There’s a warning that comes with listening to The Left-Right Game podcast: “Use caution if operating a motor vehicle as it may seem like sounds are coming from … behind you.”
After hearing that warning for the first time I thought, “What am I getting myself into?”
You see, I’m a huge chicken.
I can’t watch scary movies (I hid behind a pillow while watching I Am Legend, the last scary movie I watched in 2007), and have to put down books that are too spooky. So listening to The Left-Right Game podcast was completely out of character for me.
But after listening to the first episode, I needed to know how it ended. If you haven’t heard of the game, I warn you not to read on. You’ll never drive aimlessly in your car again. Because nine people set off on a drive, and what happens to them on the road is nothing short of terrifying.
What is The Left-Right Game?
The Left-Right Game is an audio-immersive experience, a 10-part podcast produced by QCODE Media. The series is narrated by Tom, who receives a mysterious audio file from a friend he hadn’t heard from in a while. The friend, a journalist named Alice, is missing but no one seems to remember who she was. All Tom has to go on are these audio files of Alice’s story she was working on. Alice was joining a convoy of rag-tag characters going out in search of … what exactly?
The Left-Right Game is actually an adaptation of a Reddit thread by Jack Anderson (Reddit user NeonTempo) originally posted in 2017 on the r/nosleep subreddit. The podcast stars Tessa Thomspon (aka Valkarie in the MCU) and W. Earl Brown (from Scream).
Dissecting the story of The Left-Right Game
The podcast is, at its core, digital fiction. From the original Reddit thread to the immersive audio experience, this story was to be told and consumed in a digital format. Its storytelling concept – of the narrator finding and playing audio files that were given to him – is very similar to the concept that the Blair Witch Project made famous.
The concept is called “Found Footage” a popular storytelling technique in the horror movie genre. What this technique is good at is convincing the audience that what they’re seeing is real, or at least something that could be true. Even the original Reddit thread is written in a way, similar to the epistolary style of Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Steven King’s Carrie, that offers no indication of whether it’s real or not.
While this podcast is a far cry from the comforting and heartwarming stories produced by Pixar, it still employs several of the Pixar storytelling techniques.
Great stories are universal
The Left-Right Game does have a sense of supernatural attached to it, but the concept of the game itself is universal. And the show pulls on the human condition to be curious about the unknown.
Maybe it’s because I grew up in a rural setting, but aimless car rides with friends were definitely part of my life as a teenager. The Left-Right Game podcast explores a supernatural element to the aimless car ride: You set off on a drive, taking your first left, then your first right, on and on until you arrive somewhere completely unexpected.
The podcast also embodies a relatable environment: a known city of Pheonix, Arizona, as well as a car. Many people can relate to driving in a vehicle for long distances.
Great stories have a clear structure and purpose
The Left-Right Game podcast follows a typical “voyage and return” story arc – where “the main character visits a new world and returns home with a new perspective.” An example of this type of narrative arc is Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, which is rather fitting since the main character of this podcast is also named Alice.
However, I’ll let you listen to the podcast before I tell you if Alice ever returns from this treacherous game and whether she has a new perspective, or if she’s lost forever.
Great stories have a character to root for
The nine characters who make up the convoy that sets off on this paranormal road trip are definitely rough around the edges, even the main character. Everyone is hiding something, everyone has a reason for joining the convoy; as the story develops you learn more about each character.
But you inherently start rooting for them anyway, because, despite their oddities, you want to see them through. And when they start dropping off from the game, you end up stunned and at the edge of your seat, wondering who might be next.
Great stories appeal to our deepest emotions
Of the six core human emotions, The Left-Right Game appeals most to our sense of fear and disgust. The addition of the audio experience gets your heart racing, literally. The best way to listen is with headphones because it really feels like the sounds are coming from all around you.
The audio is a great tool that allows you to feel like you are right there in the story and the sounds of something sinister are right there behind you.
Great stories are surprising and unexpected
There’s no doubt that The Left-Right Game is surprising and unexpected. I have heard nothing like it. The way it tells the story – through “found footage” – as well as the addition of an audio experience, allows this Reddit story to come to life.
In fact, I still can’t stop thinking about it. (Maybe it’s because it still gives me the heebie-jeebies.) Because of this, I have told so many people, especially those who enjoy horror films, about this podcast.
Great stories are simple and focused
With only 10 parts, the Left-Right Game is a succinct story. Each episode follows the rise, climax and fall of a typical story arc, although it does leave on a cliffhanger in some episodes. There are so many ways that the original Reddit story could have been told. (In fact, Amazon is turning it into a show.) But it was told in a podcast format. The producers took out everything that could be a distraction and used just audio to tell the story.
And while there are 10 characters total, each character has a very specific role to play in the story itself.
Should you listen to the Left-Right Game?
If you’ve made it this far, I applaud you. At the first mention of horror, I would have closed my screen and tried not to think about it. By now, I’m sure you’re intrigued, as I was when I listened to the first few minutes of the Left-Right Game.
So if you’re about to power up Spotify or Apple Podcasts, then just know…
I warned you.
EXSM 3989 - Digital Storytelling Class Blog 