whitlockienterprisespresents:“I’ll be my own great man.”It makes me sad when I see negativity direct

whitlockienterprisespresents:“I’ll be my own great man.”It makes me sad when I see negativity directed towards Jeffrey Spender. Sure, he was a source of (or conduit for) some pretty serious antagonism, especially towards Mulder. But can we just take a second to think about why?Jeffrey is first introduced into the show when he approaches Scully, asking her to ensure Mulder doesn’t get involved in the case of his mother Cassandra, a multiple abductee. Jeffrey doesn’t believe in this alien abduction nonsense, and he explains to Scully that he’d rather not have it get out that his mother is one of these UFO nuts - he’d like to save himself from the embarrassment, and have the chance to build his own reputation. He’s protecting himself and his career; these are valid, personal reasons, and deeply important to understanding Jeffrey as a person, but they are not the only reasons he wants to keep Mulder away from his mother. Jeffrey’s primary motivator is love, and it remains as such throughout his time on the X Files. He cares for his mother, but he believes her to be disturbed, and he is trying to protect her from anyone who might feed into her psychosis.But why is Jeffrey so resistant to the possibility of alien life? He isn’t just a skeptic, like Scully, he is seriously, powerfully in denial of such things. Consider: in their first meeting, Jeffrey refers to his mother’s beliefs “causing a lot of pain about 20 years ago”. What else happened ‘about 20 years ago’? The death of Samantha Mulder, who ran away from the home she had been raised in for the past six years - her home with the Spender family. We also know that C. G. B. Spender remained with his family up until Samantha’s death, but that he left by the time Jeffrey was eleven (Jeffrey refers to his father’s departure as the reason for his mother’s break from reality). So, as a boy, Jeffrey was raised with an older sister - a sister who disappeared one day, followed closely by his father, leaving him alone with Cassandra, a woman very vocal about her wacky stories of alien visitations and abductions. None of this is a recipe for a happy childhood, and even if Cassandra’s claims were nothing more than stories, one can understand why Jeffrey would grow up to despise the very suggestion of aliens.But wait, there’s more. Jeffrey shows Scully a tape - a recording of himself, aged eleven, undergoing hypnotic regression in which he recalls an abduction experience in which both he and his mother were taken. Jeffrey claims that the ‘memory’ was made up - a story fed to him over and over by his mother until he believed it to be true. Again, if Cassandra’s claims were nothing but stories, then this would point to Cassandra - Jeffrey’s sole guardian and the only family he’s got - as a mentally abusive parent, one who tried to brainwash her child into false beliefs. Of course, we know it’s bigger than that - the abductions are real, and Jeffrey has convinced himself that the memory is false as a defense mechanism to block out the trauma. The implication is that Jeffrey has also suffered experimentation on at least one occasion, and while he has rationalised his way out of accepting the memories brought up by his regression, the original memories were likely wiped from his mind, meaning that he did suffer brainwashing (of a sort) during his childhood. On that note, so did Cassandra - and for what it’s worth, even though the abductions are real, Jeffrey is right to think his mother has had her mind filled with alien 'nonsense’, since Cassandra’s understanding of the nature of her abductions is all fabricated and incorrect. The aliens may be real, but so is the degradation of Cassandra Spender’s mental health.So, Jeffrey’s refusal to believe in alien phenomena is not the result of plain narrow-mindedness - it’s how he copes with his own experiences. He has grown up with these stories, lacking any proof of their validity but doubtless enduring the ridicule of all those who knew of his mother’s claims. It’s a childhood filled with confusion: lost time, lost memories, lost loved ones (neither Jeffrey nor Cassandra mention 'their’ Samantha, though both reference 'Mulder’s sister’ - the connection cannot be ignored and it’s most likely that many (if not all) of their memories of Samantha were erased). Jeffrey’s whole family fell apart, and he has struggled with his own mind, not knowing whether he can trust his own memories - the one constant through all of this is the resoundingly negative story of alien abductions. Consequently, Mulder is not 'just another believer’ to Jeffrey - Mulder represents everything which Jeffrey abhors, and everything which he has tried to escape from in life.It bears noting that, as previously said, Jeffrey is motivated by love, not by fear or anger. In spite of everything, Jeffrey still loves his mother desperately and wants to look after her, and the fact that she disappears under suspicious circumstances shortly after coming into contact with Mulder and Scully is incredibly painful. It leaves Jeffrey alone, and quite vulnerable to the manipulations of his father, who takes this opportunity to reintroduce himself into his son’s life, playing the part of a generous benefactor who wants to help Jeffrey find his way in the world. Just like a certain someone, Jeffrey’s foremost interest in working the X Files is in finding the truth and regaining the family he has lost, but he is quite lost himself, wrapped up in this conspiracy, not knowing who his real allies are, or who is just using him for another agenda. He has no evil intentions, he’s just responding to what’s around him, working with what he knows. He does his best to try and make sense of it all, and once he learns the truth of the situation and understands the big picture of what is going on, he is able to make the right moral decisions, to act honourably, and to take a stand.And we all know how that worked out.The haters can hate all they want, but I look at Jeffrey Spender and I see a complex, damaged individual, someone who has struggled to break free of the trauma and hysteria of their childhood to make their own life. I see someone who just wanted to make something of themselves, to be defined by something beyond that history that plagues them. I see someone who wanted to have a happy family, unburdened by the past. And I see someone who tragically could only achieve his desires if he first faced his demons, if he recognised that reality and made it through. I see someone who tried.I will always love Jeffrey Spender. -- source link

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