Podcast: Night Vale Pilot
Welcome To Night Vale Episode One: Pilot
WelcometoNightVale. “1 – Pilot.” YouTube. YouTube, 14 Jan. 2015. Web. 9 Feb. 2017
Night Vale is a place where things never go quite as expected, and often have disastrous consequences. To those who are familiar with Night Vale that nothing is ever quite right in that town and there is little plot to the show with limited background information given to the events it discusses. Cecil speaks to the audience as if we are one of his own- a citizen of Night Vale but also at the same time an outsider. As an outsider we don’t know what to focus on first. The Night Vale addresses the strange occurrences of its everyday life suggests that we are assumed to be in at least partial knowledge of these affairs. He refers to the citizens of Night Vale by name as if we are to be as familiar with them as he is. The town is given no specific geographical setting for a reason because Night Vale is all around us/ everywhere. This strange and exotic town is a metaphor for everything we live through on a daily basis. Its exaggerated state of being reflects the chaos of our everyday lives. Night Vale citizens battle supernatural forces and inexplicable occurrences while we battle finals week and college tuition, and their questionable authority figures sometimes remind us of our own. Cecil even goes on to talk about the weather and daily going ons of this town as if we are really there. Yet through all of this, they are still able to maintain somewhat (ordinary to them) lives. The goal is to give the show as much animosity as possible while still realing the audience in to make them feel a part of the show and how we in the real world can overcome the also unfair and inexplicable occurances we face. Night vales successful horror is subtle and the pauses or transitions in between in segments gives me an idea for how I could do a reading of Agamemnon to give the audience an idea about how reeling and gruesome some scenes are.
