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Gulyas, Aaron John. The Paranormal and the Paranoid: Conspiratorial Science Fiction Television. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. 196 pp. Hardback. ISBN 978-4422-5113-8. $75.00.
The Paranormal and the Paranoid provides an analysis of science fiction television that brought together paranormal and conspiracy theories and topics prominent in popular culture in the nineties. Gulyas's exploration involves a broad definition of both science fiction and the paranormal, the former encompassing not only what might be recognized as science fiction, but also horror and fantasy, and the latter including phenomena such as telekinesis and cryptozoology, with a special emphasis on UFOs, extraterrestrials, and alien abduction. This volume analyzes the interplay between the paranormal and conspiracy theories in a science fiction context, considering how the themes and topics of television and film from the 1950s through the 1980s influenced 1990s science fiction television, with The X-Files featuring prominently as an exemplar of the book's thesis. Gulyas explores his thesis through six chapters, framed by an introduction and epilogue.
The first chapter, "Conspiracy Theory and the Paranormal in the Late Twentieth Century," "explores the basic structure and themes of the paranormal and parapolitical conspiracy theories that dominated popular discussion during the 1980s and 1990s" (1). This includes an exploration of three particular aspects, including the paranormal and UFOs, various topics often connected to conspiracy theories, as well as the role of conspiracy theory communities and the ways in which they circulated their views. The UFO phenomenon began in 1947 with Kenneth Arnold's sightings of skipping discs near Mt. Rainier, but it wasn't until later that it assumed conspiratorial elements. The growing mythology surrounding an alleged saucer crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 and the recovery of alien bodies by the U.S. military, numerous claims of alien abduction, and allegations about hidden military bases like Area 51 and secret groups such as Majestic 12, all contributed to conspiracy approaches to UFOs. This grew over the decades prior to the nineties, as conspiracy communities shared their convictions in a variety of ways, including Usenet system discussion forums, and later the internet. Gulyas considers Omni magazine an important source for the UFO conspiratorial community with its ability to bridge the scientific and the paranormal.
Chapter two discusses "Paranoid and Paranormal Precursors from...