Abstract
The X-Files (1993-2002), about two government agents investigating unsolved cases relating to paranormal activities, was a quality drama which became a cult hit with audiences and subsequently an international cultural phenomenon, generating vast amounts of secondary texts including merchandise products, online communities and fan fiction. Some of the questions we can ask relate to the text's cult status and its position as a mainstream success. Indeed, we can focus on the characteristics of the show that made it credible as a cult text and ensured that it gained a much larger audience than what was customary for a television based cult text in its time. The X-Files drew on a range of processes commonly applied to cult texts, mainly through a hybridisation of generic forms and intertextual references as well as its mythological features. However, as Johnson (2005: 3) observes, ‘Producers may attempt to create a media cult text, but it is only through the activities of audiences that a television programme can become a cult text'. Therefore, a text can only become cult if it is activated as such by its audience.
