On page 93 Pope suggests that as part of writing an interpretation (critical or creative), one should "Come to some provisional conclusions about the significance and value of studying [a] text in its own time and terms as well as your own." Briefly, but deeply, describe what you might say about the "significance and value" of Episode 1 of S-town. What particular themes, motifs, elements, etc. would you focus on?
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Introduction to English Studies
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This episode is an introduction and highlights a lot of the critical themes that will be read into through out the podcast. John's depression seems to be something that will play an important part in the story as well as his constant what seems to be contradicting nature. His hypocrisy may play a much larger role in the podcast and unfold a lot of things for Brian.
By listening to and reading over the first episode of the S Town podcast, I have recognized a few themes. The most apparent one at this point is constant confusion which is displayed by John's rambling, Brian's frustration, and even the lack of town records about important events, such as the murder of Dylan Nichols. We also see another case of confusion once John and Brian enter the maze and have difficulty finding their way out. The maze illustrates an overarching attitude of dissociation or departure from logic that pervades this story.
For the first episode the main theme I saw was in the structure of how Brian presented the narrative, gave some sound bytes of John, and then commented on that
If I'm gonna get real English major about it, ep 1 sets up the maze that we spend the rest of the podcast trying to find our way out of. Is John and Brian getting the null set a prediction of what the rest of the podcast is going to be like? John's made the maze, just like hes making the story happen by emailing and calling Brian so much, but I'm not sure he knows how he's going to get out now that its there.
I think that episode one of S town was important because of its role in establishing the complexity of John as a character. Some of the common motifs of the first episode include his fascination with clocks and plants, and his hatred of gossip. Additionally, John's open mindedness and thoughtfulness is often juxtaposed with the depravity, corruption, and conservatism of S town, which leads to a complex love/hate relationship, due to his familial ties to the town, but also due to his desires for it to improve. His unique open mindedness likely contributes to his depression and loneliness in the town. (Thomas Weber)