S02 Episode 3: Gilded Souths & S-Towns by About South published on 2017-07-21T04:25:35Z With around 40 million downloads, Brian Reed’s hit podcast S-Town prevails in the American conscious and understanding of the south. In this episode, we sit down with David Davis, a professor of English and Southern Studies at Mercer University, to discuss the telling of a southern reality in S-Town. We look at how Reed’s telling takes a real story of human complexity and frames it as fiction, buying into southern gothic tropes and obscuring the lives of his subjects with a thin layer of regional gold. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. Genre Learning Comment by brightbluedress S-town doesn't just reveal John B's complexities, but explores the multi faceted aspects of small town life in rural Alabama, offering an insight into the kind of things that go on in Woodstock, in Bibb county and other similar parochial towns and counties throughout the south. I urge you (or anyone else who has only listened through once) to listen again, and then... listen AGAIN - to fully appreciate the FULL story (and all of it's layers) of this one, small 's-town'. 2017-07-26T14:36:00Z Comment by brightbluedress If you honestly believe that the ONLY 'revelation' of the show is that John B is a complex character, then I would suggest you listen again. IMO there is FAR more to s-town than the option to analyse John B's character. There are the interactions between John B and people he knew throughout his life, these relationships have their own complexities and as a listener I felt invited in, to peel away the layers of said relationships, to delve beneath the surface of these relationships. Whether that makes listeners voyeuristic is debatable (personally, I don't see that this is anymore voyeuristic than being given detailed facts regarding circumstances of any 'real life crime' type podcast content - these points are needed in order to form opinions) but to fully engage with the podcast you HAVE to take up the show's creator's invitation to explore further than you might feel entirely comfortable with ordinarily. 2017-07-26T14:33:26Z
