This post is going to be about my thoughts on the Serial podcast by Sarah Koenig. I highly recommend checking out the three seasons by clicking here.
Sarah’s podcast is an attempt to make sense of Adnan’s odd case while raising awareness for Adnan himself. Adnan was accused and convicted of manually strangling Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend, in 1999 at around 2:30 to 2:45. Adnan was impassioned unjustly due to a bad lawyer who was suspected to throw the case intentionally.
I have only listened to the first episode of the first season, so most of my knowledge will be drawn from there.
After listening to the first episode I was immediately hooked. I needed to know all the possible details, everyone’s perspective, side to the story, and their reactions. I enjoyed the podcast so far because it is filled with a lot of mystery and you never now what’s going to happen next, what the people who were interviewed are going to say, and so on. I am fascinated by mysteries and investigations. Also, the way Sarah Koenig presented all the information kept me wanting more. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the first episode.
I personally prefer to listen to a text rather than reading it. I like this audio-logs format that present Sarah’s investigative journalism instead of a boring blog post with a couple of audio recordings and images. Though there are some drawbacks, some of which include the fact that there is nothing to see, no visual aid, no text to read and no possible way to check for the spelling of proper nouns.
However the upside make up for all the drawbacks. The biggest benefit is that there is no need to do work, I can sit back relax and enjoy what is being said. Also, this form of media allows for music to be played which heavily influences the mood of the listener. Since I wasn’t using my eyes to process images, I instead got creative and manifested my own imagery.
Sarah Koenig decided to open the episode I listened to by discussing the challenges of memory. I wouldn’t blame her for doing so, she is just setting up the premise where the people she is going to interview aren’t going to be able to remember everything that happened on that faithful day. It’s only human nature to forget, I tend to forget some details of what happened yesterday, by the end of the week I would have forgotten pretty much everything that happened that day. Unfortunately, by doing so this meant that what is being said could be a complete fabrication, since no can clearly remember the exact events that transpired and the technology was outdated so that recordings are no longer available. On the contrary, the fact that people forget just gave me another reason to continue listening so that I may sharpen my detective skills.
I’d imagine Adnan’s family might be a little skeptic and a little angry to find out that there personal matters are out on the internet, alongside all the secrets Adnan hid from his family. However, since the podcast became popular, it helped raise awareness for Adnan’s situation and how possibly the judicial system is flawed in certain ways.
_________________________________________________
Works Cited
- Fancycarve.com. “Collection of Gray Scale Photos · Free Stock Photo.” Free Stock Photos, http://www.pexels.com/photo/collection-of-gray-scale-photos-699782/.
- Koenig, Sarah. “Season One.” Serial, serialpodcast.org/season-one.
- Pixabay. “Black Recordering Microphone · Free Stock Photo.” Free Stock Photos, http://www.pexels.com/photo/black-recordering-microphone-55800/.
- (Photo) Heuer, Meredith. “’Serial’ Returning for Two More Seasons.” Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/serial-returning-for-two-more-seasons-73877/.
Ahmad's Blog Posts 