10 Netflix Documentaries You NEED To Watch
Just because you have some free time doesn’t mean you should stay in bed all day while you stuff your face with pumpkin pie and watch reruns of “The Bachelor”. During the school year, you work hard, studying for tests and completing projects. Don’t let your budding mind turn into mash when you have some downtime! You can relax on your couch and dive into important issues and fascinating subjects. Educate yourself on institutional racism, discover a fashion icon and go inside the world of the amateur porn industry through these ten great Netflix documentaries.
1. 13th
The 13th Amendment in the constitution refers to the abolishment of slavery. Director Ava DuVernay examines how African Americans are still enslaved, but instead of on plantations, they are disproportionately incarcerated. One out of four African American men will serve prison time at one point or another in their lives. 13th explores America’s history with racial inequality and how the prison industrial complex affects people of color.
2. Amanda Knox
American college student Amanda Knox was living a carefree life studying abroad in Perugia, Italy until a November morning in 2007 when her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, was found brutally slaughtered in the house they shared. Knox spent almost four years in an Italian prison before being acquitted. Knox shares her side of the story in this chilling documentary.
3. Super Size Me
How many French fries and McDoubles does it take to make a hilarious but terrifying film on the effects of fast food on the human body? Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock uses himself as a human guinea pig and eats McDonald’s three times a day for a month to show the detrimental effects of frequently consuming fast food.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BMaJhbBgdNc/
4. Super High Me
Comedian Doug Benson goes a similar route to Spurlock’s Super Size Me. But instead of gorging himself on McDonald’s for a month, Benson decides to take a more herbal approach. Benson documents 30 days of excessively smoking marijuana and then living 30 days marijuana free to compare the effects of the two.
5. Iris
She wears huge round glasses that covers half her face, has flamboyant style and continues to haggle with fashion buyers and advise models at the age of 95. Iris Apfel is a New Yorker style icon, fashion and interior designer and a business woman who believes personal style is about knowing yourself and maintaining a sense of humor. “More is less & less is a bore” is one of Apfel’s famous quotes.
6. The True Cost
Forever 21, H&M and Zara are popular fashion chains for women to purchase trendy clothing for an inexpensive cost. But, how much are sweatshop workers in underdeveloped countries being paid to make these clothes? The True Cost explores the relationship of consumer pressure for low cost high fashion and the meager wages and dangerous working conditions of sweatshop workers who produce these goods.
7. Audrie & Daisy
Two teenage girls from different cities pass out intoxicated at a high school party and while unconscious are sexually assaulted by boys they call friends. In the aftermath, the girls find photos and videos of their assault on the internet and are cyber bullied on social media and ostracized in their towns. Audrie & Daisy tells the young women’s stories, side by side, detailing the horrors, shame and infuriating backlash that sexual assault survivors receive when they seek justice.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOgOy62hZfs/?tagged=audrieanddaisy
8. Trapped
Trapped goes to the front lines of reproductive rights. Hundreds of regulations were passed restricting access to abortion in America. Reproductive rights advocates refer to these as “TRAP” laws, or Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. Trapped follows the clinic workers, lawyers and women on the battle to keep abortion legal and safe.
9. Jesus Camp
Pint sized preachers spend their summer immersed in an extremist evangelical Christian camp called Kids on Fires to help strengthen and intensify their faith.
10. Hot Girls Wanted
Parks and Recreation’s Rashida Jones produced the 2015 Sundance Festival breakout hit. Hot Girls Wanted provides a look at the realities of the professional amateur porn world and the steady stream of the 18-to-19-year old girls entering it.
Featured photo source: www.favim.com
