"The deep welling of anxiety in me is not simply a matter of discomfort with a white journalist’s gaze into several different communities of color that is at the core of the show. It’s more than that. I despair over the story and the storytellers – the fact that this case, and this telling of it, has reached so many ears. A young Korean American woman dies. A young Pakistani American man is charged with the murder. Her family and community are almost completely absent from the podcast. Aside from a caricature of her as a “typical” teenager presented via a few words from her diary, her voice is absent. I can only recall one portion of one episode, out of 12, devoted to sharing any of her character, her depth, her humanity. Yet another tale about a beautiful dead girl.
Adnan is in a precarious position, knowing that the podcast is reaching so many, and navigating a minefield of potential consequences given his participation in it. His Pakistani American community is discussed by Koenig with a slapdash pseudo-anthropological perspective and always, always from a place of difference. Adnan’s community is portrayed as insular, mysterious, curious, and in several instances, suspicious...I imagine hundreds and thousands of listeners hearing this tale, this tale of communities so much like mine, and seeing only difference, only a shallow excavation of who we are and who these families might have been"
http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2015/01/22/serial-and-the-power-of-storytelling/
I often feel as though NPR shows can take the tone of the curious, confused, well-intentioned white person who is just tryna navigate this crazy world of ours (see: the guy who hosts the TED radio hour, and the way he interviews from the perspective of the confuddled average joe). I am tired and unimpressed.
I think of Serial as sort of like an Aaron Sorkin show, where it's great for what it is and it ALSO has serious flaws because it's coming from such a specific perspective. Except, in this case, I like to think they might be listening to the critiques.
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