It may be a bit of an understatement to say that I have had a lot of free time over the past year. With lockdowns happening on and off, my options to stay active—and to leave the house in general—were limited. I attempted to counter this limitation by going on an extreme number of walks. I decided to use this opportunity to dive headfirst into a new form of media: I started obsessively listening to fiction podcasts.
There has been a widespread rise in people’s interest in podcasts during the pandemic. In an article from Vulture, they mention that in the US, weekly podcast listeners have gone from 37% of the population to 41% over the past year. Generally, fiction podcasts draw inspiration from classic audio dramas, which were a major form of entertainment from the 1920s to1950s, until the advance of television overtook them. The format of podcasts, however, offers a storytelling advantage over television, because actors need not acknowledge the camera and listeners can form their own visuals.
One of the major fiction podcasts that jump-started the genre is Welcome to Night Vale, which recently celebrated its ninth anniversary. Night Vale is a game-changer because a small independent team created it, it has a unique format, and it casually includes LGBTQ+ characters. It takes the form of a surreal radio broadcast in a fictional town, a type of story that lends itself well to an audio medium. The team behind the podcast has several other works that break the typical podcast mold. One of their productions, Within the Wires, takes the form of relaxation cassettes, which eventually reveal a deeper mystery.
Since many small, independent companies created fiction podcasts, they don’t need permission from another source to produce and share their work. Unlike creating a TV show, where production companies can cancel it if they believe it isn’t doing well enough, podcasts rarely end prematurely. An example of an independently created podcast is Neighbourly, which is produced, edited, and narrated by one person. Podcasts also tend to be uploaded on free audio streaming sites such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. This is useful because it allows the creators to reach their intended audience and avoid paywalls, which can be an issue for many TV shows and movies, especially with the rise of paid streaming services.
Podcasts can be an accessible form of media for people who are visually impaired or have limited attention spans. I occasionally struggle while watching a TV show; I need to stay engaged, or else I lose track of the plot. Podcasts allow you to focus on another task while consuming the piece of media. I tend to listen to podcasts while going on walks because it provides something for my mind to focus on. I know people who work on creative projects or even play video games while listening to a podcast. There has also been a push for podcasters to release transcripts of their episodes, which can be essential for people with auditory processing disorders.
Fiction podcasts are also a great medium for telling horror or science fiction stories. Horror podcasts translate well to audio formats because you have to actively imagine the terror. Many horror films use jump scares as a way to frighten the audience, which doesn’t always come across in audio format. Instead, they exclusively use words and sound effects to communicate what is happening. Although a similar phenomenon happens with books, the audio format allows you to receive the added bonus of creative sound effects. An excellent example of a podcast that uses sound effects is The Magnus Archives, a horror anthology. At one point, the show uses pasta to represent the sound of swarms of worms (and it works surprisingly well).
Sci-fi translates excellently to audio as well, mainly because it’s easier to produce without needing to use visual effects—especially when you have characters who travel to different planets or interact with non-human-appearing aliens. In a visual format, most of the budget goes toward building sets, developing CGI, and applying makeup. The Tides podcast takes advantage of this. The entire show takes place on an alien moon and most of the show consists of a lone xenobiologist describing the landscape. In a visual format, this would be much more difficult to convey, as the team would have to put effort into creating the look of the planet, while in audio, none of that needs to be worried about.
There is often backlash when a TV show wants to have a large number of queer characters, as they are scared this will alienate some viewers. This is not the case with podcasts; an excellent example is The Penumbra Podcast. This show has a mostly queer crew, and if you go on their website, they explicitly say of most media, “Why did every gay relationship end in tragedy? And where were all the people who didn’t fit into the gender binary?” The creators did not see enough characters like themselves in the media, so naturally, they made a show that has almost zero straight characters in it.
I asked Tasha Vango, a student at Victoria College who also listens to fiction podcasts, some questions about how their identity is represented in different forms of media. When asked if they see their identity in popular media, they said that they often do not, and when they do find representation, the characters are “often portrayed using negative or harmful stereotypes,” giving the example of asexual people being portaryed as heartless or minor characters who rarely receive character development. In podcasts, it is more common to see major characters who “fit into the intersectionality of [their] own identity as someone who is ace, nonbinary, and biromantic.” They specifically cite Juno Steel from The Penumbra Podcast, who is nonbinary and bisexual, and Jonathan Sims from The Magnus Archives, who is biromantic and asexual. They also said it is freeing to listen to podcasts because they “don’t have to constantly worry and check myself when listening because I can trust the writers to accurately depict that identity.”
Overall, I think fiction podcasts are a great form of media if you want something that does not require 100% of your brainpower or if you want to consume entertainment while you walk. Due to their rise in popularity, there are more large corporations creating fiction podcasts (think Homecoming, which was originally a podcast created by Gimlet, but has recently been turned into a TV show by Amazon Prime Video). These large companies plan to capitalize on the medium, which could subject it to similar issues encountered with dominant forms of media. We can only hope that small, independent groups will keep producing content that encapsulates the types of stories and people that they want to see represented in the world.
In addition to the podcasts mentioned in the article, here is a list of ones I recommend:
Brimstone Valley Mall: A group of demons attempting to cause the apocalypse while working in a mall and being in a band.
The Bright Sessions: X-Men, but if they were all in therapy.
Wolf 359: Starts off as a space-opera office comedy but quickly becomes a touching narrative of what makes us human.
ars PARADOXICA: Time Travel but well done (warning: you will need to take notes to understand the plot).
Death by Dying: A series of obituaries written by an obituary writer who thinks of himself as a private investigator.
The Strange Case of Starship Iris: If you like found family and space operas, this is the podcast for you.
