Serial – The Malleability of Memory

Earlier today, I listened to a fascinating podcast titled “The Alibi” from the podcast Serial. I first opened the podcast and noticed that it was close to an hour long and I was not the happiest person. I clicked play and was actually hooked from the first couple minutes. This may have to do with the host, Sarah Koenig, being so articulate and eloquent, but who knows. As I continued to listen and take notes, I became invested in the story and actually began my own tiny investigation into Google. I stumbled upon some articles about the case and some pictures of the main characters. I was really hoping that this podcast had some new breakthrough in the case but unfortunately it did not. However, this did not change my attitude towards it, I still think it was absolutely enthralling.

Personally, I had never listened to a podcast before and this was definitely a new experience. Had this investigation been presented to me in a novel form, I definitely would not have enjoyed it as much since I personally daze off quite a bit while reading. This was a new form of learning for me and something I will certainly consider doing again in the future. Now specifically regarding investigative journalism, I think this is a great outlet to present it. I personally responded quite well to this format. The listener gets to paint a picture of what happened in their own mind rather than seeing it on a screen like it would be on television and it certainly works. I feel that an audience member feels more connected to a podcast since they get to interpret it in their own way. A television show has everything already laid out so it is more a sit back and relax sort of thing. Overall, podcasts left a fantastic first impression on me.

The plot of this podcast was captivating and if there was one thing that I would take away from it, it would be the malleability of memory. A psychologist named Elizabeth Loftus has a theory which helps support this claim. To paraphrase, Loftus’ theory states that memories are highly flexible and can be altered by adding new information during the time interval between the event and the time an individual recalls the event. This idea of reshaping memories may have been used during Adnan’s court trial but with the information we have right now, we cannot be sure of that. Almost no one in the podcast seemed to remember what they did a few weeks back and I was quite shocked by this claim. I tried to see if I could remember what I did a few weeks back and the results were shocking. I could not remember! I have better memories for days that I wrote exams, but I have no idea what I did the days leading up to exams besides studying. Now considering the that series has many more episodes, I wonder what other leads they are going to get. As far as I can think, they need alibis for Adnan and the only way they are going to get them is by asking people to remember a certain day, which was more than a decade ago. This raises some red flags because, well, I could not remember a day 3 weeks ago, how in the world are these people going to remember something from 15 years ago. Anyways, I guess we will see how the podcast progresses.

As I mentioned earlier, I was doing my own little google investigation while listening to the podcast. While I was researching, I discovered that the podcast was actually quite a big hit. The podcast even has a dedicated subreddit, r/serialpodcast, on a website called Reddit. For those of you who do not know, Reddit is a website where there a subreddits, which are essentially groups, where people join if they are interested. I was quite surprised when I saw this subreddit because I did not know that the podcast was this famous. As I browsed the subreddit, I found people posting detailed responses to questions and they seemed to be a community. Good for them! Anyways, since the show seems to be quite recognized, I hope the podcast stays as an investigation rather than a reality tv show. Reality tv shows tend to create drama and cliffhangers to attract viewers and I certainly hope they do not do this with this podcast. Regarding Adnan’s family, I hope they get some closure by seeing the amounts of people that recognize and care for their story, but it is nowhere near balancing out the loss of not having their son with them.

Overall, this was a great experience. I am strongly considering listening to more episodes in this series and may consider branching out into other podcasts. Let me know if you guys have any good suggestions! As always I would love to continue the discussion in the comments!

Works Cited

Mcleod, Saul. “Loftus and Palmer.” Loftus and Palmer | Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/loftus-palmer.html.

“r/Serialpodcast.” Reddit, www.reddit.com/r/serialpodcast/.

“Season One.” Serial, serialpodcast.org/season-one. https://serialpodcast.org/season-one