Making a Murderer, Serial, Justice

By now, a whole hell of a lot has been written about Netflix series Making a Murder. The documentary series follows events leading to the murder conviction of Steven Avery. It's a story filled with injustices, beginning with his release from prison in 2003 after serving 18 years for a rape he was exonerated for based on DNA evidence. That part of the story alone is bad enough, revealing what is either incredible incompetency in the Manitowoc County, Wisconsin police department or an elaborate conspiracy. Or both. And the journey to Avery being (mis)tried and convicted of murder in 2007 is one that will test your definition of justice at every turn. 

Make no mistake, what we see in the series is skewed to make you side with Avery. But there are parts of it that no amount of skewing would change. By the end of the series I don't know if I believe Avery is innocent, but I also don't think that's even the point. The fact is the police and DA most definitely pulled some shady shit. I'm not going to go off on a rant (maybe just a little) about prisons and the justice system and racism, but I do have to point out that it's interesting that everyone is so taken by the case of a white dude who was fucked over by the system, while black kids get shot by cops daily. End rant. Plus, I'm not sure Avery is completely innocent, either. I don't know. 

In related news, Serial has started posting daily updates from a new hearing in the case of Adnan Sayed that could result in an overturned conviction. If you never heard season 1 of Serial, you don't know what you're missing. Making a Murderer was good, but it was definitely no Serial. For starters the producers of the podcast are master storytellers where I think the makers of the Netflix series were more lucky than anything else because they happened to be there making a documentary about how Avery would acclimate back into society and then the murder case happened. It sort of just fell in their lap. Also, by skewing the way they did, I think they lose some of the impact a more ambivalent point of view would give them. Serial never chose a side and left you questioning everything. Like life. 

And I guess the larger question left is what if Avery and/or Sayed are guilty after all. Does that justify any shortcuts taken to lock them up? If I were a cop, DA or judge and I knew for a fact, that the accused was guilty, would I manipulate evidence or otherwise influence the outcomes? Honestly, I think I would. But that's why I'm none of those things. I'm just a guy watching a show or listening to a podcast. And I expect more from those that chose to be arbiters of justice. I think we all should. 

Podcatching: Goodfellas Minute

Every year around Christmas, usually the day after, I have a tradition that goes pretty far back. Maybe not as far as I can remember, but probably close to 20 years. It's something I do on my own, because it's my thing but I am looking forward to the day and hoping it works out, that I can share in and pass this tradition on to my daughters. I'm talking, of course, about my yearly Goodfellas re-watch. But the thing is, I skipped it last year. I skipped it and it's been gnawing at me for months. Hanging over my head like a helicopter every time I hear a reference or a direct quote. But I found relief. I found comfort for the next few months in the form of the Goodfellas Minute podcast, where three fellas (also good) go over the film one minute a time, in detail. And what's better, these are guys that I've heard before and kinda missed hearing.

Back when I was more deeply into comics, I used to listen to iFanboy's weekly podcasts every Monday morning, religiously. I was just starting to blog about comics and learned a lot from listening and reading their reviews. This was serious comics journalism that went into story structure and really looked at comics from a more literary point of view, don't let the name fool you, but they still had fun. I joked at the time (to myself and I may have posted it on the iFanboy community at some point) that I came for the comics, but stayed for the Goodfellas references. And it was true.  But also, because the guys, Conor, Ron and Josh, were just fun to listen to, in addition to knowing their shit about comics. They have chemistry that is palpable and infectious. They're just real funny guys, like the way they say things, you know.

What it feels like when you listen to these guys. Minus the impending violence.

Podcasts are a weird thing. You listen to any for a period of time and you start to think you know these people. That doesn't happen when you watch a late night talk show or anything else. It feels very intimate, like you're just hanging out with these people that are talking about this stuff. In your car. Add social media to the mix and I could see how it could get crazy. These guys could be the Beatles in certain circles. The point is, although I don't know these guys, I know them enough that when I heard about this Goodfellas thing I immediately had to listen and when I did, it was like I was still going on those long morning drives to drop off Shayera at my mom's house before work, back when she was just a baby. Which reminds me, I have to catch up with the Filmpsotting crew at some point soon, my other road buddies from that time.

The Master at Work

Anyway, the Goodfellas Minute is so far on minute 13 as I write this with new episodes coming out every weekday. I caught up with it after finding about it this weekend, so 13 minutes in 4 days. Not bad. The episodes are short, because how much can you say about one minute of film, although they say much more than I thought possible. The format is based on The Star Wars Minute podcast which I've never heard, but might give a shot. But what makes this work so well is that Conor, Ron and Josh all have somewhat personal connections to the material. They all live(d) in New York, but beyond that Josh apparently lived in the neighborhood where they shot the scenes of young Henry Hill. Ron is Italian as fuck and his dad - well, I won't spoil anything, but by episode 5 his dad already emailed the show with some extra information. I'm sure we'll hear from him again. And Connor loves Italian food and once rode an escalator with Scorsese.  So, you know, experts.

This isn't highbrow film criticism, but yet, these are smart, educated dudes who know a few things about story telling and pictures. Plus, the concept of going over a film minute by minute is bound to reveal details both intended and not that add to the overall appreciation and understanding of the film. Already, I can't wait to see the movie again because they've mentioned some things I don't think I've noticed in my countless times watching the movie. Fuck, this might backfire. Is it Christmas yet?

Podcatching: WTF - Robert Kirkman

On the Robert Kirkman episode of Marc Maron's WTF Podcast, Marc talked about being late to the party and it was like listening to myself. He was talking about comics, but it's a mentality I've had for some time. Hipsters are always bragging about being into things "before they were cool." I've been that guy. There's something to be said for that. But I'm also the guy that famously said to a friend once, just a couple of years ago, that I thought I was finally ready to get into Outcast now that the hype had died down. But then again I'm not the type that will like something just because it's cool or just because it's not cool. Not just because I'm old enough to not give a fuck, either. I've always been pretty fine with liking what I like. But still, the whole thing about hype is that it can sometimes ruin a good thing for me if everyone is constantly going on about how great it is or it's something that becomes unavoidable in the mass culture, like Outcast was for a while. So, yeah, Marc talks about how it's better to be late to the party because if it's still going on, then it was probably a good party. Truth.

Kirkman with his agent and manger.

So then Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead comes on and reminds me I haven't been reading the comic in far too long. I need to get back into it. I just have to find the time. I've heard and seen interviews with him before so I know he's funny, humble and amazingly down to earth. This interview demonstrated that in full force. I was surprised to learn that he didn't grow up watching horror movies and really only did so when he was in his 20s, which is what lead to his creating The Walking Dead. I guess I always figured he was a huge horror buff, but now that I think of it, it kind of makes sense, since his approach to explore the humanity more than the "horror" aspects.

But it was really near the end of his interview that it really hit me why these are two guys that every kid that wants to be an artist of any kind needs to listen to. They talked about how Kirkman, when he was struggling to get his career going, would just lay on the ground and shake because he was so deep in debt and had no way to get out. He had made a decision at some point to pursue this dream of being a writer. And yeah, he finally made it and it more than just "worked out" for him. But he also very clearly said that if he had to do it again he probably would not and would just go work in a bank or whatever. That he really truly just got lucky and it didn't have to go that way at all. And Marc seconded that. That message is so refreshing.

They're not walking now!

Our culture is obsessed with romanticizing struggle. We love the myth of the starving artist paying dues and emerging because of perseverance and talent. But the reality is that shit is crazy and for every success story you can think of there are thousands and thousands that were maybe more talented and also never gave up, but still got nowhere. Yet if someone were to stop and go the more conventional way in life, they'd be labeled a quitter or whatever. That's not even remotely fair. Sometimes you just have to know when enough is enough and that choice is up to the individual. There should be no shame in one or glory in the other. The glory for Robert Kirkman isn't that he struggled, it's that he's damn good. It's that he has something to say. Whether he struggled to get there or had it handed to him wouldn't change that one bit. Stop glorifying struggle is all I'm saying. Then again, isn't that what The Walking Dead is all about?  What the fuck. (See what I did there?)

Podcatching: Serial Season 1

Juries are supposed to carefully weigh evidence and the case presented and make a decision based on whether the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But what is reasonable when the case presented may not be, and hardly ever could be, the same as the truth? Unless there's video of the crime clearly showing the defendant perpetrating it, it's all just he said/she said in the end. It's all one big puzzle that depends on which side can best put it together, but neither side is going to really give you a complete picture. That's the biggest take away I have from Serial's first season because whether or not Adnan Syed really murdered Hae Min Lee, there are many reasonable doubts, and it's not just because he says he didn't do it.

What is justice then? Can we focus on actually punishing guilty people when guilt itself is so contingent on a process that relies on storytelling? It all comes across as subjective. These aren't big revelations at all, but when you listen to a story unfold, after the fact, without the context of one side trying to hide things from the other like you do on Serial, it really drives it home that even with objectivity, things still aren't clear. What does that say about our justice system? And this is before we even consider things like race, prejudice and any other form of corruption that might muddy the waters further. 

Is this even possible in most cases? 

I consider myself a pretty good judge of character. I've been burned enough to be able to say that at this point and mean it. I'm very careful about who I believe and why about everything. But it's a hard thing. At the end of the day, unless you're a completely cynical bastard (which I'm really not) your first instinct when speaking with a human being is likely to take them at face value. I'm not talking about just naively accepting everything they say, but the middle ground is not thinking everyone is lying about everything or even having to verify every little thing they say. And the more you learn about a person's humanity, the more likely you are going to be believe their story. So I believe every person on every side of the story on Serial. I also don't believe any of them because they contradict each other, themselves and known facts so often that it's a literal mess. Like life. 

I don't know how they will top themselves, but Serial's second season should start sometime this Fall. It's going to be interesting listening week to week, as intended (hence the name) rather than binging like I did. I have no idea what the new story will be, but I can't wait. This is great stuff. Go listen damn it. 

Podcatching: Serial - The Alibi

We recently bought Clue and have been playing with Shayera. It's a good game for learning some reasoning skills. I never really played this growing up, but it's funny how one thing leads to another sometimes. Who doesn't love a good mystery? There's a reason crime procedurals have always been popular, from Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie to Law and Order, True Detective and beyond. In a sense every story is ultimately a mystery, but there's just something about the search for motive, making sense of senseless acts or maybe it's the idea that with enough intelligence justice can prevail. I don't know. All I know right now is that I can't wait to hear the next episode of Serial, the podcast from the producers of This American Life, that follows one story about a murder, over 12 hour long episodes.  I heard the first one this morning, and since the first season has already been completed, I know I have to zip through this before it gets spoiled.

Murder is fun!

The story is a simple one at heart. A high school girl was murdered in Baltimore (The Wire! Homicide!) in 1999 and her ex boyfriend was accused and convicted, even though he maintains his innocence to this day. What stood out to me listening to this is that in just the first hour, I changed my mind about who I did and didn't believe at least 4 times before giving up entirely on predicting who did what. What's amazing about the way the interviews and narration are conducted by Sarah Koenig, is that I'm now fully on board with these characters who happen to be real people. I've already forgotten I was just listening to a podcast and not watching a great TV show that I would forget wasn't real because that would also be so absorbing. I'm only one episode - one hour - in!  This is that good.

I'm sure this journey will reveal some big truths about human nature. It already has really. For example, the first episode deals a lot with memory and what a person will or won't remember about an average day weeks, months or even years after the fact. Memory is a weird thing because I think we all think that if we remember something, then that's how it happened. But we definitely fill in the blanks and frame events from whatever new perspective time has given us, if we remember it accurately at all. So what about those times when we have no memory of something? Why would not remembering be suspicious? I'm being vague on purpose. I don't want to spoil anything, just go listen to this thing.  And if you have heard it, shhh. Wait til I finish.