The Benefits of Watching Documentaries.
Documentaries have gained in popularity as the modern world has become more switched on about current affairs, in other words, society has become more, ‘Woke’. With the rise of big stream websites such as Netflix, it’s never been easier to watch documentaries. Netflix in particular made way for the ‘Docuseries’, which makes watching documentaries easier as shorter content seems to be more appealing to watchers in 2022.
Documentaries are educational, insightful and cultural. They are the strongest way to communicate with the world about social and cultural issues that affect us all and also how these issues differ in different countries.
Factual and Accurate information
Documentaries are usually structured as non-fictional films, with non-fictional narrative. They’re usually based on true stories, events, an idea, topic, subject, etc, you get the gist! Ranging from True Crime Documentaries to Music Documentaries, to a Documentary about an Amazonian tribe. What they all share in common is that most of the things we are told in the narrative are true, often told by the key players involved in the events, topic. The people who are featured in the documentary are the ones who were involved, the ones who lived the experience, so any viewer is going to get the authentic experience.
Educate
Watching documentaries is a great way to educate yourself. It is a great way to learn more about the world and expand your knowledge base. Documentaries usually cover little-known aspects or offer different takes on cultural topics people may think they know well. Watching documentaries is a great way for anyone to open their mind, challenge their own thinking and believes and gain a new understanding of the world we all live in.
Cultivate Compassion
Watching documentaries have a way of opening your heart and making it easier for you relate, not only with others but also inwards. A good citizen strives to be compassionate towards themselves as well so they can move forward effectively through life’s challenges while still having empathy toward those around them who might need help or guidance too!
By learning about other people’s cultures or experiences, it makes us open to relate to them easier and have compassion for them and the world around us, watching documentaries doesn’t just make us cleverer, but makes us better human beings.
Discover New Places & Cultures
Life is full of wonders and you can explore them all through watching documentaries. You will gain insights in new places, people, history and even cuisine. Why wouldn’t you wanna broaden your horizons and learn about something new that you don’t know about? Watching documentaries gives you the opportunity to know more about lots of different topics, places and cultures so you can fully engage in a conversation at a party or surprise someone with a surprising fact they didn’t know!
Want to find out more about different types of Documentaries? Click here to read our article on Elements of a Documentary Production.
Current Popular Documentaries
Here is our list of the most popular documentaries that we think are great to watch with many different benefits:
A British True Crime documentary film released on Netflix in February 2022. It follows the the story of a British man who scammed a group of women on a dating app gaining millions of pounds from them. The film follows the group of women as they attempt to hunt him down and recover the millions of pounds he stole. Sound’s interesting right? This show gives you insights of the real danger of dating apps.
Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America
Britains most beloved man, Louis Theroux is back! Louis has always stolen hearts with his intriguing, somewhat funny and terrifying documentary subjects. What also makes Louis so popular is his interview style, instead of appearing condescending, he appears warm, compassionate, interested and hugely sociable, even though he usually disagrees with the subject/interviewee.
Forbidden America is a terrifying meeting with the Far Right. And of course, only Louis can deal with these people. Louis goes around America meeting the latest incarnations of the Far Right, which is a political movement that has come out of the internet and is increasingly making its way onto the political stage.
Filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s first documentary! Arnold makes a deeply moving, realistic yet terrifying document of the life of dairy cows. It follow Holstein Freisian mother cow, Luma and her daughters. We are shown and meet both of them as they are born during the four-year production period of the documentary. Luma’s daughters get wrenched from their mother’s side right after birth and this is the case for most dairy cows. Arnold makes a good case of that industrial farming and animal welfare are uneasy bedfellow. Difficult to watch, it is very insightful but challenges our views on farming, animal cruelty and our way of living.
A brilliant new animated docudrama that has been nominated for both a BAFTA and Oscar by Jonas Poher Rasmuseen. The docudrama is based on true events of the life of a man who exposes his hidden past fleeing from war torn Afghanistan to Denmark while also discovering he was gay.
The film is a heartwarming, heart wrenching telling of someones tough experience being a refugee and feeling lost in a western white world.
An America documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, for six weeks. Many people don’t know about the Harlem Cultural Festival as it happened the same time as Woodstock, which took all the media attention and all the historical attention till today. The festival has a large attendance and performers such as Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly and The Family Stone and The Chambers Brothers.
Documentaries are a great way to educate people about forgotten and lost history and this is what makes Summer of Sound so popular! Watching documentaries teaches us all about things we should know about.
Want to find out how Documentaires are made/structured? Or want to try it out yourself? Click here to read our article on Documentary production and how to create engaging films.
Have a Documentary idea and need some help with pre-production? or just for any of your London video production needs, contact Nostairway today for a chat and a free consultation. We provide all stages of video production, as well as voice overs and photography.
Written by Tina Quinnen.
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