Serial Podcast: Should We Enjoy it?
Serial is the #1 podcast on iTunes right now. In case you haven’t given it a listen, or you are not into podcasting, here is the promotion on Serial’s website:
On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She’d been strangled… The high school scene, the shifting statements to police, the prejudices, the sketchy alibis, the scant forensic evidence — all of it leads back to the most basic questions: How can you know a person’s character? How can you tell what they’re capable of? In Season One of Serial, [producer Sarah Koenig] looks for answers.
As a podcast fan, this series ranks among the best. It has the investigative journalism we know and love from This American Life, and Sarah Koenig makes for the perfect host. She has been entirely engulfed by the story, almost obsessively, which carries over into the narrative and production of the show. The story is intriguing, and Koenig’s belief of Adnan Syed’s innocence gives the story a protagonist. The majority of listeners want justice to be done. We want to be believe that Syed is innocent, maybe because we can’t fathom that someone would lie about committing such a crime after 15 years.
There is a problem with Serial, however. This problem was pointed out to me in an article by DailyWorth titled “Is it Wrong to Love the Serial Podcast?” This article says “…this isn’t an episode of True Detective. A real teenage girl was murdered. And yet, we devour her death as if she was the fictitious Laura Palmer.” It’s a pretty bold statement, but it reminded me of what really happened to create this entertaining show. A death of a girl who is rarely even mentioned in the podcast itself. We hear about the murder, where the crime was committed and all other forms of euphemisms but Hae Min Lee is almost as far removed from this story as anyone.
I won’t go as far as the article does to say it is wrong to enjoy the production. If you are truly interested in the journalistic perspective of this story, you are listening to find out more than who did it. You’re listening with the hope that a man facing a life sentence could be set free from the crime he did not commit. Or you’re listening in the hope that the truth will finally come out and Hae Min Lee’s family can get peace and justice.
Podcasts, as a form of medium, are designed and for entertainment. So are books and movies. Additionally, it is the job of the producers and creators to promote their work as much as they can. Anytime a true story is brought to a form of entertainment, it is understood that the story will be presented as just that: entertainment. Is that wrong for us, as a society, to do? I can’t say. What I do know is that since the launching of Serial, people who did not want to speak about the case are now speaking. Third party investigators and detectives are visiting the case with fresh eyes. And if you listen closely to the people working on this show, they aren’t just in this to figured out what happened. They have grown connected to the story and the people involved, and that has carried over to me, as a listener.
I listen to Serial for the value of the podcast. It is one of the best. It has a great host, an intriguing story, and excellent narrative. A great podcast can blend those qualities together. I don’t know which way the story of Serial will turn from here, but I do know I will following along each Thursday until its conclusion.
