SH1TT0WN

At first, I thought I was not going to enjoy this. It is kind of like that I had a sense of bubbles regarding podcasts. ‘What is all the fun in listening to the narrative without any visual images?’ I Thought. I also thought that I would rather read a book, and I was going to read the transcript instead of listening to it. There was also this reason--or excuse--of mine to put myself in such bubble: I was worried that I would not be able to catch up with the tempo of only-verbal-audio to intake any sort of narratives. However, I was completely wrong. S-town was actually my first listening to podcast and I happened to able to keep up with the tempo, and actually ended up enjoying it like, big time. I could relate S-town to the documentary film Southern Comfort too. John B and Tyler’s relationship kind of reminded that of Robert and Maxwell’s in the film. Anyways, first of all, as far as ethics issue on S-town is concerned, I really do not know. Yes, it was “so” personal and went right through the lives of people in Shittown, Alabama, especially that of John B. The reason I do not want to touch ethics on this is that, although I know it is nonfiction, I was not one hundred percent sure: It could be fiction, or I do not know, really. However, the medium of using verbal audio clips to tell a story in S-town was very appropriate and well executed in my opinion. It kept this mysterious and intriguing events going back and forth--to this side, and that side, and then the other side--made me deeply immersed in the narrative and to start speculate about all the possibilities I could come up with on the people of S-town. Along the journey going through the chapters of S-town, I had a variety of mixed feelings on the characters, especially John B. I was so interested in this unique personality of John B, and kind of admired all his knowledges and experiences--especially those as a horologist, and even philanthropist for miserable people in S-town. On the top of all that, I even began to be able to relating myself to John B and Tyler at the same time. I was kind of amazed how a story and the truth could be shaped and presented differently all the time when looking them through different perspectives, viewpoints, and experiences from different individuals. For example, seeing from Reta’s story and Tyler’s story, was totally opposite experience. Also, it was impressive how S-town was like all-in-one package containing every possible social and cultural issues, like from climate change to homosexuality. Finally, if I was to attribute any kind of personality to S-town, it would be that of John B’s. Why? Because Like John B’s personality and his whole life, S-town presented all sorts of problems and issues with broad level, but did not extend to coming up with any actions and solutions. It just “presented” them, indeed.