Queering the Unseen Character

Abstract

Welcome to Night Vale (Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, 2012–) is a neo-radio drama podcast that uses specific aesthetic techniques in program formatting, vocal performance, and a descriptive absence as queer gestures leading to the creation of an unanchored acousmêtric lead character, Cecil Palmer, played by Cecil Baldwin. This article explores the show’s use of radical ambiguity through a remediated aesthetic and “noise” to set a queer uncanny scene. The use of queer vocal markers, a masked sonic color line, and racialized casting practices all contribute to the creation of an unseen/undescribed character that is open to audience interpretation. Combined with the creative production team’s assertion that all audience visualizations of the character are to be considered equally canonical, Welcome to Night Vale has created not only an acousmêtric character, but one that is a multiform as well. Though there is a long history of undescribed characters in sound studies and audience use of reverse ekphrasis to visualize characters is not new, the combination creates the opportunity for audiences to create infinite canonical variations of the same character—an innovative sound structure.