I have a love hate relationship with most documentaries. On the one hand, there’s a lot of information, perspectives and amazing tales you can pick up on when you watch them, especially of the biographical types.
On the other hand, they are selling you a carefully crafted narrative. Everything-, from the scenes they use, to the background music, the lighting, the words – even the very cadence they are spoken in. All of that is deliberately used to draw you in and convince you that what you are seeing and hearing is the Truth. Conspiracy based media is especially good at doing this.
When this is the autobiography of Meatloaf, the greatest singer to ever be a vegetarian, this isn’t much of a problem. When it’s trying to convince you of something regarding a complex subject, or an unpopular view point, say vaccines causing autism or the benefits of being Vegan. Well, you honestly can’t ever be skeptical enough.
Skepticism has its own benefits, too. If you catch an interesting documentary, like the one I just watched titled, “I Am Not Your Negro”, you get to go down various rabbit holes and learn more about people from history. You get to take their words and listen to them outside the context of the documentary, maybe even compare them to your own experiences and come to your own conclusions. Those rabbit holes become more instructive than the documentary itself.
