Blog Post: Our Growing Obsession with the Documentary - and the Attempts by Streaming Services to Capitalise On It.

The documentary film is one that has continuously proven itself as an essential tool in the enlightenment of the contemporary population. In recent years, numerous documentary films have provided an insight into a wide range of themes, conundrums and issues within our modern existence. Topics from social injustice to warfare have been investigated within many of these documentaries. As such, it has become a great resource in educating and informing citizens about the world in which they are entrenched. The documentary film has the ability to confront some of the most uncomfortable, harrowing and thought-provoking aspects of our existence. Therefore, the power of the documentary film should not be overlooked.

With the increased reliance on streaming services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, major streaming services have incorporated the documentary film within their media platforms. In recent years, there has undoubtedly been a huge influx in documentary films appearing on streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime. However, a certain type of documentary has found its home within these major streaming services. In particular, Netflix has a wide range of documentary series surrounding true crime and miscarriages of justice. It seems as though a new documentary series surrounding crime is uploaded to the platform every week. Such a large influx in this category of documentary film begs the question - why are audiences so intrigued by crime, murder, death and the illegalities of contemporary existence? But even more interesting, why do streaming platforms attempt to capitalise on this fascination?

Of course, such streaming services are at their core a business, and so their main preoccupation is to ensure that people consume the media that they upload. Therefore, the multiplication of such crime documentaries is a reaction to what Netflix and AppleTV know will garner viewership. Audience fascination and intrigue with crime documentaries encourages streaming services to upload and create content that reflects this. However, what is left as a result is an abundance of poorly-made, half-hearted attempts at documentary filmmaking. Oftentimes, these documentaries seem to be made purely to attract viewership and are less concerned with creating impactful, resonant and poignant meditations on contemporary existence. This over-saturation of mediocre documentary on such platforms provides contemporary audiences with stories that forget to reflect ideas of our existence. We are left with a story with no dimensionality to it other than telling a story. Such documentaries lack greater reflection and deliberation on society as a whole. This is what documentary should be about - the enlightenment of our existence. Unfortunately, major streaming services have thwarted documentarian John Grierson’s vision as the documentary film as one of education.

As a society, we must pivot away from these one-dimensional, poorly-executed documentaries that seem to litter all of the major streaming services. We should search beyond them for the documentaries that have made us question, deliberate and contemplate what it means to live in this existence. We should find the documentaries that illuminate issues within the world that we were not aware of. Finally, we should source documentaries that force us to contemplate on ideas and topics that are oftentimes bigger than ourselves. This is why the documentary film was first made, and this is how it should remain - untainted by contemporary film businesses attempts to capitalise on your viewership.