Tutelary Review Part 2: Application

Thanks 'Stina!

That's the beauty of having three authors to one blog (and one upcoming due date): You never know who's going to post next! (To make myself completely nerdy, I used to be part of a forum where we would have 'post frenzies'...)

Anyway! Back to the 'Tutelary' podcast!

So McLuhan's idea is that radio creates a deeper multi-sensory awareness in comparison to literature which primarily focuses on one sense - sight. But does this effect occur with the podcast? While McLuhan might be loathe to looking at the content (for that is what distracts us, as listeners), I do have to say that the form of the story itself, a dramatic monologue of sorts from the perspective of Albus Dumbledore, suits the medium exceptionally well. Having Albus narrate a sort of pseudo address to Tom Riddle (who later becomes Voldemort, the main antagonist of the series) but in second person creates the interesting effect of placing the listener/audience in Voldemorte's position (an awkward position for any 'fan' of Harry Potter).

However, while the form of the story lends itself to the audio/radio medium well, there are certain pitfalls that accompany the delivery as well. First, a lengthy disclaimer explains the legal precautions of non-plagiarism, etc. which removes the audience from the initial 'state of disbelief'. Second, the narrator of the piece speaks with an accent. Now this accent wouldn't normally bother me (and I'm sure McLuhan would say that it adds a certain texture to the work) but I'm fairly certain the narrator has a mild lisp which makes understanding some of the fanfiction difficult.
Third, the narrator also appears to rush through the narration at a faster-than-regular-flow-of-conversation which leaves the listener in the precarious position of not being able to understand the action (I felt this at the beginning and in the middle of the fiction when the narrator switches from dramatic monologue to limited omniscient perspective).

I would agree with McLuhan's notion that the radio medium fills out a sort of 'greater sensory awareness' in that while listening to the podcast, I could pick up on intricacies of speech that defined concepts of character quite well (small sayings on Dumbledore's part).

Yet, I find there is also a certain lack in the podcast that real radio (particularly radio drama's or radio plays) more adequately fulfills: ambiance. Now this probably has more to do with the fact that the fanfiction is not a play, but is more of a 'book-on-tape'. With radio (and I can only speculate that by radio, McLuhan meant radio plays), a whole realm of sound effects, multiple voice actors, and music accompany a work. With the podcast narration, all the listener has is the narrator herself. As I mentioned already, the form of this particular work lends itself well to the podcast form because of it's dramatic monologue form, but other works of fanfiction might find themselves inadequately represented by the podcast medium as it lacks (or at least the creator of the podcasts lacks) the rest of the sound effects, voice actors, and music that would assist in 'filling in' the rest of the 'sound image'.

However, the podcast form does have the advantage over it's written counterparts as a wider audience (non-literates) can listen to it. Though, I'm not sure about whether that audience would be able to navigate their way too the podcast site as the internet itself requires a certain level of literacy too.

Huh, perhaps the internet, to that extent makes text and literature more 'cool'?

Stay tuned for more reviews!