Murder, mystery, mayhem. Its no wonder that Serial has captured the interest of many young adults and teens today. A million listeners tuned into to listen to each episode per week when it was airing. They were not watching an hour long episode on a television, but curling up next to their iPods, computers, or phones to listen to the findings as if it were a bedtime story. Serial is a podcast telling of the disappearance of a high school student that turns up six weeks later, dead. Her ex-boyfriend and classmate, Adnan Syed, is accused and convicted for her murder. Sarah Koenig has spent a year digging up and reexamining evidence and alibis to see if this man deserves to stay in prison for the rest of his life. This story is the real life episode told first hand that would probably air years later as an episode of Cold Case, Criminal Minds, or Law and Order.
The phenomenon of murder cases, unsolved crimes, and homicide have all found their place in the minds of everyday people. We are told we are the generation thats obsessed with murder and try to solve cases. The fact of the matter is that we want to know what was happening at every moment for each individual character; what they were thinking; what they said as their testimony word by word; what they were wearing; what their plans for the day were; what they were doing at the time of the murder; why were they at the time of the murder. All of these questions that run through the listeners head allow them to become "detectives" and draw their own conclusions. We all suddenly have our PhD in forensics and criminology. Many people, including myself, find the events that have occurred are not out of the ordinary. Who has not heard of a relationship that did not end on good terms and the ex starts to stalk or harass the other? Obviously, this is not something that should be of the norm to us, but the sad reality is that it is. It is events that people can relate to or see happening to them that keep them interested in knowing what happened and what led to it.
Listening to an episode is also something completely unusual. You say podcast, and I think audio book. I think of Moby Dick being read to me by a monotone voice that keeps a constant rhythm. When I first heard the podcast in class my mind immediately began to assign faces to the characters according to the sound of their voice and how they spoke. When you watch a television show how the character looks and dresses is already assigned to him or her, but listening to it gives you the freedom to envision what your killer or victim looks like. Listening to the testimonies makes the hair on the back of your neck crawl because your mind plays tricks and you can vividly imagine how everything played out. Is he really the murderer? Could there have been a mistrial? Who is really to blame? That is what has the listeners coming back for more. They want to feel scared to a certain degree; they want to solve the murder; they want to prove themselves right. The court can say, "case close," but that does not stop a determined "lawyer in training."
