Life is different in The Habitat, but humans aren’t
One of Gimlet Media’s latest releases, The Habitat is a striking audio tapestry of what life on Mars might be like.
“A philosopher once asked, ‘Do we gaze at the stars because we’re human, or are we human because we gaze at the stars?’ Pointless really. Do the stars gaze back? Now, that’s a question.” So, begins the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel, Stardust, about a humanoid star who falls to earth and becomes the centre of high-stakes pursuit. The film is a favourite of mine for a number of reasons; yes, at times it’s camp and a bit of mess, but it’s also a playful, silly even, ode to our fascination with the stars. Just like the narrator of Stardust, I’m inclined to think we’ve been asking the wrong question when it comes alien life. I’m less interested to know whether there’s life on Mars than I am to know whether we’d still be human if we lived there. The answer, according to The Habitat, is ‘yes’, and we need to understand the repercussions before we send anyone to the red planet.
Produced by Gimlet Media, The Habitat is built around audio diaries recorded by the crew of HI-SEAS IV, archival tapes from NASA and narration by producer Lynn Levy, as well as the occasional guest spot by HI-SEAS researchers and fellow Gimlet staff. Over seven, roughly 30-minute episodes it follows a six-member crew as they attempt to live and work together under conditions as analogous to Mars as it’s possible to find on Earth: The HI-SEAS Habitat is located on the side of a volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, an area that has Mars-like geology, which allows the crew to conduct high-fidelity research—adding to the simulation’s authenticity.
Although the crew are trained scientists, the field research they conduct while isolated in the HI-SEAS Habitat isn’t only about what that research itself uncovers, but how successfully the crew functions as a team while living as they would on Mars. How might humans, confined and isolated, with only each other for company, behave if we were to set up camp in a Martian environment? How would our behaviour affect our ability to work together? As Levy puts it upfront, HI-SEAS is designed to test a very important piece of equipment—humans.
The fourth HI-SEAS mission is the most ambitious yet, sequestering its human subjects for 366 days (previous missions had lasted four to eight months), while researchers collect data about their physical and emotional well-being and the complex social dynamics that unfold. It’s also been well documented by various media outlets. In an hour-long YouTube video, three crew members discussed the research they undertook as Analog Astronauts. Some have even released TEDx Talks, and the History Channel’s History NOW made an 8-part series following their escapades. The Huffington Post covered their experience, as did Space.com and the New York Times. Cosmos did a dive into testing and prepping the technology used during the simulation and each crew member had a blog, although they were maintained to varying degrees.
The Habitat has found a way to add to this mountain of material—not just in terms of the story provided but the way it’s presented. Rather than traverse ground already well-trod, Levy takes a route more akin to the one literary journalists wander, weaving the central plot with pertinent digressions (space facts! Science!) to create a tightly structured narrative. The chosen path won’t cut it for listeners hoping for more input from Psychologists and Scientists, but I think The Habitat struck the right balance, twisting questions like ‘how does a spacesuit work?’ into ruminations about what effects those spacesuits will have on people who have to wear one every time the step outside for a year. It seems the former approach is already served by the existing coverage and resources provided on the HI-SEAS website. Audio, meanwhile, is often hailed for the way it conjures intimacy and The Habitat is an excellent example how the medium can do just that.
Levy’s prodding and poking about who’s sleeping with who and who hates someone else does bear the marks of today’s most-maligned pop-culture genre, reality tv, but The Habitat is whimsical and, in some memorable moments, a plainly beautiful exploration of human nature. Its tone is more in the vein of Japan’s Terrace House than it is The Bachelor, even though the model—locking people away with no easy means to contact the outside world—is more like the latter. The difference is Levy’s ability to get great tape, under what I can only assume were somewhat difficult conditions, and her capability to offer sharp observation in response to what she hears.
Arguments about the nature of the content aside, The Habitat’s focus is clear from the outset, as is Levy’s approach to the role of host and producer. During the first episode Levy “jumps into” the mission along with the crew (by way of some smart sound design), tipping the listener off to her style—she’s not an invisible reporter; she’s immersed in the story and the result is a focus on “truth” rather than hard “facts”. In some places it seems she makes mountains out of molehills, digging too deep to make something matter, but more often her reflections, especially when they come in the form of closing monologues, give gravitas to moments that might otherwise seem superficial.
The same can be said for the sound design, which works to drive the narrative forward, add weight to digressions and magnify dialogue. It does occasionally feel over-designed in way that distracts rather than amplifies, making the listener a little too aware of the medium’s machinations. There’s at least one passage that will trigger misophonia for some (but perhaps that’s the point). Yet, there are others that are straight up delightful; as when one crew member’s romantic musings about another melt effortlessly into a doo-wop inspired number. On occasions like this, the sound design is in service to Levy’s narration. It’s these flashes that remind us of audio production’s capabilities—this is not a story that could be easily remediated. It’s not just a case of saving time by listening; we’d lose something less tangible were this to have been produced as text.
Ultimately, the soundscape of The Habitat goes beyond a well-timed effect or the right music, transporting us seamlessly from the HI-SEAS dome to the cabins of space craft from history to the Gimlet studios. On a sidenote, the decision to release a soundtrack portends the future of podcasting, which, with productions like The Habitat, is edging closer to territory of cinematic productions like Stardust.
Like the humans we’ll eventually send to Mars, The Habitat isn’t perfect, but it is a narrative non-fiction podcast that pushes the medium forward into new territory.
