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Some netflix non-fiction
Aug. 28th, 2019 03:45 amNetflix is a blessing for me because it helps me rest and gives me something to do when I'm feeling especially ill. Here are some non-fiction shows I watched recently.
All in My Family
This filmmaker, Hao Wu, is a gay man living in New York with his partner. His parents and extended family live in China. This documentary is about his family and their reactions to him, his partner, and their new kids. I kind of hated this: his mother is a nightmare by my standards. There is not a lot of pushback against the family's homophobia and other biases (the father speaks of pinching the babies' noses to make them less flat, for example). 40 minutes.
Diagnosis
Lisa Sanders runs the diagnosis column for the NY Times, and I enjoyed her book, "Every Patient Tells a Story." She seems like a deeply kind and thoughtful person. However, this show is extremely flawed. The episodes are approximately 45 minutes when the material to fill them is about 20 minutes' worth. The premise itself is troublesome: assuming that there exists a diagnosis for every patient. There are plenty of un-discovered or un-characterized illnesses, and many diagnoses that are syndromes or just a latin description of symptoms. Some of the episodes were deeply frustrating to watch. Not recommended.
Blown Away
Just a fun and beautiful show that is a glass-blowing competition. I liked this a lot. The episodes are short and I would have liked more technical explanations, but OTOH they moved along nicely.
Exhibit A
Four gripping episodes explore junk science that is used in courts to scapegoat and railroad (probably) innocent people. Each episode explores a particular case, a particular defendant, and the type of forensic "science" used to go after the person. This material was so thought-provoking and enraging!
Episode 1 is about video; in this case the video itself was not flawed, but the prosecution brought in an "expert" who had some kind of fake technology that convinced the jury that the video was lying to them, that the perpetrator was not 5'7" but was actually 6'2". The interviews with this so-called expert are WILD; he acts totally convinced of his own bullshit.
The other topics are: cadaver dogs, Touch DNA, and blood spatter.
These episodes are very skillfully made, and I recommend this if you are interested in the material. Some of it is very upsetting (murder, child abduction, etc). There was also a shelved episode about bite mark analysis (https://www.talkhouse.com/the-lost-pilot-episode-of-exhibit-a-in-words-and-photos/). I admire Netflix for having this documentary along with "Making a Murderer" and "The Keepers", which are critical of police and district attorneys. It's clear to me that there are terrible systemic problems and that forensic science (so called) is one of the tools in the toolbox of evil and corruption.
All in My Family
This filmmaker, Hao Wu, is a gay man living in New York with his partner. His parents and extended family live in China. This documentary is about his family and their reactions to him, his partner, and their new kids. I kind of hated this: his mother is a nightmare by my standards. There is not a lot of pushback against the family's homophobia and other biases (the father speaks of pinching the babies' noses to make them less flat, for example). 40 minutes.
Diagnosis
Lisa Sanders runs the diagnosis column for the NY Times, and I enjoyed her book, "Every Patient Tells a Story." She seems like a deeply kind and thoughtful person. However, this show is extremely flawed. The episodes are approximately 45 minutes when the material to fill them is about 20 minutes' worth. The premise itself is troublesome: assuming that there exists a diagnosis for every patient. There are plenty of un-discovered or un-characterized illnesses, and many diagnoses that are syndromes or just a latin description of symptoms. Some of the episodes were deeply frustrating to watch. Not recommended.
Blown Away
Just a fun and beautiful show that is a glass-blowing competition. I liked this a lot. The episodes are short and I would have liked more technical explanations, but OTOH they moved along nicely.
Exhibit A
Four gripping episodes explore junk science that is used in courts to scapegoat and railroad (probably) innocent people. Each episode explores a particular case, a particular defendant, and the type of forensic "science" used to go after the person. This material was so thought-provoking and enraging!
Episode 1 is about video; in this case the video itself was not flawed, but the prosecution brought in an "expert" who had some kind of fake technology that convinced the jury that the video was lying to them, that the perpetrator was not 5'7" but was actually 6'2". The interviews with this so-called expert are WILD; he acts totally convinced of his own bullshit.
The other topics are: cadaver dogs, Touch DNA, and blood spatter.
These episodes are very skillfully made, and I recommend this if you are interested in the material. Some of it is very upsetting (murder, child abduction, etc). There was also a shelved episode about bite mark analysis (https://www.talkhouse.com/the-lost-pilot-episode-of-exhibit-a-in-words-and-photos/). I admire Netflix for having this documentary along with "Making a Murderer" and "The Keepers", which are critical of police and district attorneys. It's clear to me that there are terrible systemic problems and that forensic science (so called) is one of the tools in the toolbox of evil and corruption.
