Someone said to me recently that they felt that audio drama folks weren’t as snobby as podnovel folks.
That was a strange comment to make. Looking back, I do notice that Audio Drama has been seen as the ugly step-child of the podcast community somewhat. Through the years there’s even been some suggestions that audio dramatists could “graduate” to audio novelists if they were good writers. It made me wonder if there were similar ideas between stage playwrights and novelists. Or television writers and movie scriptwriter writers.
Is there a kind of hierarchy of writing and production?
When I think of it I have witnessed some strange behavior through the years. Now, I’m the first one to admit I’m a literary snob of some sort. I enjoy story beyond and above everything else. Good story, for me, is key to any writing in any genre.
I have heard some various forms of audio snobbery though from various quarters:
- American audio drama is more valued than Canadian
- British audio drama is more respected than American
- New audio drama is accepted as better than Old Time Radio
- Podficts is more edgy than audio drama
- Heavy narration is worse than no narration
- Lots of special effects (the “Every Blade of Grass” folks) is seen as modern compared to a limited soundscape
- Horror and Comedy is more popular than drama
- Podcast is better than radio, and streaming is better than podcasts
- Social awareness trumps social commentary
These are the forms that come to mind for me. What snobbery do you see in the art form? Is it justified?