S-Town Reflection

Throughout listening to S-town one thing was extremely clear—I have never met anyone like John B. Macklemore or gone anywhere like Woodstock Alabama. To me, this is why the podcast was so fascinating, as it was a look into a world that otherwise I might’ve never been exposed to. To me, S-town felt like an escape from reality, something so far from my experience that it felt more like I was watching a fictional movie than listening to a story about a real man’s life.

While this aspect of the podcast made the seven hours I listened fly by, it also raised questions for me, about why I was so engaged, and if it was for the right reasons. From the beginning, it was clear that the S-town podcast focused on a part of America that is often stereotyped. While John B. often defied stereotypes of social conservatism, the town around him seemed exactly what I thought it would be. The reason I had ethical concerns about the podcast was because of these stereotypes the people in Woodstock often played into. While it is in no way the producer’s fault that people like Tyler acted, and sounded the way he did, the podcast did leave me wondering whether I was listening to this for the content or to enjoy rolling my eyes at the ridiculous things the people of Woodstock did people did.

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n some ways, S-town sheds light on a part of America that is often swept under the rug by educated liberals like myself, but in other ways it confirms the stereotypes we hold exactly. While John B. was clearly an anomaly and an interesting man, he doesn’t necessarily singlehandedly turn the podcast into a learning experience for the audience. In fact, in many instances, he makes it even more of a ridiculous spectacle. So here lies the problem—was S-town created to show Woodstock as a spectacle of ridiculous southerners stuck in their ways for people like me to eat up, or was it created to help people like me learn about another culture that exists inside our country? While this answer is unclear, I can’t deny I enjoyed listening to the podcast no matter the intentions.