The Missing Narrator: Fictional Podcasting and Kaleidosonic Remediation in Gimlet’s Homecoming

Abstract

As Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin write in Remediation: Understanding New Media, "new" media forms, from Renaissance painting to photography to web browsers, always present themselves as "refashioned and improved versions of other media." 1 The podcast is no exception. Since the premiere of its first episode in late 2016, Homecoming has been regarded by critics as revolutionary within the genre both for its thematic and technical features, and for its choice to forgo a traditional narrator-based framing structure. And yet, Homecoming marks the podcast's adoption of a variety of techniques specific to one medium --classical radio drama.The podcast remediates the radio dramas of old, utilizing a dialogue-heavy format and employing sound effects to create mood and atmosphere. Keeping with the tradition of radio drama, the show also employs the talents of popular screen and stage actors rather than actors better known for voice-work, or simply unknown amateurs, as is the norm in most modern fictional podcasting.Just as the early podcast charts were packed with amateur, small-time creations, early radio dramas were pioneered by small, local stations, like WGY Schenectady in New York.Within the next decade, CBS and NBC would embrace the audio drama and usher in the "golden age" of radio, which spanned from the 1930s to the mid '50s, when television's rise effectively ended the reign of radio drama. The networks were particularly drawn to horror and mystery shows --something Neil Verma argues is integrally connected to the audio-centric medium.Verma writes that the tension, suspense, and doubt of a mystery show foregrounded radio's reliance on imagination and the mind, arguing that "As American broadcasters built a theater in

O podcast de audiodrama em resposta à nova demanda por escuta imersiva

“…Como estratégia central para engajar o ouvinte, simula-se uma colagem de arquivos de áudio que remetem a gravações encontradas e material de vigilância. Hoover (2020), que analisou a ausência do narrador na série, conecta o estilo de Homecoming aos filmes found-footage 8 . Trata-se de uma forma antiga, mas celebrada desde o lançamento de A Bruxa de Blair (1999), em que as captações de imagem são feitas de modo a lembrar o amadorismo, sem a preocupação estética padrão de "apagar" o equipamento de vídeo: pelo contrário, a ideia é adicionar uma camada de significado que remete ao naturalismo de um documento.…”