Docuseries & Documentaries

[Good News Gertie]

Just watched two decent docuseries in a row: LulaRich and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.

LuLaRich is about a tacky leggings MLM started by a Mormon family.

The Inventor covers Theranos (the finger prick blood draw machine that was supposed to be able to accurately run 200+ blood tests from a glorified drop of blood in a machine no bigger than a Space Invaders game console) run by 19 year old con artist Elizabeth Holmes. I was disappointed they didn’t even mention the lower voice she put on for interviews. Bummer.

What is a good docuseries or documentary that you’ve watched recently?

[Destor]

recently, as noted in the rate the film thread, i watched Crumb. probably the most interesting documentary ive ever seen but i touched on it there. ill simply say it shines because it doesnt lecture even though it would be veru easy to do so (which in the case of docs can quickly degrade from documentary into propaganda piece very easily.)

the 2nd best doc ive seen would be One Child Nation. its free on prime. or was. it delves into the one child policy the CCP enacted. really is a must watch both from the perspective of ernest feminism and the dangers of authoritarianism.

netflix has a very interesting series called I Am a Killer. interviewing people on death row. really engaging series though heavily edited for maximum drama. which is fine. the point is to make good tv and i accept that. i do prefer a more raw expirience though. still would recommend.

[Tom Guycott]

Cosigning on One Child Nation.

Had to go back and illicitly rewatch Ken Burns' The Vietnam War (because it's not on Netflix anymore). Funny thing about that series is that it made it impossible for me to watch the one for WWII, because of the 180 in tone.

I realize that this is about to sound kinda hypocritical after I just praised a war doc... but I don't get the "recent" fascination with murderers. And by "recent" I mean what's been around, what, a decade or so now? Killers seem to have supplanted all the alarmist coverage of pedophiles. There are so many stories and deep dives about people on death row or who should be on death row. Heists and scams are crimes I can get behind learning more on: the more clever, the better. But this? It's like the sicker the fucks are, the more they want to detail it. No thanks.

[Destor]

i can only speak for myself but i spend a lot of time reading psychology, sociology and economic texts. all 3 are the study of the same thing just at varying degrees of resolution. individuals, groups, large scale groups. so for me i see the intrigue in sociopathic killers since they nearly always exhibit the dark triad personality traits and its always fascinating because they show us what we are. not what we could be but what we are. underneath. its not about exploring them its about exploring ourselves through them. and hopefully through the process we come out better more complete people having integrated the darker aspects of our personalities into a fully fledged individual.

[Destor]

its for the same reason i spend a lot of time going through socialist and communist texts, and ideally as close to the horse's mouth i can get. there's utility in knowing the worst of humanity because we're all human. when you see dictator kill millions its you. you could do that. and if you dont think you could you're just foolish. there's no evil thats been done that you arent capable of. so if you dont stare into that mirror how do you accept the worst parts of yourself...so thats my intrigue at least.