{"id":12722,"date":"2023-12-13T11:02:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T11:02:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/?p=12722"},"modified":"2023-12-14T11:51:25","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:51:25","slug":"do-you-want-to-believe-legend-ufos-x-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/do-you-want-to-believe-legend-ufos-x-files\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Want To believe? \u2013 Talking about Legend, UFOs and the X Files"},"content":{"rendered":"

SHU academics entertained a large public audience with their analysis of the folklore, legend, and popular culture surrounding the X-Files, as part of the recent Off-The-Shelf Festival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The talk, entitled \u2018The Art of the X-Files,\u2019 had to be postponed due to extreme rain and flooding on the original date (was this perhaps the work of the Men In Black?), nevertheless, the rescheduled talk on 20th<\/sup> November attracted over 90 guests, mostly members of the general public and students along with a few fellow academics.<\/p>\n

\"\"

A 90 Strong audience for \u2018Art of the X-Files\u2019 at Off The Shelf, 14th November<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Dr Diane Rodgers<\/a> and Dr James Fenwick<\/a> (CMS) provided a fascinating and entertaining overview of the cultural and political context of the X-Files, based on their newly published academic study of the show (\u2018The Legacy of The X-Files\u2019 pub: Bloomsbury, 16 Nov 2023 \u2013 see HERE<\/a>). Their talk explored show\u2019s origins and influences from the popular culture and media of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, along with its use of legend and folklore and its contemporary resonance in the politics and society of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

After a short break Dr David Clarke<\/a> (CMS) and Andrew Robinson<\/a> (A&D) reviewed the representation of UFOs both in the X Files itself, and in the wider media, charting their history from the earliest C19th imagery to the flying disc craze of 1947, and right up to NASA\u2019s recent announcement of their project to study what are now called UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena).<\/p>\n

At one point, to the amusement of the audience, Andrew demonstrated how the type of UFO photographs popular in the 1950s and 60s, might have been faked producing images of UFOs flying over the audience.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Andrew and David demonstrating possible methods of constructing UFO photographs<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

David and Andrew also ran an audience participation exercise, with over 70 people recording their perception of what a UFO might look like. This generated a series of fascinating and humorous sketches, which will form part of their ongoing research into UFO imagery and legend.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Three of the more than seventy UFO drawings produced by the audience<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

David has written and spoken on folklore and legends surrounding UFOs for many years, however since his discovery of the only existing photograph of the 1990 Calvine incident and its publication in a national newspaper in the summer of 2021, his research and Andrews photographic analysis have attracted a great deal of attention in online communities, the popular press and wider media. This has resulted in the pair presenting papers at the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR) annual conference, hosted by the Centre of Contemporary Legend (CCL), at SHU last June, and at the recent QED conference in Manchester (info HERE<\/a>), along with a contribution to an upcoming Netflix documentary made by American filmmaker James Fox.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr David Clarke and Andrew Robinson presenting their UFO paper at the annual QED Conference in Manchester, Sept 2023.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It would seem that the public just can\u2019t get enough of UFOs and the mysteries surrounding them, something the creators of the X Files were all too well aware of!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Images and text courtesy of Andrew Robinson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHU academics entertained a large public audience with their analysis of the folklore, legend, and popular culture surrounding the X-Files, as part of the recent Off-The-Shelf Festival. The talk, entitled \u2018The Art of the X-Files,\u2019 had to be postponed due to extreme rain and flooding on the original date (was this perhaps the work of the Men In Black?), nevertheless, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9742,"featured_media":12723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[139,228],"tags":[1648,174,2088,1702,2213,172,596,1650,181,1321,2258,1805,1384,2257,2255,411,2256],"class_list":["post-12722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-researcher-blog","tag-admrc","tag-andrew-robinson","tag-art-design","tag-ccms","tag-culture-media","tag-david-clarke","tag-diane-rodgers","tag-film-and-media-arts","tag-headerslider","tag-james-fenwick","tag-media-communication","tag-off-the-shelf","tag-off-the-shelf-festival","tag-research-talk","tag-the-art-of-the-x-files","tag-ufos","tag-x-files"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/12\/Off-the-Shelf-talk-banner-image-crop.jpg?fit=889%2C291&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8oFHo-3jc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13070,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-research-talk-by-dr-david-clarke-and-andrew-robinson-saturday-11-may-2024\/","url_meta":{"origin":12722,"position":0},"title":"In The Eye of the Beholder: Research Talk by Dr David Clarke and Andrew Robinson, Saturday 11 May 2024","author":"Phoebe Bolton","date":"10\/05\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Mysterious Art of the UFO! \u00a0 This Saturday, 11th May, SHU academics David, Clarke and Andrew Robinson are presenting a paper entitled \u2018In The Eye of The Beholder\u2019 exploring the visual representation, in eyewitness drawings, photography, film and popular culture, of an unidentified, anomalous phenomena (otherwise known as UFOs)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2024\/05\/AR-DC-Eye-of-Beholder-211x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3993,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/david-clarke-ufo-files-national-archives\/","url_meta":{"origin":12722,"position":1},"title":"Dr David Clarke presents UFO files at The National Archives – Thursday 08 March 2018","author":"Amy Lander","date":"18\/01\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Journalism Reader Dr David Clarke will present a public lecture on his five years as consultant\/curator of the Ministry of Defence UFO files at The National Archives. 'UFO files in Britain's National Archives' at 6.00pm on Thursday 8 March will include a summary of Dr Clarke's research on the British\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/01\/CLARKE-2018-03-National-Archives-event-e1516285287169.jpg?fit=802%2C390&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/01\/CLARKE-2018-03-National-Archives-event-e1516285287169.jpg?fit=802%2C390&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/01\/CLARKE-2018-03-National-Archives-event-e1516285287169.jpg?fit=802%2C390&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/01\/CLARKE-2018-03-National-Archives-event-e1516285287169.jpg?fit=802%2C390&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2312,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/britains-x-traordinary-files\/","url_meta":{"origin":12722,"position":2},"title":"Britain’s X-traordinary files – Dr David Clarke","author":"Rachel Finch","date":"25\/09\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"David Clarke opens The National Archives' own X Files to uncover the secret, official accounts behind legendary paranormal and extraordinary phenomena. From mediums employed by the police to help with psychic crime-busting to sea monster sightings reported to the Royal Navy, Britain's X-traordinary Files brings to light a range of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Publications"","block_context":{"text":"Publications","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/publications\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2017\/07\/CLARKE-2014-Britains-xtraordinary-files.jpg?fit=300%2C325&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5289,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/david-clarke-keynote-supernatural-contemporary-society\/","url_meta":{"origin":12722,"position":3},"title":"Dr David Clarke to give Keynote at the Supernatural in Contemporary Society Conference 2018","author":"Amy Lander","date":"03\/08\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader and Principal Lecturer\u00a0in Journalism, Dr David Clarke , will give a keynote address to the Supernatural in Contemporary Society Conference (SCSC) on 23 - 24 August in Aberdeen. His talk, entitled, \"What's all this stuff about flying saucers?\": Extraordinary personal experiences from The National Archives UFO Project will discuss\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/08\/CLARKE-DAVID-SCSC-image.jpg?fit=860%2C331&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/08\/CLARKE-DAVID-SCSC-image.jpg?fit=860%2C331&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/08\/CLARKE-DAVID-SCSC-image.jpg?fit=860%2C331&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2018\/08\/CLARKE-DAVID-SCSC-image.jpg?fit=860%2C331&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12225,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/perspectives-contemporary-legend-2023-isclr\/","url_meta":{"origin":12722,"position":4},"title":"Perspectives on Contemporary Legend 2023 \u2013 A summary of the 40th anniversary conference of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR)","author":"Amy Lander","date":"06\/07\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Written by Dr Diane A Rodgers During 26-30 June 2023, this prestigious event was held at Sheffield Hallam University, hosted by the Centre for Contemporary Legend (CCL) in the Dorothy Fleming lecture theatre, Charles Street. Dr David Clarke, Andrew Robinson and myself, Dr Diane Rodgers, co-founders of the CCL, were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/07\/CCLteam-scaled-e1688637147250.jpg?fit=1200%2C534&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/07\/CCLteam-scaled-e1688637147250.jpg?fit=1200%2C534&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/07\/CCLteam-scaled-e1688637147250.jpg?fit=1200%2C534&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/07\/CCLteam-scaled-e1688637147250.jpg?fit=1200%2C534&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/07\/CCLteam-scaled-e1688637147250.jpg?fit=1200%2C534&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11706,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/isclr-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":12722,"position":5},"title":"40th International Perspectives on Contemporary Legend Conference","author":"Ian Braddick","date":"31\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Read more about the conference coming to Sheffield on its 40th anniversary here and in the Sheffield Star. We\u2019re pleased to open registration for the 40th International Perspectives on Contemporary Legend Conference, held this year June 26-30, 2023 at Sheffield Hallam University, and hosted by the Centre for Contemporary Legend.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Perspectives on Contemporary Legend - ISCLR Conference banner","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/03\/ISCLR-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/03\/ISCLR-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/03\/ISCLR-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/files\/2023\/03\/ISCLR-II.jpg?fit=890%2C290&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12732,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12722\/revisions\/12732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.ac.uk\/c3riimpact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}