As my busy Tuesday finally came to a close I sat on the living room floor while chatting and gossiping with my roommates.
“Guys last night…”
I was immediately cut-off by my roommate who finished my thought. In an overly-harsh mocking tone she said:
“I watched this great documentary on Netflix! You guys have to watch it!”
My roommates all laughed (something that I constantly must deal with in my home) and I gave up my attempt to increase their awareness of some new global issue that I learned about at 3am last night.
My roommates never appreciated my excitement when finding a new good documentary on Netflix. What is so wrong about wanting to be aware of the issues? When I click play I immediately feel more informed on global issues. So what if I’ve seen Blackfish 6 times…I could tell you so much about the mistreatment of Orca Whales and the corrupt exploitation of marine mammals. That has to come in handy at some point of my life, right?
There are so many issues that our world is struggling with that I have learned about from my Netflix documentaries. While not all of them are exactly critical or groundbreaking issues, (the documentary on the fattest man alive could probably fall in that category) they all expose a part of society that I was previously unaware of. I am always flabbergasted by the amount of poverty and suffering that goes on in undeveloped countries which we turn our heads at in our daily lives. We are all so busy with school, work, internships and maybe the occasional party or two, the real issues like child sex-trafficking in Asia, become almost fictitious fantasies that we choose to ignore.
I am personally drawn to the more interesting documentaries; maybe this is because by watching a man fall in love with a 14-year-old kid online (who he believes to be a swimsuit model), it makes me feel as though I may be considered normal. Hey, I may have fallen down the front stairwell at a fraternity house while trying to walk in wedges once or twice, but I never got addicted to eating my own drywall.
But in a serious note, exploring an unknown world for an hour at night through these documentaries I have learned about so many aspects of life I would never have known about. Whether is was something significant like learning that the ocean, that we all take for granted, will not last much longer at current rate we are polluting it. Or even witnessing something scary, like the disturbing ability of charming leaders to convince teens into joining a murderous cult. Each documentary is so eye opening and educational regardless of the seriousness of the content (yes I said educational, but I swear that’s not always a bad thing.)
It is easy to get caught up in this fast-paced lifestyle and push the important issues deep down inside, that same place where we keep our memories of what happened last Friday night… By simply turning on a documentary it puts one in a new and unknown place expanding our sense of perspective, even if only as far as to the world of a pageant mom who spray tans abs onto her 3 year old toddler. I know my roommates could consider my obsession with Netflix documentaries stage one in my path to social-destruction, but I truly believe I have become so much more globally aware because of them. I am not asking you to go watch Blackfish 6 times (because now writing this article I realize that is not okay, no wonder my roommates are concerned) but maybe next time your browsing the halls of Netflix, you may go to the Documentary section.
10 Netflix Documentaries you NEED to watch:
“Half the Sky” – A heartbreaking look into the lives of children in underdeveloped nations, and the hardships they endure.
“Food Inc.”- Hold your McDonalds! This documentary takes a deep look into the corruption, which is the US meat and food industry.
“It’s a Girl”- An eye-opener. “It’s a Girl” exposes the truth about the current gendercide crisis: the killing of millions of young girls because of the societal stigma.
“I Escaped a Cult”- If you like scary movies or CSI-type shows this one is for you!
“Blackfish”- This one got me hooked on documentaries. Blackfish exposes the truth behind Seaworld and cruelty behind their animal shows.
“Into the Abyss”- Uncovers the truth about a Texas murder.
“Craigslist Joe”- One of my favorites! Joe lives solely off of Craigesist, you have to see it to believe it.
“Email Order Bride”- This is one for the romantics. “Email Order Bride” takes a look inside the internet bride sites which match US men to brides in Russia.
“Forks over Knives”- Another food industry game-changer.
“How to die in Oregon”- This one is actually my favorite. A documentary that touches on the untouchable subject of death.