Who am I, Why did I do this, and Shouldn't I Get a Life?

How do the fakes fit into my argument?

Can you download the pictures?

Will I e-mail them to you?

What happens to the comments sent to me?

Are there any more projects on the horizon?

Has Gillian Anderson responded to my page?

Who am I to judge Gillian Anderson? Am I some kind of prude?

Who am I, Why did I do this, and shouldn't I get a life?

I am a graduate student who works in issues of culture. The web page you have just examined was my way of learning HTML programming by exploring the issue of cultural representation. My goal was to try to give an example of what kind of scholarship might be done through web pages. Something which was more interesting than many of the scholarly pages which are comprised of nothing by text, but something more intellectually challenging than just a gallery of Gillian Anderson pages (not that there's anything wrong with that). However all this was done summer 1996. I've done little to update it since, largely because I have a life.

The fakes sit on my web page without a lot of explanation. This perhaps an oversight on my part. Several people who have e-mailed me about them have proposed interpretations, most often it is thought that I am trying to reveal fakes as fakes. While I think this is a worthwhile endeavor, my interest in fakes also includes another aspect, which is to see this as part of the eroticization of Gillian Anderson. I would argue that it is precisely the move to self-eroticization which Anderson has undertaken which is what makes the fakes so interesting. In all the fakes I have seen they are modifications of posed shots, I have yet to see a fake "candid" photo of Gillian Anderson. This means that all of these photos are produced with the message that they are intentional displays by Anderson. In one fake, the revealing bra is removed to expose breasts (though only slightly). The reason there is so much furor in the x-file fan community over whether these are real or not, is precisely the possibility that they may be; that Anderson herself has veered close enough to the line to make it possible. This is simply then an extension of a process that Anderson herself has started. But again, since what we are dealing with here is not a person, but always a representation, the extension, or as Weber might say, the "rationalization" of the representation is completely understandable, however offensive the results may be.

In a sense all the pictures that you see on my web site are already downloaded on your computer in order for you to be able to see them. That's the way the web works. You can save them in a separate file in most browsers by clicking on the picture and then clicking File, Save as... I got these off the net, so you are welcome to them.

No. But feel free to download them (see "Can you download the pictures"). Why not? See "Who am I, Why did I do this, and shouldn't I get a life." It is precisely having a life that makes me unable to do this.

I read every comment e-mailed to me (they are the basis of this FAQ). At some point I may expand the page and they will be important in my attempts to do that. I rarely directly respond to comments. For the most part, I think the page stands on its own, and I always interested in seeing other perspectives, even if they are not my own.

I get asked this question occasionally. At this point, I have heard from neither Gillian Anderson nor anyone else who represents her. Its probably a good thing, given the way FOX has closed down all unauthorized Millenium pages.

Not at this time.

This question is asked most often by people who have not listened to the commentary, but only looked at the page. Let me say quite clearly that my page should not be read a condemnation of Anderson. Whether she ultimately decides to be photographed completely nude, or to be never seen in anything less than a parka is of no concern to me. I in no way should be understood a placing some moral valuation on her activities. I am not nostalgic for the earlier image which was much more in accordance with Scully's image, I don't care if she keeps her clothes on or not. My interest is one which attempts to dig a little deeper and ask why there has been a change in image. My interest is in explanation not in judgement.