
The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat has a lot to say about memory. The Mandela Effect is just a small part of that. Yes, the episode tackles the Berenstein/Berenstain Bears, and Shazzam (a movie many people remember starring comedian Sinbad, which doesn't actually exist). It also tackles how we remember things, often with a hint of nostalgia. Mulder remembers watching a Twilight Zone episode that turns out to be a knock-off. Scully reacts with joy when she finds an old Jello-style dessert she remembers from her youth — yet she wisely decides against eating it again. "I want to remember how it was" she tells Mulder.
We always remember things better than they were. That's the great thing about memories: the good ones get better, the bad ones fade.
Yet beyond memory, The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat is about truth, and what it means in a world where what is true is as flimsy and easy to manipulate as memory. "The public no longer knows what's meant by truth" the villain of the piece, Dr. They, tells Mulder. Mulder, of course, insists that "there's still an objective truth, still an objective reality." And he's right, but how important are they when the masses can be manipulated into believing, for lack of a better term, fake news?
In the end, you don't need to control people's memories. As Dr. They explains, "all you need is for some people to think it's possible. Then you sow the seeds of uncertainty."
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