Try actually moving away from the U.S. Does wonders for the sanity — with or without tRump.
5
Seeking sanctuary from the ugliness and noise of US politics? Try literature, art, or music rather than Netflix.
1
I'll check out Protector.
Still some good American stuff on. The scene in Buster Scruggs where Surly Joe gets done in in an "Archimedian" way is comic/horrifying Coen Brothers at their best.
Parks and Rec has markedly increased my bacon intake.
Farhad Manjoo is an unusual hybrid - a tech writer with a true eye and understanding of culture, profit motive, and economics. This is a great article, and the key aha moment is highlighting the subscription-vs-advertising model, and how it affects corporate incentives. Netflix, as structured, is helping bring the global community closer together, as Mr. Manjoo describes.
6
Climate Chaos is the most mind-numbing non-intoxicating portal to the future that is going to eat our breakfast, lunch, & supper. Drink up.
I have started watching English speaking shows with French subtitles. It’s great, “no fault” wasting time because i’m learning French.
2
I am a huge fan of “The Ministry of Time”, a scienc fiction series from Spain. Never failed to entertain and each episode sent me scurrying to. Wikipedia to lookup the references to Spanish history. Superb acting as well.
And “Lagaan” , a film from India, one of the great cinematic works of genius. Don’t get me started. Perfection.
1
Interesting article and I think Netflix has some good programming; however, it’s sad that their app doesn’t work outside the US. I travel internationally over half the year and have never been able to watch Netflix on my iPad in other countries-Italy, Latvia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Zambia, and São Tomé, to name a few of the 50 countries I’ve tried over the past 3 years. Dozens of calls to Netflix so-called “customer service” were all to no avail. Amazon Prime has comparable, if not superior (e.g., “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) programming and is accessible abroad. The recent subscription price increase was the last straw that led to me canceling my Netflix account. I wish it were not so.
1
“For months after the 2016 election, I wanted nothing more than to escape America. I don’t mean literally — in the cliché liberal way of absconding to Canada — but intellectually, socially, psychically. Donald Trump was all anybody talked about, and I needed sanctuary.”
One of the most useful things a famous contemporary psychologist has said: “Nothing is as important as what you’re thinking, while you’re thinking it.” Those of you obsessing about Trump, or anything else, should take this to heart, and simply find something else to think about for a while that is less disturbing.
To Farhad Manjoo, the one man in these United States -- other than my very agreeable husband of 50 years --should you find yourself wandering the streets of Santa Fe, New Mexico, just ring our bell and enter a home that is heir to your every want.
You can add to those Netflix-ians we who are living your life as the unemployed since 2008, the new old, the new ill (man do parts fall apart fast!), and the new poor. Yes, even professionals were axed, unable to rebound if they were old to begin with in 2008.
This saga of an explanation serves to say that Netflix is now a luxury, but they can take my first born before they touch my
Netflix. It is my travel, it is my adventure, it is my passion -- and it's about the only thing we have left. It came with
explorations without explanation. (Under what other circumstances would we binge a teenage angst series, Pretty Little Liars, that had close to 4444 million episodes?)Ditto for The Grand Hotel, Velvet, Velvet-the-sequel -- all of them Spanish and having subtitles which are so well done of late.
We've gone to Turkey, England (the most) and are now returning to Finland via Bordertown, series 2.
We have never had to stand on long lines, been body-scanned nor have we sat on a runway for hours. We just hit play and we're off. Our lives, if not rich, are now richer.
5
It is a possibility that Netflix could help bring the World closer together and that is surely a great thing to ponder. Television viewing itself seems to have the drawback that people are unwilling to do simple things like walk down the road and possibly great people of their own communities face to face. That would heal many wounds too.
1
I think that Netflix will very soon kill cable TV in Colombia, where I live. The success lies in offering viewers many ample choices, and letting them feel as interacting wiith the technology and that their opinion is taken into account. At our home we took cable off the options, mainly because no one watched what they offered. I´d suggest Netflix to also create a suite of options for those of us that hate TV but love information, magazines, nes dailies...
2
I have been trying to figure out how to watch Netflix on my TV - a technical mountain I’ve not yet climbed. Yes regular American TV is generally horrid; program after program, movie after movie with the same theme: murder. Channel surfing is a series of scenes with people pointing guns at each other. I guess this must be what the polls say is what interests Americans, but it turns me off, no matter how good looking or “interesting” the characters may purport to be.
5
I feel guilty about liking the Bake Off Show, but its enjoyable. This American loves his British crimes and dramas shows. Netflix is now embedded in my lifestyle.
3
To each his own. I like "Time Team", the excellent and enthusiastic (until the end when BBC messed it up) archeological dig program that takes excellence and proofs as its goal. This program ran for 19 seasons and was a joy until BBC dumbed it down. It's on Amazon's Prime Video. And the name "Donald Trump" is never heard.
1
Netflix is a great distraction from our everyday normal pursuits! It offers the best media content out there! It's been a godsend!!!
2
this was not a strategic plan by Netflix. they stumbled onto it.
2
I agree with everything here except for the critical point about the relationship between the ad vs subscription basis of the business model and the difference in the effect of content on the viewer. Manjoo may be correct but the argument is unpersuasive. How is that FB, for example, only targets the "most prosperous markets" and yet has literally billions of active users all over the world? I think the difference may have more to do with the type of content offered. FB works (or at least worked, I haven't been on it for more than a year now) by giving you the sugar rush of confirming your political/social biases in a simplistic meme or a short video or what-have-you. Netflix shows engage your desire for a story. And their complexities and the extent to which they defy expectations is desirable when your brain is working in that mode. Thus, you are open to learning something new, accepting another point of view, rather than rejecting the offering as soon as it differs from what you expected to see.
1
I cancelled cable in 2012 and have never looked back. My tabletop antenna brings in PBS and the local channels, which I occasionally consult for weather reports, but the majority of my viewing is on one of the four streaming services that I subscribe to: Netflix, Amazon Prime, AcornTV (mostly programming from English-speaking countries outside the U.S.), and MHz Choice (dramas and documentaries from Scandinavia and Continental Europe).
Participating in online discussion groups for users of these services, I see a constant theme of deep alienation from American TV and Hollywood movies, which seem to feature increasingly cartoonish plots acted by people who look like catalog models but can't necessarily act.
Yet the TV networks and Hollywood filmmakers seem to respond by doubling down on the shallowness and sensationalism. It's all superheroes (yawn), action "thrillers" consisting mostly of car chases and explosions, gross-out horror, and gross-out comedy that is not particularly funny to anyone over the age of 15.
Yes, there are some fine shows on cable, but if they're any good, they eventually come to one of the streaming services.
I feel as if I live in a golden age of international TV, but I will soon be dropping Netflix, as its offerings, many of which I have enjoyed but which have increasingly gone in for sensationalism and shows for teenagers, and replacing it with the Criterion Channel, when that is launched.
6
@Pdxtran
Gosh, but have you been living in our house the past ten years. Especially like how you describe TV networks and Hollywood. In the past half dozen years, I've come to love foreign films (my favorites: http://www.stevenkohn.net/DesertedIslandMovies/foreign_films.htm) and am happy to live in a city large enough to support a public library that made a Netflix account unnecessary years ago.
Agreed that the company provides a wonderful array of viewing opportunities. I wish their system of grading the films was as good. It used to be that one could rely, at least in part, on their system of stars ratings, but no longer. It is totally useless. I think they would be better off hooking up with Rotten Tomatoes, which is what I use nowadays to help me decide on which films I watch.
1
I don't see it helping in the country it started. Doubtful any far-right americans are going to watch any of them furrin' shows...or if they do it will be for mockery.
But to think that teevee will bring the world together is a premise that loses from the start. It is all fantasy because our real world is so bad for the average person.
1
Watching foreign soap operas is an inexpensive, fun way to learn a language, because you get hooked on the plot.
6
And not one country shows suicide as an alternative where the person doing it is reasonable- they’re always mentally ill, depressed, selfish, spoiled or weak. This I find especially true in non-Western cultures. The problem with depicting it is that the viewers would have to face the fact they, everyone of them, failed. The person who has committed the suicide is saying to all of us collectively: it is you who failed, you and what you’ve created aren’t enough for me to stay around. Deal with that
Netflix has helped to expose the American entertainment industry as hopelessly jaded, formulaic, and increasingly irrelevant. In other words, simply out of ideas. The major networks are content to feed us a TV diet analogous to the culinary offerings at 7-11. Night after night, singing competitions (as if the world is lacking for singers). Vacuous crud like Last Man Standing (laugh tracks should have died out in the 70s...). Crime dramas that rely on ever-more bloody and twisted crimes. A resurgence of really, really terrible shows and movies from the 70s and 80s.
One genre that Netflix has helped save: the documentary. Maybe most want to escape; some of us want to learn.
4
If Netflix is selling American ideas to a foreign audience you can bet they’ll be mostly 20 year old reruns.
1
We need to spend far less time watching streaming channels...I try to only visit them briefly... reading books and spending time with other people is far more rewarding...
2
Who cares? Read books. Watching Netflix is passive. It’s for dummies. Reading books is active. It’s not for dummies. I never saw a movie based on a novel, better than the novel itself. Netflix is a waste of time and money. It’s addictive albeit sometimes relaxing.
5
@Paul Strassfield
Reading books and watching movies are mutually exclusive. One can do both. Your comment that Netflix is for dummies is a little extravagant.
2
Our family loves watching international shows on Netflix, specifically Korean, Irish and British shows.
It sounds a bit lame, but we turn on the subtitles for Irish and British shows, even though they are in English. It makes the shows much easier to follow and enjoy.
Derry Girls is a must watch, too funny!
3
Lip syncing - ugh.
Interesting take on Netflix. I am a watcher of many international pieces.
However the throw-away comment "welfare-state-enabled free time" was unnecessary and silly. The British have the same 9-5 hours as the overly-obsessed-with-hardly-any-vacation-time or teeny-time-off-for-baby-birth US citizens
5
There was an important point that was almost lost in the center of this piece--Netflix business model is subscriber-based, not advertising based.
Something that I have thought about since I shuttered my Facebook and Instagram accounts is that the only way to solve the prevalence of false and misleading garbage that blows around the Internet like the wind, is to focus on subscriptions.
If you go slightly conspiracy-theory crazy for a minute, and imagine yourself being tracked by two different algorithms, one being designed to figure out which advertisers should appear before you and the other designed to figure out which shows to put before you, I would take the latter.
What would Facebook be like if it was $7.00 a month in the U.S. and subsidized in Africa and 5.00 Euros in Europe and so on. Which friends would we see? Would we really see an endless series of things that show Trump yelling at something?
I doubt it.
Let's follow Netflix lead. Between Netflix and Apple Music, I don't hear or see an advertisement on any given day. Oh, except here on the front page of the Times.
PS. I would pay $20 per month to get your content ad free.
4
6,000 languages lost. 600 Shakespeares in their native tongues. Gone are exotic places, unfamiliar cultures. Today, Drake is a top 10 artist in Casa Blanca, inTimbuktu, in every human seen on Animal planet. We all watch the same tired Schtick. Netflix is trying to create the 'bliss point' like junk food. An assassin's crosshairs, a terrible villain living it up with a bikini clad--- Bang! As a culture, we are getting dumber, a globalized limbic thrilled animal.
3
A great station offering foreign shows and films would pay a bit more attention to getting the closed captions the same as the dubbed in English language. I have noticed this problem in several shows, most recently in "Unauthorized Living". This is a huge distraction and irritation.
1
On the other hand, providing infinite content for people to watch individually, alone, at home rather than going out or watching them with other human beings - this is probably not “bringing people together” when you think about it.
2
Not even close.
It's YouTube. Between entertainment and information, I could watch YouTube 24/7.
Netflix? It's been a few years since I stopped my subscription, but it's just movies, right? If so, heck, can't I get movies a lot of places? My public library, for example, has a broad catalogue to include foreign films. (I've recently discovered Lina Wurtmuller and the lovely Mariangela Melato.)
No, not Netflix. YouTube.
Full disclosure: I have NO stock in either company.
1
Farhad, you point out that Netflix is subscription rather than advertising based, which I, too, for a time identified as important. But Netflix is even more aggressive than YouTube with autoplay, and trailers that overwhelm us the minute we arrive at its website. Certainly I agree that the quality of content on Netflix is better than that in YouTube, but the site is still set on capturing our attention for as long as possible. Is it because stock price analysts look at how much content users are consuming to estimate long term retention? Becase Netflix wants to sell our data elsewhere? Or perhaps because Netflix eventually will incporate ads - either by promoting content on behalf of others or via product placement? Is it possible that some of this is occurring already?
I appreciate Netflix but in general I find the “pushiness” of tech recommendations excessive. Even if Netflix is recommending content that expands my cosmopolitan view, is it doing that’s out of democratic concern for global humanity? Or out of personal profit motive? If the two were ever in conflict, which would Netflix choose?
Certainly Netflix has some educational value — so does YouTube. Still, I remain skeptical of “binge-worthy” content and would prefer that platforms ask me if I want their recommendations before hammering me with them.
This probably will get lost in the comments, but I’d love to hear everyone’s favorite international shows. I loved the Danish:Swedish version of The Bridge, Norseman, the British The Detectorists and Broadchurch, Australia’s Miss Fisher and New Zealand’s Top of the Lake. I also find I’m reading more international fiction, too. Great, hopeful article!
7
WIth my Netflix and Mhz Choice accounts, I rarely bother with HBO, Showtime and the other cable premiums anymore.
2
Agree 100%! Unable to take cable news and suffering from PTSD, I rediscovered Netflix. Murder Mysteries from UK to Australia were a fresh change. Then I went to cooking shows. Here too the off beaten path was immensely enjoyable! From Michelin stars to a Buddhist monk. The spectrum was fabulous, educational and at the same time inspirational! And it’s so true - Netflix has really changed in the last 2-3 years. The dying genre of feel good/ romcoms from around the world is another plus. What more does a subscriber need!
3
We have voraciously consumed Netflix crime dramas from Wales, Scotland, Sweden, Australia, Cuba and currently Finland. They are generally dark & brooding but let a love of the local landscapes and cultures shine through. A refreshing change from the typical American "Let's Go!" nightly fodder.
Although I have to say, Netflix's robotic dialog replacement system is still very much in it's infancy & reminds me of a Japanese video game of the early naughties(Tom Nook's store in particular). Better to watch in the mother language with subtitles.
5
What an awesome graphic by Max Gunter! I've been so captivated by its details that I have yet to begin reading the article. Thank you for sharing this piece of art. (Any way to buy a framed copy?)
5
Latest success in taking control of creativity: Netflix.
2
There are no boundaries here and that opens the world and invites us to become part of a bigger life.I have been amazed, delighted,challenged, enthralled, horrifed but more than anything deeply grateful that the world has come to me even if I cannot afford to travel the way I would love to.
5
Yes, this is great -
Our family agrees
Netflix is an amazing portal
The Great British Bake Off is a window which is so different from US programming
It’s kind, civilized, and multi-cultural
No one is yelling or demeaning
Have been off cable for 5 years and not missing it all thanks to Netflix
14
I love Netflix. I live in Africa (moved after the election) and it’s amazing to get so much entertainment from so many countries for so little money. I’ve watched many of the shows you mention, and I’ve enjoyed them. I speak three languages, but now I feel like I need to learn more. Rock on Netflix! Rock on! Btw, the American shows still have a place in my line up. It really is a golden age of TV.
5
Great column! After reading it, I realize I'd been taking Netflix's cross-border programming for granted, without giving it much thought. But you're right - it is refreshing, and something to be celebrated!
5
Our family subscribes to Netflix, but we are also lucky enough to have a local TV channel that is the local outlet for the MHz Networks media company, which specializes in distributing international programs (mostly mysteries and soap operas) with English subtitles. I think it has some of same attributes Mr. Manjoo is ascribing to Netflix. One of my favorites is the Italian Nero Wolfe series, where the Italian setting really seems to enhance the stories (aside from the slight incongruity of a sidekick named Archie).
I can't quite decide quite how they fit it to Mr. Manjoo's thesis, but I somehow feel that the several versions of The Bridge and the growing popularity of Chinese science-fiction are also relevant.
1
It is almost a little bit odd. Many of the values I grew up with seem entirely absent from, American movies and t.v. Things like kindness, persistence, and modesty are really absent. So watching British, Korean, Japanese, or German shows on Netflix is far more comfortable than the Real House wives, or anything like that.
Advertising has really killed so much of American Media.
15
@Covert -- "Things like kindness, persistence, and modesty are really absent."
I agree that movies and TV used to feature that much more. There is still some, but it is the exception. Those are the shows I like best.
However, advertising brought those to us, as much as now it does not. The cause is deeper than just advertising. Advertisers are riding the wave of that cultural shift, not making it.
We need to look deeper into that cultural shift.
Thanks for all those great recommendations! Might I return the favor by mentioning my current favorite series on Netflix, "Shtisel" about an Orthodox Jewish family in Israel. It's wonderful and beautiful, mostly focusing on a Rabbi's twenty-something son feeling the pressures of finding a wife and then getting engaged to a woman he does not love. Many episodes are strangely haunting and linger with me long after.
11
Beautifully thoughtful, well written and, in these days of political bleakness, quite optimistic. Thank you Farhood, for such a great piece.
6
It's interesting that Netflix is spending 10 times the money Trump got from the Congress for building the wall to remove the walls between the nations.
20
"According to Netflix, “Elite” has been seen by 20 million viewers around the world. That level of popularity is huge for a teen drama from Spain; an audience of 20 million would be a decent hit on American broadcast TV."
Not true. Netflix claims 20 million, but defines a view as watching more than 60% of a single episode. It does not mean 20 million people are watching the entire show. That would make it a global hit on the level of Game of Thrones.
Furthermore, all the numbers your quoting are coming from Netflix, not a third party like Neilsen. There is little way of verifying these numbers, and of course, there's always a risk the company is going to lie in order to project inflated growth,
4
As a subscriber of Acorn TV, I really enjoy the British, Australian and European programs. They are so down to earth and well done. Thanks for the column.
11
Glad that Netflix is focused on providing entertainment, and is doing it really well. This will automatically "bring the world closer together" without all the social media hype and problems.
3
I just wish they wouldn't start playing things as I browse through the selections. Or give me the ability to turn the feature off. I find it very annoying.
18
The Great British Baking Show was all I could handle, too, in the aftermath of the 2016 election. I slurped up four seasons and never looked back.
14
All fine and nice, and laudable. Yet it like Google has an enormous carbon footprint owing to video streaming. We are lost!
1
I wish you had expanded on your comment. I do not know If you are referring to the amount of energy required to support the video streaming infrastructure: servers, cooling for servers, internet routers, cooling these routers. Most people do not think about this, although it may well be a good way to spend our environment.
1
Thank you for ,allowing to share some other virtues from Netflix ; believe does something extra for
Developing new talent ,for Art. , Before,it was the Hollywood Conglomerate Or Nada
No Money to produce any single film , So today, Director/Producers , Can Risk and bet on talented
People and Another Roma will raise, everyone,wins,
Thus. It has Defeated, the Patriarchy of films production, It Did For a fact Open a Global Talent /Inclusive
Money back guarantee. Wow. Congrats.
Best Sample is Our,Cuarón/Mexico’s Roma, No one would bet , a peso.
2
I enjoyed Roma; I really did as it gave me another opportunity to see privileged white folks (white Hispanics) being served by an oppressed poor woman of color only this time it wasn't in Mississippi; thank god. However, finding Roma or anything else of great quality on Netflix is akin to looking for a needle in my back yard. Maybe I am imagining it, but it appears that Neflix administrators are more concerned with quantity over quality. I would argue that over 70% of its content is low quality. For that reason I spend less and less time on Netflix.
4
@GIsrael
Totally agree with the quantity over quality comment. It seems to be a recent trend.
There are so many more choices now compared to when Netflix first started.
I do love the international aspect of Netflix and them not being afraid to try something new.
I wish them a lot of luck this Sunday at the Oscars.
4
I am fortunate enough to be comfortably retired, and living in Mexico is an obvious choice compared to the bitterly divided, crazy busy, harried and self-entitled contemporary US. The weather is better, the prices low, the ambience relaxed and pleasant, the pace of life unhurried and the people exceedingly friendly and welcoming.. Mexico has its serious problems, but so does the US. The middle and lower classes are materially poorer than their northern counterparts, but they are generally far more content with their lfes. Urban Mexico is surprisingly modern and sophisticated. And yes, we have Netflix.
6
Unfortunately the basis for most of these shows are always the equivalent of "white privilege" specifically upper middle class white values. Perhaps that is what we all aspire to. When I start seeing some shows closer to, "If Beale Street could talk" I'll pay attention
I grew up on PBS (Channel 13 in NYC) watching Masterpiece Theater with my parents. That was my introduction to British dramas. Thanks to streaming (Netflix, Acorntv, BritBox, etc), I only watch dramas, mysteries and comedies from other countries.
8
@Concerned Citizen
Some of my favorites, thanks to Acorn: "A Place to Call Home" and "Vera King" (both Aussie and with the same star), "Vidago Palace" (Portugal). "Cable Girls" (Spain) on Netflix. The latter two are a bit over-the-top, but they're fun - and the fashions are gorgeous.
1
@Raye Sorry, I meant "Janet King"!
I am a big Netflix fan, but I've long felt that there is too much material that exploits violence against women. Then last week, I saw an article that calls Netflix out for this:
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2019/feb/17/dead-girl-trope-what-netflix-love-of-female-victims-says-about-its-viewers
Netflix, are you listening?
6
@Pensive I agree completely and would also call out filmmakers and creatives to stop treating violence against women as entertainment. I hope that MeToo is also causing actresses to reconsider their part in this ugly genre.
Netflix exists to make money. Period.
6
And they won’t make money if they don’t keep offering subscribers engaging content. Personally, I hope they make a lot of money, because it will mean they continue to offer great television
5
I’ve always been curious about the breakdown of voters by party affiliation who subscribe to satellite/cable only vs those who (can afford to) subscribe to multiple internet-based platforms, like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu etc.
1
That certainly would be interesting information to obtain. However, it would only pertain to Americans living within the states. Hulu is not offered in the country I’m currently living in and as an American I am limited to watching shows through iTunes or Netflix. (I really hope Hulu becomes available outside the states.)
intoxicating! Nicotine intoxication is what you mean right?
2
In many urban locales you can see this same program on PBS as in WETA-UK in the greater Washington DC area. We are fortunate to have a cable channel devoted EXCLUSIVELY to programs from the UK and elsewhere. The French channel TV5Monde is doing the same...it's reading subtitle folks but you get a whole new perspective on the world!
3
Netflix has found the switch that spells the beginning of the end of Hollywood and its affiliates's run of luck. In an increasing interconnected world, the recipe of regurgitating the same provincial scripts with the same provincial casts is doomed to share the fate of the Titanic, only this time its Hollywood captains did not even know their ship was rudderless.
Great British Baking Show is a gift to us all! It is priceless!
6
Great article. I follow the news papers NPR etc in the morning then flee to Netflix and other international platforms for relief and restoration. I have become especially interested in Turkish tv and movies out of programs from so many countries and cultures. Thanks for drawing attention to the international pleasures of Netflix. The best part of the service.
3
Netflix?
I've subscribed to Netflix for at least a few years now. Over the years it's changed in both good and bad ways. The bad ways are they stopped people from being able to read/write movie reviews and they seem to be dumbing down the whole film selection process (the visual format of the site, streaming and DVD). Also they seem to have no consistent pattern of improvement in choices of films that you can stream (they had some good ones, dropped them, but then got some other good ones, and overall there seems no consistent plan of improvement, and it is true as people have pointed out that they've been trying to develop own films and present TV shows, etc. I wish they would just try to do it all).
But one of the best things about Netflix is foreign films, how they made it easy for even a person uninterested in foreign films to watch at least one or two. I've watched Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Philippine, Australian, Indian, not to mention a wide variety of European films and a number from South America (Argentine, Brazilian, Chilean). Netflix should go all out even at risk of less profit to get the best and classic films the world over and be an empire dedicated to best of film/TV as possible and spread it as wide over the world as possible. Netflix could be a true legend. At least I think so, but I know nothing of business and just a little about idealism. Particularly annoying about Netflix is no longer being able to read movie reviews and guessing about films.
6
I learned more about China watching a cooking show called "Flavorful Origins" than in any of my usual reading. I found out the Chinese are the most talented and expert excellent cooks in the world with ingredients found no where else in the world that taste like nothing you've ever tasted ever any where else in the world. I had no idea the Chinese were so unabashedly proud of their cooking. Still pondering what it all means, which is a very good thing.
3
I watch a lot of Netflix, often to prepare for regular international travel. This article touts the international source of Netflix’s content. But although the company distributes in 190 countries, the recent offerings the author touts as looking “like a Model United Nations” includes work from Japan, Australia, Britain, Spain, Turkey, and Italy. Not exactly representative of the world, nor of Netflix’s subscribers! Put "international" in the search bar and you will find filters for most European countries; and many, including tiny language communities (like Dutch with 29 offerings), have separate entries for their languages. Yet there is only ONE for "Africa" - a continent of 54 countries - with only 27 offerings! Surely there are more African films that deserve a chance at an international audience, and that viewers around the world should have the chance to watch? In Latin America, only Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico get their own filters. More films are available from Asia, but almost all from the four most populous countries - only 10 from Southeast Asia?! Yes, more films are produced in France than Kenya. But many of us want to - and more of us need to - learn about the world through films and, much like our counterparts in developing countries, would like to see better international variety.
6
So happy to see this article. I've been kvelling over being able to watch Japanese TV (Sweet Tooth Salaryman, Atelier), Canadian TV (Kim's Convenience), Roma (of course!), tons of high-quality anime, and so many other great shows from abroad...all from my little house on a mountainside in the middle of nowhere. Something to be happy about in this sad world.
7
As an English teacher at a German school in Italy, I am always amazed how much my high school seniors enjoy the British dystopian series „Black Mirror“. It has triggered countless discussions about current and potential future developments, and all of them in the target language. What more could a foreign language teacher ask for?
14
I only watch Netflix on a tablet and my phone.
I haven't owned a TV in 20 years.
I get the NYT and NECN plus public radio for the NEWS
I also have seen Farhad's short videos and enjoyed the recent one on journalism and BuzzFeed.
Good piece.
What Netflix is doing is a great Breath of Fresh Air.
2
Monty Don is my current favorite escape.
3
Technology changes world. Netflix is going to win the buzz. But the international programs are more for people who are willing to open their mind and try something that out of their complacent zone.
2
I kinda love this take on Netflix. I would add that shows in the HG category like Escape to the Country and others that show the home life and neighborhoods of other countries have the same effect of bringing folks together rather than dividing them. Australian TV has been a wonderful addition. I hope Netfix can fight to keep its model in tact.
2
This article completely rings true, especially when I look at my item Netflix watching behavior from the last year. My friends and I gathered on New Year's Eve to watch a Bollywood film, saw a Saudi film when friends were visiting, had a gaggle of misty eyed lesbians in the living room when Nanette dropped, and have spent more nights than we care to admit showing each other new Japanese productions through Netflix. The service has opened our world view beyond what we could stream on other platforms, and it leads to moments of sharing with one another and social bonding.
6
Brilliant!
1
Sorry I found roma unbearably boring
1
it's just a memoir and a cultural snapshot of mexico city in the 70s
it's gotten far too much press actually
1
I particularly like the Danish content like the series "Occupied", and movie who's name I can't recall about the brief war when Hitler's Germany invaded Norway. This was not a shoot-em-up, but a serious look at how a small military outfit dealt with an enemy who outnumbered them and had better weapons.
The subscription model works for me. I pay for NYT (surprise!) , Netflix, and Amazon Prime, but Amazon Prime charges fees for too much of its content. They could lose me if they don't back off that a bit.
How about pay-for versions of Facebook and Google? That might solve a lot of their problems, and align their interests with those of their users.
And when is the next season of Occupied coming out?
3
@mlbex
"Occupied" is about Norway, not Denmark. And yes, it's fascinating. I remember being astonished when the main character pulled a little flip-down stool out of the wall in his front hall to sit down and put on his boots. Just a tiny, tiny detail of a style of domestic life I know nothing about.
Is the movie you're thinking about "The Heavy Water War?" That was good, too.
1
@mlbex
Occupied fantastic!
I used to be a big fan of Netflix and watched it for years. but I gave it up a few months ago---and think it was a good decision. The service has simply gone downhill, in my opinion. A few good shows with a lot of junk and not nearly as much choice as they used to offer. They also changed their rating system so it's pretty much worthless. And got rid of user reviews. The author of this article may like all the fare from around the world, and I like some of it that doesn't require subtitles. But I find subtitles on tv programs mostly tiresome and not worth the effort. And Netflix makes it hard to tell if a show is in English or subtitled without going through the process of starting to watch it. All in all, Netflix just aint as good as it used to be. I'm watching Hulu now. And then will go to Prime when I get done with the good shows on Hulu. Maybe by then Netflix will have enough worthy shows to try it again. Or maybe first I'll try HBO, then Showtime, then...
3
Looks like this article failed to cover an internationally popular emerging genre that Netflix embraces... Anime!
Although I am disappointed with the cancellation of their Marvel shows, the wide selection of Anime is one of the top reasons I keep my Netflix subscription.
Also, Netflix provides innovative content like Black Mirror Bandersnatch, an interactive movie that brings a fun new way to watch T.V.
Netflix stays ahead of the game and keeps subscribers not by what they are used to seeing, but what they *aren't*.
4
You are so wrong it's laughable. Other distributors have featured foreign content for decades. PBS, for one, comes to mind. Netflix is simply another for-profit distributor in a pannick to win the content arms race. Roma is over wrought, trite garbage by the way. I do agree that The Great British Baking Show is one of the best shows on the planet.
2
When they allow a maestro like Cuaron to create 'Roma', Netflix is doing something remarkable in the way of opening up a world that others might not see. However, when I see 'Sex Education', which has an American high school transplanted to suburban England (Boys in letterman jackets in locker rooms with basketballs lying around? In England? Please) it seems that they are trying to Americanize subject matter for the home audience. Just set it in America or trust the audience and let it be realistically English.
Millions of people watching foreign language films in America, how about that. Maybe Hollywood will sit up and take notice, stop remaking and Americanizing foreign films, and allow foreign language media to compete fairly in prestigious awards instead of siloing them in condescending "foreign language film" categories, like they're some kind of "other" medium unrelated to "real" movies.
11
@Joel: Yes! I'm old enough to remember when movies like "Un homme et une femme" ("A Man and a Woman), "La Dolce Vita," and the films of Ingmar Bergman played in ordinary movie houses, and when U.S. networks imported British TV programs without remaking them.
Viewing habits: I'm 78. I watch Netflix, Prime, HBO and MLB with the sound off and the NCAA basketball (forgive my Hoosier background but one's first religion is deep).
Another nice thing about the foreign shows. When they get copied by Americans, they usually go through that legacy network veg-o-matic. They get pureed and pre-digested, then populated by models who became alleged stars. It's nice to experience the originals.
I'm surprised Hollywood hasn't asked Congress to make it illegal to show a foreign original.
2
Anything that brings humanity closer together and promotes empathy is good.
2
The first original Netflix series, Lilyhammer, was a show written and produced by Norwegians (and American Steven Van Zandt) back in 2010.
2
I watched the Indian film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Bravehearted Wins the Bride) on Netflix four and a half years ago, and I was hooked on Indian cinema. I live in a town where I can easily see Indian films in the theater. Hollywood rarely makes musicals or romantic comedies any more, but Indian film makers do, and I can see a new Indian musical Rom-Com every week!
Amazon Prime and Netflix are in a bit of an arms race for Indian content which is only great for consumers like me. Netflix and Amazon Prime are also partnering to create original Indian content with top stars and directors -- like Sacred Games on Netflix and Breathe on Amazon Prime -- that does not have to pass the strict Indian Census board. Directors and writers are given free rein for their artistic vision -- even if that includes nudity or swearing, etc.
Netflix was also my solace after the election to escape -- The Great British Baking Show and Queer Eye were my stalwarts. I also have to agree with another commenter from New York that the Pakistani soaps like Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar are completely addictive and a window into life on the other side of the world.
2
If you can't find international programs on Netflix worth watching, you're not trying very hard. To name just a few that I've thoroughly enjoyed:
Suburra, Babylon Berlin, Altered Carbon, Gomorrah, Roma, Tidelands, Sacred Games, Perfume, Black Earth Rising, River, Secret City, Collateral just to name a few. Two very intense, gritty series are Suburra from Italy and Sacred Games from India.
I think the problem with many viewers (especially in the States) is that they have been conditioned to watch the usual Hollywood, overproduced, blow-things-up Superhero or action movies/tv programs. I also think that American audiences hate subtitles and have genuine problems with actors who don't speak in English (I always try to watch the movies in their original language with subtitles).
Oh, one more thing: No commercials.....heaven....
10
“To an American, the show suggests a time and place where our own worries have no meaning.”
To an American, that sounds like Congress.
4
Dowtown Abbey was Awesome!
a library card is better than netflix. But put the 2 together and you might have a winner. There are a lot of films in the world. Netflix prolly has around 10%. Like they might say: what you don't know can't add to your cultural wisdom.....
3
I have been watching Russian TV. I can't believe how good they are. Great acting, sets and drama. Try Ekatrina or Sophia. Great stuff. I am delighted Netflix is doing this great work. Way to go Netflix. America needs to see what goes on around the world.
@Julie Parmenter russian? No.
2
Looks like the HBO with My Brilliant Friend is paying attention to Americans interest in other places and cultures.
3
Derry Girls, a Netflix show originating from Ireland is another example.
5
@steve rodriguez I wholeheartedly agree, and I would recommend watching it more than once. On another viewing you see things you've missed before, things which lend a real poignancy to the characters' lives during the Troubles. The soundtrack is amazing.
1
I love “Bordertown”, the crime drama from Finland; very Zola like but so we’ll done. You get to hear one of the two non Indoeuropean language. Absolutely fascinating.
2
If we know each other’s
stories perhaps we can be
better human beings...
2
Keep hope alive.
The author has provoked a section for discussion and debate on Netflix. I mean no offense for Mr. Manjoo or for Netflix.
For the most part, Mr.Manjoor provides a good insight here, and interesting to see how other readers perceive Netflix.
Netflix has come a long way. This is the only site where one can see a variety of movies and tv shows. There are more programs here from different countries. This provides the viewer a larger list to choose from.
There are areas Netflix must improve on. To start with, it is not easy to communicate with people at Netflix. Perhaps, open up a site for subscribers to comment, or provide feedback. In some of the foreign movies/tv shows, the sub titles move faster than one can read. This can be frustrating, especially when one cannot understand the language spoken by the characters on the show. Sometimes, the screen would freeze. You would wonder if this is a problem with the internet provider or a problem with Netflix.
Netflix should prepare a list of questions, reading the mind of the subscriber, and obtain the feedback. A way to improve the presentation and content. This should be an objective that can
greatly help Netflix, for now and the long term. Netflix should be mindful of potential competition.
The Company recently announced a rate increase on subscriptions. Netflix should justify the price increase, importantly addressing the concerns of subscribers. If this not done now, Netflix can have a problem in the future.
1
i knew that globalization had won when I saw the South Indian manager of our local restaurant barking orders in Spanish while watching telenovelas with his staff - entirely from South America. The Guatemalan waitress even had her son eating masala dosa and mango lassi on a milk crate in the back.
2
"Call my agent!" from France.
2
I love it!
I love that show!!
@K Better try more than the quarter ep I dipped in to. Babylon Berlin and Dating Around - brilliant.
This is a great development because only through knowing who we “the people’s of this planet were all stuck together on” are at the level of an emotional connection, will we transcend the small minded and fears-based nationalism that pervades and dominates our current thinking. Good luck NetFlix! May this fortunate side-effect of capitalism save us from our self-imposed ignorance. Knowing this impact on global cross-connectedness, I will intentionally plan on watching as many of these shows as I can, although I often do because so many of them are simply good value.
1
I suppose it’s difficult to understand the concept of freedom for some. If Donald Trump is speaking on TV or the internet, or for that matter, any other political wannabee these days, there exist on my devices at least a selector of sorts and, yes, believe it or not, an off button. Then, you see, there is no need to bury your head in the sand or cry me a river in some half-baked TV show. Still, it’s good Netflix offers shows from around the world if only to quell some of the doldrums of an overanxious and highly numbed and desensitized audience, one overexposed too entirely too much “Entertainment!?” One struggling to find contentment in this world, this world where hooks exist on and around every corner. But as I said in so many words, I suppose it’s hard for a free fish to understand a hooked one...
It's a nice idea in principle, but licensing laws mean Netflix subscribers in different countries get a very different selection of shows. Here in New Zealand, we only get about 30% of the selection you have in the US, and don't get me started on foreign languages. My partner is French; why can't we subscribe to French Netflix, regardless of where we live? I still love Netflix, but I wish licensing and distribution laws would join the 21st century.
3
Roma is a very good movie because of the black and white cinematography. It's best to watch it with the sound off because the dialogue is stilted and boring. If you're used to fast paced movies it will put you to sleep. Its not Oscar caliber material but will probably win since Hollywood wants to make a statement about inclusivity. If the Academy wants to use its power to make statements and preach to the choir they might find that brilliant movies are ignored. As an example, I never understood why "The Butler" did not receive any nominations some years back.
It's also great to be able to watch films in other languages (with or without English subtitles) which allows you to practice them. I also get a kick out of the funny trwists of language translation that can occur, although not always fortunate. As I watched "The Cathedral of the Sea" in its original Catalan (my native language along with Spanish) I cringed when they translated the name of one of the protagonists from "Joanet" into "Johnny" in the English version Names of people , countries or cities should NEVER be translated. Despite this, I love Netflix!
4
Over the last year or so, I've had the good fortune to watch series from Germany, Mexico, Japan, Italy, UK and Spain on Netflix. It's really been one of the more pleasant developments in "television" recently. Especially given that in the USA we're currently obsessed with rebooting everything that was once popular. You can keep the nostalgia, I'll take the new stuff, regardless of where it's from.
4
This alternate reality is not only for Americans. I’ve spent a good deal of time in Zomba, Malawi. There we have television and programs that take us to other worlds, the most popular being soap operas from Nigeria, India, and the Disney channel. The Disney channel presents the lives of blond, upper middle class girls in the US to young girls who have just come from remote villages. I wonder what they make of it. Even I, after watching the shows step outside to a reality that is closer to the thirteenth century than to modern America and can’t decide which one is true and which one is a dream. The realization that our reality is not absolute or even the only one possible is one of the most valuable and liberating insights possible. All the great religions attest to that. And now it is available to intelligent consumers of mass media.
1
I remember when Netflix started in Scotts Valley, California sending DVDs by mail. I was super scared the very first time when I was able to stream a movie. Nowadays, kids don’t know better, it is a natural thing to do... the streaming of a movie or game. I like Netflix in some instances they do show social unjust themes in other countries, although the docuserie The Panama Papers, is not showing in countries where their leaders were involved putting their assets in offshore accounts. Please Netflix don’t get intimidated by corrupt politicians.
3
Indeed Farhad! My wife and I love Indian food, well actually since we frequent restaurants most often owned by Sikhs the food we have come to enjoy is from the Punjab and not representative of the entire country. How did we learn this, by finding this series on Netflix "Raja Rasoul Aur Anya Kahaniyan" whose 11 episodes in the first season explore all the traditions of Indian cuisine from the country's sparse desert region to the high Himalayas. Along this journey we came to know this amazing Indian academic, Pushpesh Pant, who rattles off the history of Indian food with incredible depth and insight that had us scrambling to learn more about this scholar. Another great awakening on Netflix, "Coffee For All." If you haven't seen it you should. Fauda (Israel), Babylon Berlin (German), The Bodyguard (U.K.), The Mechanism (Brazil), Gemorra (Italy), the list of great shows outside the American orbit are all there for the taking.
7
I've never understood the Netflix appeal. Back in the day I subscribed and it took a couple months to watch everything that appealed to me. Then I suspended my subscription for about a year, then reactivated it. It took about 2 weeks to watch what appealed. So I deactivated again. This went on for 3 or 4 years until I finally reached the conclusion that Netflix just wasn't worth the effort. Maybe I'm just hard to please. I'm certainly not intoxicated with Netflix although intoxication does improve the viewing experience.
Here in Australia, the content streaming in from Netflix was mostly American. After reading this, I will check back and see if the rest on the world has shown up yet. A lot less America please, Trump exhausts us too. We need to escape somewhere else.
6
As to your assessment of Roma.
We all want to see movies about other lands. Alita Battle Angel is other land, Casablanca is a movie based in another land, The Wizard of Oz, even Gravity, are movies about other lands.
Roma is a movie based on the life of some one at another land, just like the above list.
That it was made is another land is almost irrelevant.
I love Priceless not because it was made in France, but because Audrey Tatou and Gad Elmaleh are hilarious. The fact that it was made in France is absolutely irrelevant to me.
We love movies because they transport us to lands we never will visit, be in Mexico in 1970, or Narnia.
But seldom does any one care that the movie was made in Mexico, or Pinewood Studios, or Bollywood.
Roma is a favorite of mine because it is an amazing movie that reminds me of my mom.
But the fact that it was made in the land where I came from, that is absolutely irrelevant.
1
Netflix is breaking through the last of the world’s remaining artificial walls that are standing in the way of human aspiration and inadvertantly shining a big light on media censorship everywhere it exists. Meanwhile the Trump administration, so last century, is trying to build a big box bricks and mortar wall on the southern border to keep that part of the world from peering over the fence.
2
Fairly inexpensive, on demand, no commercials, start and stop at your convenience, an ever widening audience and content, the ability to drop in on cultures and people from around the world and a big head start on any competitors, sounds like a winner. What's not to like?
Like many things that set off the right receptors in your brain Netflix can become addictive. Have you binged? Do your children binge? Does your cat binge? Just to make it harder for you, streaming companies have invented an easy, ingenious way to hook your brain. Next episode in 3 seconds.
Learn to un-binge before it is too late. From one who has fallen, "There is more to life than the next episode." Turn it off.
1
I've never looked at it. Thank you for warning me against it; intoxication is harmful, sometimes deadly.
1
@Jonathan Katz
That mirrors my sentiments when it comes to those in support of this current administration.
2
I love watching tv from other countries and Netflix helps facilitate that, although I'd like to see even more! "Babylon Berlin" was outstanding. I also really enjoyed "Plan Coeur" even though it was the cheesy rom-com genre I usually avoid. And "Dix Pour Cent!" More please! In fact, Netflix, if you are reading, please bring "Fais Pas Ci, Fais Pa Ca" to the US!
1
@Boggle
And Netflix, if you are reading, please bring "Das Boot" (2018) -- And if possible, the Wolfgang Petersen original (1981) ...DANKE!
2
Netflix is like Starbucks, it has made decent content globally available much as Starbucks made decent coffee (and a clean restroom) globally available. On the other hand, the fact that the almost the same content is available all around the world is going to homogenize culture over time. I am surprised when I travel globally now that the most popular stores, music, food, drinks, books, and movies are so similar from one country to the next. While I agree that it is healthy for Americans to consume more global content, I am not certain that the diversity of ideas and culture will thrive over the long term when we have these global platforms for publishing content.
1
@Ben....Not to worry...their are so many cultures/societies resistant to change.....Communist China, Russia, Even India....it will be a very LONG TIME before its homogenized if ever. Otherwise, enjoy.
1
Thanks for acknowledging that Netflix provides a gateway to so many places and cultures Americans would not otherwise be privy to. Since the horror of Trump, many of us have taken solace in thrillers from Belgium, Iceland, Spain, India, etc, which are more satisfying than vacations in many cases, and can be accessed from anywhere without carrying baggage. The long form of the global binge can be like reading a Russian novel, those of us, especially those of us with declining eyesight have concluded, and provide a sense of relation to others at a time when people don't interact or even speak to one another. Netflix is one of the world's wonders, and has given all of us the op and app to see humans from all over the globe in their mediated cultural specificity.
7
Most of what I watch on Netflix is still American (GLOW, Mindhunter, The Haunting of Hill House, Maniac and Bojack Horseman being favorites) but I appreciate that I can also get more range than I've ever had access to before (Babylon Berlin from Germany, Fauda from Israel).
However I'm not sure that Netflix can really survive with this scattered business model. They are funding billions in content while charging peanuts. I'm still on the under-$10 plan. I don't see how this can continue unless they can tap into efficiencies of scale. They've shown some ability to generate blockbuster type viewership with Stranger Things and Bird Box, but for that they need to fall back on American content, at least that's the content they've been boasting about having big numbers (to the extent they boast at all).
Things may get dicey in 2019 when Disney and AT&T launch competitors that offer huge traditional Hollywood brands that have proven popular globally - Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel, Disney princesses, DC, HBO, Game of Thrones. Netflix has no monster brands like that, and for survival needs to develop monster brands of its own.
@nerdrage
Actually "Maniac" is an American remake of the Norwegian original with the same title -- and it's also much funnier!
1
Watching foreign films affirms how other cultures and countries are - just other cultures and countries.
The underlying humans are - just like us.
This feels good and runs contrary to government propaganda and spin.
9
I was in Bangladesh in November, watching a Brazilian show on Netflix dubbed into Bangla with English subtitles. It was amazing! And I noticed that the Bangladeshi hotel guests- and staff- were equally mesmerized. An international experience for a global audience- I hope Netflix follows this strategy to financial success and global availability. We would all be better off for it!
6
The piece highlights our devil’s bargain with most tech giants. Facebook, YouTube and most others aren’t really “free” for consumers. We trade data - including extensive personal details - which these companies turn into huge profits from advertisers and companies that use the information to target us - for political messages, for endless false narratives and increasingly manipulative sales efforts. The author is correct that Netflix’ subscription-based model refreshingly keeps the focus on customer service. It’s our information, our eyeballs and our money that big companies of all stripes want. We should reward those the provide real service and punish those who don’t. Don’t just vote at the ballotbox. Vote with your wallet - and the details of your life - too.
3
One other notable recent offering is the series "Sacred Games" based on the massive novel by Vikram Chandra, codirected by Cannes darling Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, and starring Nawazuddin Siddiqi. This was a major investment by Netflix.
My personal take-me-away fave is "Escape to the Country", a BBC real estate show, focused on people giving up the crowded cities and suburbs for more rural homes. It's been running for years in the UK, I just hope Netflix will start running more episodes.
@EmGee, Yes, Sacred Games is an excellent show. I think it reveals a part of Indian culture and cinema that most of us aren't exposed to. It's certainly not the usual Bollywood fare.
1
@mrfreeze6 Netflix is reforming Bollywood and also expanding and discovering new talents giving a run for the nepotism that rules Bollywood. The Netflix original Bollywood fares and the stand up comedy shows are giving international exposure to talents across India which will have deep impact across regional contents produced across India. I am betting this would eclipse the amount and quality of entertainment content produced in India would surpass Hollywood in the next five years or so.
2
@apple nut, I'll be honest, I've tried to watch Bollywood films and can't seem to enjoy them; however, I'm always willing to try watching new things. (please recommend something!!!) Also, Korea has Korea has a very large film industry virtually unknown here in the U.S.. I've enjoyed watching some of them.
1
I fully agree with the premise of this piece also. We specifically look for international work on Netflix, for the alternative and refreshing views of the world and human relationships that are presented. One of my recent favorites is Midnight Diner, a Japanese production.It is so very calming and reassuring about the fundamental goodness of people. We need as much of that as we can get these days.
6
@Lisa DUkes I found Slow TV, from Norway, to be the most refreshing and different (real-time, hours long train and boat trips, also a real-time knitting show).
2
I heartily agree--I LOVE Netflix! My gateway drug was "Six Feet Under," back in the days where Netflix was available only via DVD by mail. After binge-watching several episodes, we'd have to mail back the DVD and wait for the next one to arrive. It's much more dangerous now, when you can stream & binge-watch multiple seasons at a go. My current addiction: British detective series and Scandinavian thrillers. (Now if I could only remember what's on Netflix vs what's on Amazon Prime, or Hulu...)
2
Spent last week binge watching Australia’s Offspring series. By the end of the week, I had an Australian accent.
5
At last. A breath of fresh air, it sounds like.
From these descriptions, it begins to sound like the MHZ channel of international mysteries. At least in its early days, the great charm of MHZ was precisely that its shows were NOT trying to bend their material into the patronizing themes they think Americans want to have regurgitated back to them, as "Downton Abbey" and many of the recent British shows have been doing.
I have never had anything other than public/air TV. But afyer reading this article, I may have to finally give in and subscribe to Netflix.
I just watched a British produced documentary on major cities such as Moscow, Ciudad de Mexico, etc. It was very interesting, informative and eye opening.
2
The appeal of Netflix for me in its early years was as a source of foreign films, and to a lesser extent television, from outside the US, often first broadcast by Sundance Channel. The difference today is Netflix’s expansion—foreign and otherwise—in of an altogether different quality: bland, middlebrow TV. Every time I search the site for something of quality, I’m reminded of the classic quote about television before the advent of streaming, “Five hundred channels, and nothing on...”
I should be loving the aspect of Netflix this story champions, but endless bad reality, police, cooking, and sitcom from the global TV libraries, much of it retreads, leaves me looking elsewhere, or waiting for the occasional gem once a month from Netflix.
Another turn off, from Netflix and others, is claiming “Original” credit for programming previously produced and aired elsewhere! Netflix’s craving to be viewed as a creative studio, a content creator, an Oscar winner, is so wrongheaded, a tired vanity strategy that no one cares about.
I’m chasing better, smaller sources for especially foreign programming, and wondering if the end is near for even the modest $11 Netflix subscription.
3
Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but there is a darker side to this narrative: cultural homogenization. Don't get me wrong, I find all the foreign content refreshing. However, it also strikes me how similar the content can be from different countries. From an economic standpoint, Netflix has every motivation to homogenize further, not to cater to everyone's tastes. It is much cheaper to produce the same content viewed by millions of people around the world than produce content independently tailored to every cultural taste.
To some extent we are seeing a burst of cultural diversity but I really wonder how long will it last. Over the long-term, I see cultural diversity becoming a casualty.
To take another example, consider the Eurovision Song Contest. The contest aspires to be a celebration of cultural diversity but in reality the songwriting has become bland and homogenous, catering to the greatest common denominator. Great art requires intellectual investment. Bad art caters to the the intellectually lazy who seek the familiar. The Eurovision Song Contest is bad art. And that's what Netflix could become.
2
My children (10 & 16 yrs), and I watch foreign programs on Netflix quite a bit. We've enjoyed Korean teen dramas, Japanese anime, British baking, Bollywood epics, Nigerian romcom's, French, German, Scandinavian...you name it
It starts so many conversations about relatively simple things like clothing or food then expands into examining traditions, music, historical events, etc. It's an easy way to expose young people to things the may never have thought of.
Of course you're choices still need to be purposeful. I'm glad Netflix provides that choice.
6
Thrilled to see this article. For years I have felt the best part of streaming services has been the proliferation of foreign TV shows. My husband jokes that I watch more in subtitles than in English now, which is the truth. These shows help me to learn how people in other countries live through their own domestic dramas, or introduce me to entirely new genres such as Nordic Noir. My family immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico so these shows affirm my multi-cultural experience while they confidently promote the idea that Americans are one group among many. I loved the show Rita from Denmark, Gran Hotel and Elite from Spain, Casa de las Flores and Club de Cuervos from Mexico, Babylon Berlin from Germany, Call My Agent from France, Safe from the UK and so many more. It really is a revolution in television watching.
1
I had a lot of fun watching "Call My Agent", a French-language comedy, on Netflix. Three seasons so far, and worth the price of admission in itself!
2
So me and my peeps aren't the only ones who have watched the British baking show to divert the negativity after the Trump election. We're fascinated by the abundance of foreign selections on Netflix, peering into homes, kitchens and landscapes while watching a program makes watching even more fun all at a fraction other timeoutlets charge. Grateful PBS programs are available too
1
One of the best things about Netflix is how many good foreign TV series it has.....besides the ones mentioned here, there are also Babylon Berlin, Fauda, Shtisel, Suburra, among others.
2
I found myself watching more and more Netflix. Even my husband tells me instead of flipping channels: " just put Netflix".
I totally agree with the article. I love to watch international films and now international shows. And Netflix offers a wide variety of it. Like the author says, it gives a glimpse of the rest of the world and how people not matter where they are from, struggle with the same issues we struggle. My favorite is Danish show called Rita, really recommend it. And Roma took my breath away.. Oh and I love that they have "Schitt's Creek" one of my favorite shows that I cannot watch on cable.
I think Cable will be a thing of the past. The only reason I have it is because of the news and kids channel.
1
We have already seen many such attempts to shrink the world .Their impact has not been durable.
1
I'm going to start looking for some of these shows. Most of what appears in my Netflix feed doesn't interest me, but it appears I've been looking in the wrong places.
3
Netflix is delivering on the once upon a time long ago promise of cable TV, uninterrupted content without millions of annoying ads and expanding our horizons by criss crossing the globe and even outer space.
5
I totally agree with the premise and the impact Netflix has had on diversity and multicultural expression. This is expansive, not “shrinking the world “i.e. not just more slices, but a bigger pie!
5
Netflix had many, much more interesting foreign films available, as recently as 5 years ago. They have been slowly, but quite noticeably purging them. In their place, we find new "offerings", most co=produced by Netflix itself, which includes "TV shows", as well as movies (I hesitate to call them films).
Despite the thread of the story, Netflix is imposing its own ideas about what it should offer to its subscribers, and that certainly includes the available foreign content. The result is a further homogenization of what we're able to see.
And then there's the Saudi government, the most brutal and repressive on the list of Netflix subscribing countries. We'll see where that goes, but I do feel sympathetic for the captive audience of that regime.
Next challenge: China, whose film industry pretends to emulate Hollywood (or, perhaps North America would be a more accurate descriptor), where the internet is already subject to severe government censorship. What Netflix posts from China is definitely "unreality". We need a Chinese "Roma", to test the bounds of the censors, and to "break" the internet.
3
Yes, technology has made connections around the world. But the advancement in Netflix has made some things like going to the movies more obsolete.
1
Yes indeed: I look for shows and movies that include some kind of intellectual stimulation and Netflix usually comes through. El Ministerio del Tiempo helped me learn Spanish but also offered a thoughtful and intelligent exposure to Spanish history, art and culture. (This was after binging on El Internado and picking up some fun Spanish conversational idioms.) Sense8 introduces eight (actually probably more) cultures with stunning photography and personal stories, and then goes to the next level of mixing them up.
2
Thank goodness for the foreign shows on Netflix. If not for them I'd have run out of things to watch long ago. And it's not just because of their artistic or dramatic merits, although there are plenty that far exceed the normal U.S. fare. If I'm going to watch a mediocre show, which is sometimes exactly what I want, I'd much rather immerse myself in the sights and culture of a place unfamiliar to me, with normal looking people, than watch the same old beautiful people doing the same old boring things on the typical U.S. show. Sometimes it's enough just to see how people say hello, or swear, or butter their bread in a place I don't call home.
18
Could they please make it easy for me to continue watching the credits of a film after it ends instead of being whisked away from the film to some preview I am not ready to see. The credits are where I see what music was used & who performed/ wrote it; where I discover where on location the scenes were shot and when I ruminate about the theme and insights of what I have just spent a couple hours engrossed in. It leaves me slightly annoyed at the end of every film I watch on Netflix. (I tend to watch content also available on Amazon there instead for this reason.)
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If you go to your settings I think you can choose to not have the next episode start “automatically”.
@PL. -Thanks but the Netflix on my android-based TV has no such option under settings. (..and the problem, for me, is most acute with films, not episodic series.) -and it should be easy (click here now) to stop the previews & let the credits roll -not buried in some online sub-menu. If this works it’s (while logged in on a computer) under profiles ->Account -> my profile -> playback settings -> auto-play -> uncheck box “Play next episode automatically” -Not sure yet if this applies to previews instead of credits after movies. If so, thanks!
Thank you Netflix for providing content that opens our eyes and gives us a taste of cultures beyond our own travels.
For those who desire a broader view of the world (and in my experience, the majority of people on the planet do), it is a portal that will enable our young people to dream bigger dreams for their lives. And as others have noted, it is hard to demonize people when you have 'walked in their shoes' for a season or two.
The day to day struggles of other humans - and their joys - connect us. When we are connected, we don't casually decide to fight first. We understand better the human toll of conflict.
Bring on the cultural diversity, Netflix!
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People binged watched "Ab Fab" in the 90s. Did that somehow make them more multicultural? I'm guessing multicultural people were the only ones likely to binge watch "Ab Fab."
Forgive me for being a skeptic. However, I mistrust for-profit television as a legitimate influencer of societal norms. I appreciate what Netflix is trying to do, maybe. I just don't think we should be applauding their programming too much yet. Everyone was excited about the 24 hour news cycle too. Look where that got us.
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I fully agree with the premise of this piece and would say that the most off-putting aspect of domestic offerings is the slavish, almost ridiculous belief that only cute people are worth looking at. From the programs themselves, to the advertising, only the pretty need apply, unless you're the baddie, in which case you can be caricatured in multiple ways.
Most other countries show people as a variable bunch, whereas here it's just pretty sells and the rest are just not what we're trying to convey as American exceptionalism.
The beauty of The Great British Bake Off is the normality of the people. A cross-section of a society. Real world.
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@Anthony Taylor Yes! It's always seemed to me that Britain/France/Germany, etc. seem to put more of a premium on finding actors who can actually act, and it shows in the quality of the content (I don't watch enough films from Asia, Africa, South America to know if that's true there as well, but maybe I'll start).
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@Anthony Taylor
great point.
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@Anthony Taylor Or, just look at American films before about 1980. People looked "normal" on film then as well.
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Netflix is the best thing to have happened to American self-absorption and the culture of narcissism.
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Enjoyed this article and am thrilled with access to international shows. However, if I had to choose only one, I'd probably go with ACORN TV which airs the best of British, Canadian, Australian, etc. TV. NYT's critics picked "The Detectorists" as one of the best international shows of the year...and it is...watch it on ACORN for half the price of my Netflix subscription (yes, I can't let go of either)!
uhmm, isn't "but intellectually, socially, psychically. Donald Trump... " precisely the cliche liberal way?
Don’t forget “Terrace House!” Check it out, everyone!
@Jen Yes!!!
Farhad Manjoo waxes euphoric, in an opinion piece that reads more like an unabashed paid-for commercial for Netflix.
As I re-read my opening sentence, I realized that I might be considered to be someone with a grudge against Mr. Manjoo, who is, I freely admit, a very important intellect whose forte is winkling out very significant global trends.
And, after all, almost half the opinion pieces I read on usually highly credible news sites like the Times seem to read more and more like promotional efforts --in other words, advertisements - prompting the reader to accept the skewed opinions of their authors as balanced.
I watch Netflix and I'm not impressed with its novel entertainment offerings. And Mr. Manjoo forgets something that Netflix would never admit in any of its online "puff-pieces." I mean Netflix's huge debt burden - $20 billion and growing, by some admittedly pessimistic sources.
In my financial world-view, Netflix is a huge debt bubble about to burst - like other sectors of our current global debt-driven economy, excluding of course cash-rich Amazon, which I understand, will pay zero in Federal taxes this year.
Netflix may really be a global innovator, whose multicultural entertainment offerings will set a trend for the future. But internet innovators in the past have failed by over-reaching - consider AOL, which ruled the newly-born internet world up to 1998, when Google arrived. In our next recession, Netflix may follow AOL into oblivion.
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... AND it pays no taxes!
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You hit it on the head, Farhad! I find myself watching Indonesian and Korean and Turkish and Taiwanese movies...and, enjoying them!
This aspect of Netflix strategy, where you can live local but experience global has the potential to continue to scale, specially as the mythical "all American" lifestyle evaporates for so many.
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@Baddy Khan
This might actually be the first time I’ve agreed with this writer on something.
My wife and I watch so many international series that we did a literal double take when we heard about the “lack of diversity in Hollywood “ last year. And make no mistake, Hollywood has become a global industry, with global investors, global actors, global film crews. The Oscars no more reflect the film industry than Bank if America reflects the global financial industry.
I’m so glad someone wrote about this! Netflix has been internationalizing content for a while now and it has revolutionized my viewing habits. In addition to British classics- Shetland, GBBS, Inspector Lewis, etc about 80% of the new shows I try are from outside the US. Fauda from Israel, Babylon Berlin and Deutschland 85 from Germany, Selection Day and Sacred Games from India, a few Turkish and one Egyptian drama, Sophia from Russia. I love history and crime dramas and I have learned so much. It’s fun to talk about common shows when traveling to those countries too
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This article is a shallow analysis of an important effect of electronic media that's been noted by theorists since McLuhan.
"I found such a place in a British reality baking contest."
Checked out the show, the only thing British, in the traditional sense, about it is the accents. The format, the faux "excitement" about entering "the tent", are all standard American-invented tropes for this kind of television. What Netflix is doing is what pop music does, and what international retailers are doing in every major urban center: homogenizing different cultures, wrapping them up in a package that's suitable for consumption by a broad spectrum of basically middle class (from "lower" to "upper") viewers across the globe. "Difference" becomes a spice in an otherwise unbearably bland soup.
The same process can be seen in Starbucks adopting different decors depending on the neighborhood they're in. Or pop music's promotion of Korean, Columbian, Moroccan and other "foreign" idioms, all straight-jacketed inside a western-friendly presentation format.
In other words, what Mr. Manjoo is celebrating, in the example of Netflix, is not diversity, but rather the effects of international capitalism's use of the media to spread its homogenizing influence across the globe.
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Cheery optimism in these dark times?
Count me in. I find myself wishing Netflix had a "YouTube" type channel, where ordinary citizens could put on travelogues and commentary.
It would provide a massive educational opportunity for the poor of the world, if it were curated, which YouTube isn't.
Imagine sixth grade classes around the world with their own channels...
Netflix is doing a lot of original programming, which means it can be as topical and as courageous as are today's young creators. It would terrify, simply terrify, the dictators of the world if their subjects could view free and open commentary from all countries, if young girls from Pakistan or Saudi Arabia could see and talk to young girls from the world over.
Kind of hard for a people to go to war with another country, when its citizens are in love with that country's people and struggles. Kind of hard to fear people when you listen to their lives, when they learn to laugh along with your comedians and cry along with you as you both watch your favorite dramas.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
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@Hugh MassengillGreat idea. I hope Netflix is listening.
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@Hugh Massengill
Brilliant idea.
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@Hugh Massengill Check out Vimeo and their staff pick videos. Excellent suggestions and curation for travel related videos and there's a real art form developing around amateur but high end travel videos. It's really easy to lose a lot of time working your way through those. To start, search for Watchtower of Turkey as an example. You won't be disappointed. (And for the record I have no affiliation with Vimeo or that video, I am just a fan)
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I am very disappointed in Netflix - a lot of hype and very poor programming. I am about to let it go.
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The internationalizing effects of Netflix are indeed positive. Less so was its decision to delete user reviews. I'm sure their intent was to reduce negativity and seduce people into watching poorly-reviewed shows, especially their own. It has had the opposite effect on me. I used to watch based on the reviews. Now, I don't want to waste my time on mind-rotting garbage (which would be about 75% of the content). If Netflix really wants to promote community, agency, and liberality, they should reinstate the opportunity for users to participate and have their say.
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@Oriflamme My predicted ratings went screwy when they changed from stars to thumbs, too. But I doggedly kept rating with thumbs and now it's back to being reasonably accurate.
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@Oriflamme
If a review is important to you then you can refer to a site like rotten tomatoes but I find the lack of reviews is nice because you are much more open minded when approaching a selection.
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Just a quick Google does trick
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You is an American produced show that originally aired on Lifetime late last year.
Netflix is great and all, but I am waiting with bated breath for the Criterion Channel launch coming up soon. The international escapist fair is fine and and dandy, but give me some Ozu, Bergman, Ray, Wai, Fellini and Bunuel over commercial fluff any day.
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I'm a big Netflix fan - just wish they had bought the Criterion Collection and other titles from the late lamented Filmstruck.
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I was an executive at a major studio during its heyday. A blockbuster film cost from $20M to 200M. TV shows recouped costs at the seven season mark. Netflix is not doing productions but co-productions in inexpensive venues where different series will use the same sets as prior shows, the same dialogue/monologue is shot in standard MCU to CU inside (LS starts the cycle for outside shots). Most of its decent shows are co-productions with Marvel Ent. but it lost a number of licenses two years ago. I cannot read subtitles and do not speak any of the languages presented. The programming for taste is terrible. If I watch one minute of a series, I get a line saying Because you liked [unliked] show under which is a wasted line of icons. Series I watch to the end are mostly ignored. Netflix used to live on pick-ups some of which were excellent. Now I get the co-production in, say, the Shetland Islands the speech of which I cannot understand. Ironically, in the 1990's, I was forwarded calls from the Far East and Eastern Europe seeking to license shows like Bonanza and M*A*S*H. Netfliix also does not realize that L&M can bring in a fortune as happened with Home Alone, ALIENS, The Simpsons. Overall, it is poorly run, too many oddball co-productions/stories/actors and useless "like" show intros.
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The Great British Bake Off is known colloquially as....
GAME OF SCONES
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@Malcolm Kelly - Good one.
I welcome the access to international content. It's a welcome relief. However, lot of Netflix content can be mediocre and of shoddy quality - especially Indic languages (e.g. Bollywood and other programming from India). Also, you do have to be careful of government propaganda and demagoguery like that from Russia (Trotsky??).
I find it interesting that you do not mention the large amount of Turkish and Russian content on Netflix these days- which is always very politically controlled in its subject. A lot of police and military shows, all of which have mysterious "terrorist" bad guys, who, in the Turkish shows, always dress like Kurds, and, in the Russian shows, are vaguely american looking. Some are entertaining, but the censorship and political undertones are heavy handed and obvious.
@Ries I do think this is an interesting part of watching international TV esp Russia and Turkey (although Americans have no idea what a Kurd looks like). You have to learn to watch them critically. Non-American viewers have always had to do this with US shows, but Americans aren’t used to thinking deeply about the nationalistic messages in programming. I’m also interested in how Middle East story lines involving romantic relationships between cousins (illegal in most US states) are going to go over since that is very taboo here
I live near a noisy train, so for as long as I've lived here, I've kept closed-captioning on, rather than pausing. It was a short hop from that to watching foreign shows with English subtitles. I enjoyed the Swedish crime shows so much, I started learning Swedish! I never watch American TV anymore. Besides Netflix, MHzChoice has a great selection of foreign shows, as do Hulu and Amazon Prime. But my love of foreign shows has nothing to do with the President. They are just much, much better than cheesy American what-if fantasies and other garbage.
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As a subscriber, I found that I actually do not watch anything for weeks. The reason is simple, there is too much excellent stuff crying for viewers on YouTube nowadays. The bright spots of my pretty-wasted Netflix subscription are ROMA alike and all those funky "Netflix Original"s. Well, if I can watch a missed good movie each month, $13.99 CAD is still acceptable.
Mr. Manjoo is on to something here. It's not just Netflix, though, it includes Amazon Prime, where I find most of my British mysteries (with an add-on subscription to Britbox and Acorn). My wife and I waited eagerly for the new season of Finland's "Bordertown" and were not disappointed when it appeared this month. We watched "Roma" and were moved by it. With American shows focusing on either special effects or chase scenes, the more cerebral crime and mystery shows form the U.K. and Europe are a welcome alternative. More than that, viewing international films and programs has whetted our appetites for visiting some of the places where these programs and films take place. It's possible to get a bit of a feel for an environment from a TV program or movie and it lets you feel comfortable visiting the place, where you can see some of the sight you'd watched on your television. Yes, Netflix, and some others like it, is shrinking the world.
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@Casey Dorman Whats interesting Mr. Dorman...I have been around the world a dozn times visiting and living in many countries abroad....Watching foreign files on NetFlex is just awesome, because I can relate and understand the culture much more than otherwise....
@Casey Dorman I also love Bordertown, so we’ll done.
Netflix is my goto source for plane travel. I load a series on my tablet and watch with subtitles without having to deal with earphones or buds (or the video cutting out during announcements).
If you like foreign products, I can also recommend MhZ.
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Thought I was reading from my personal journal. I, too, escaped through Netflix and my fave? -- The Great British Baking Show! It is so refreshing to focus beyond our borders.
Contrary to Manjoo’s gratuitous criticism of GBBS, my family delights in not just the baking competition, but also the wide diversity of contestants, all of whom seem to share in common a variety of British, Scottish and Welsh accents, and a love of baking. Over the years, contestants have included professional in law and architecture, health care management, stay-at-home Moms and Dads, and accomplished teens. It has never at all and in any way conveyed Manjoo’s observation that British welfare policies enabled these people to bake.
I’d call it a stupid comment, but I won’t because one thing GBBS has shown me and its millions of viewers worldwide is the politeness and generous spirit of the contestants and the judges. Even Paul Hollywood.!
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Why the surprise? Most of the world outside the anglosphere has been watching foreign shows (from the U.S. or other anglophone countries) for decades. If watching something good from South Korea or Spain was suddenly made as easy as watching something from the U.S., it wouldn't be much of a jump.
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I cancelled my trial Netflix subscription because I spent more time looking for something worthwhile to watch than actually watching something, and what I did finally settle on was consistently disappointing. Is there any reason to believe that "foreign" offerings are any better? "Roma"? Come on. "The Great British Baking Show"? You're kidding, right?
@Ed L.
Granted, Netflix could do more to make searching their vast array of titles easier -- but if the two films you mentioned are the only examples you can give on their foreign content, you obviously weren't looking hard enough.
By the way, there's a reason why "Roma" has been nominated for so many Oscars, including 'Best Cinematography, because it is exquisite.
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@N. Smith
"there's a reason why 'Roma' has been nominated for so many Oscars..."
That "reason" has very little to do with aesthetics and more to do with politics, of course. But that's the Oscars these recent decades: politics masquerading as a celebration of art.
"Roma...is exquisite."
Your "exquisite" is my overlong, boring, tedious, pretentious and without plot.
By the way, "The Great British Baking Show" isn't a film. It's just another rote reproduction of a "reality" exercise, right down to the predictable reaction-edits. Yawn.
Thanks, Farhad!
My Mexico-born wife and I have been binging Colombian telenovelas. “La Reina del Flow” is set in the world of Reggaeton music and features a Medellin accent so impenetrable that even she needs the subtitles. We like the songs very much. “Siempre Bruja” is a Netflix original about a black slave/good witch who escapes execution by time travel. Cannot wait for the next season! Last night we caught the first episode of “Esclava Blanca”, set in 1820 Santa Marta. Check it out as part of Black History Month.
My own escapism on Netflix is to the unlikely genre of Pakistani serials, much to the amusement of my family. Yes, they are melodramatic to the extreme, I admit that. But beneath the slowly unspooling plots of "Sadqay Tumhare" and "Humsafar" and "Zindagi Gulzar Hai", there is reflected a view of Pakistani life that one can otherwise get only by traveling extensively (or intensively).
Aside from the usual "love against all odds" themes that characterize soaps around the world, I felt the stakes raised to the level of tragedy by the social milieu in which respect for traditional values butts against individual aspirations; in which familial duty interferes with personal ambitions; and, above all, in which gender and social class inhibit blind pursuit of one's dreams.
All of this is handled delicately, slowly, deliberately, with each dichotomy presented as a nuanced dilemma. This last point was the real revelation to me, as steeped as I am in my own American ideology, which always tends to come down firmly and decisively on one side or another. If we have a ready answer to a dilemma, after all, it ceases to be problematic. The resolution is a foregone conclusion.
If you want truly to understand people who are different from yourself, try to understand their decisions as the outcome of truly difficult choices. It may strike some as odd, but I highly recommend the Netflix shows mentioned above. I only hope Netflix brings in more of these serials.
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@MarkW
I, too, enjoyed the shows you listed. and if you enjoyed those 3 you might also like Korean dramas.
I have gotten an understanding of Korean life and culture by watching a varied offering from Korea (not just the glossy rom-coms). I like the netflix feature that says "more like this" because it lists similar shows from other countries and cultures.
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More than half the Netflix shows we watch are either British or subtitled from Russia, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and so on. We are not anti-American, we just like well done series and there are really great things being done everywhere.
I don't have a TV but I read about the Netflix documentary, "The Keepers" and obtained access to it via a shared internet connection.
I then watched all 7 episodes of what amounts to a horrifying anatomy of a still unresolved atrocity.
(See Wikipedia for a summary and other links.)
Initially a 1969 murder case in the Baltimore area, it has expanded in its complexities to include implications of institutional complicity and cover up of sexual child abuse by church, school and other professional authorities.
The Netflix treatment is done with an unbiased clinical integrity based strictly on facts and a very broad array of witness testimony. Speculation and conclusions about the uncertainties that remain are left entirely to the viewer and it is all the more chilling for that.
That superb production has a very pertinent place in this discussion of Netflix' most commendable global exposures of the good - and the evil - elements of our human nature. When both elements are fully exposed to the light, our culture may heal and prosper.
Manjoo's thoughts are well-intentioned and -to a great extent- hit the mark. But aside from quality foreign fare; e.g., Babylon Berlin, are a ton of mostly European crime and drama stuff that either hijacks the American genres or shows Europeans are just as jaded and anxious as we are.
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@Paul Kramer True. My favorite non-American Netflix shows are Babylon Berlin, Fauda and Narcos, which could just as well be American. The main difference is the non-American setting but the style and genre is very familiar.
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@Paul Kramer
I'm quite fond of the European police procedurals. I find the shows are fully interested in all characters, they tend to pull guns out only as a last resort, and usually are quite careful to maintain legal niceties. Imagine how we'd feel in America about our police if we weren't always seeing the dirty cop and the gun as first resort.
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@s parson : Excellent observation about the lack of guns! On American TV, a gun is pulled when someone looks cross-eyed!
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Absolutely love the Netflix original movies and World Cinema. TV series from Europe are some of the best I have watched in a long time with great content and superb cinematography.
Been a subscriber since before streaming. Encyclopedic selection and obscure titles were always the motivation. Took a survey course of American Noir. In combination with IMDB, you see the large number of films that are simply gone, forgotten, unavailable.
Netflix's original productions were always smart and well produced. And their money attracts talent. Lots of it.
I've watched every episode of the Great British Bake Off three times. Definitely not for the recipes.
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Netflix is also hurting assimilation among immigrants throughout the world. You move to a far away country that has a different language, culture or religion but you constantly stay in touch with the country of your birth by watching many of the shows and movies originating in your mother land. You will have of less of a need, desire, and opportunity to learn and adopt what surrounds you now.
Netflix, like Whats App, Facebook and Instagram, is another twenty-first century high-tech tool that takes us away from people, a real source of knowledge, experience, and joy, by inviting us to spend more screen time.
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@Jack having been an American expat I strongly disagree with this idea. It’s exhausting to spend your whole day in another culture and language. When 90% of your time is spent assimilating you really need that 10% relief to keep going. It’s nice to be able to get the nuances in a joke when you never feel funny in your second language
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@Catherine: Yes, I have been an American expat, too, although in the days long before Netflix.
I spent six days a week attending a local school, living in a neighborhood with no other English speakers, much less Americans, navigating a culture very different from my own.
Sundays, when I attended an English-language church and went out to lunch with other members of the church were like a much-needed vacation from the constant stress of communicating in a foreign language.
As many have said, Netflix is great but it really needs a MUCH improved search interface. It should be easier to find the next Midnight Diner (GREAT show). I've taken note of a number of suggestions from the article and from the comments below. Thanks for that!
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This is a welcome whisper of optimism.
Though as another person has commented, I'm sure Netflix's primary goal is profits, which is quite fair enough. The secondary effect of offering us stories about ourselves, either through our culture or that of another, is a bonus.
If you're interested in why stories have global appeal despite differing cultures, watch Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth, which is on Netflix.
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Absolutely agreed. I have been a Netflix subscriber for some time, led to it by our children funnily enough and thank them for it.
As well as the "binge" or "box set" capability, I delight in the cultural insights so easily provided from watching other nations' "ordinary" content. Recently I have enjoyed a much wider range of Scandinavian TV than is available in the UK, some Brazilian drama and, perhaps most surprisingly to me, some varied Australian content.
These Australian shows have done much to convince me that although, as Brits, we perhaps arrogantly, perhaps lazily, assume that we naturally "understand" Australian points-of-view and (off the cricket pitch at least) would generally tend to support them, in fact it is all too obvious that our cultural understanding is becoming very outdated.
One other thing I notice: our children (who are less TV-oriented than their parents in any case) accept this internationalism as an entirely normal and expected starting point. This seems very encouraging to me, even as this nation sadly recedes from its traditional internationalism into a saddening Brexit-induced solitariness.
Even as boundaries and borders seem to be becoming more significant barriers lately, it is becoming easier to surmount those barriers. Thankfully, I don't think the next generation will tolerate the narrowing of their horizons.
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Cute. " Netflix makes money on subscriber base, not advertising." Senior management and executives actually make money on projected increases of revenue through increased subscriptions based on hyper debt-financing of projects today based on short term stock valuation. The bonus culture of modern executive compensation has nothing to do with the long term viability of the brand. None of which makes Mr. Manjoo's PR point that Netflix is using international content to attract an international audience. The two are not mutually exclusive. But if it makes you feel better, sure.
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I started to watch Great British Baking Show for the same reason as you. The best contestants and oddly relaxing. I cut cable TV package long ago. Netflix was an easy alternate, and I come and go as I want. More often than not, I subscribe and stay. That has a lot to do with the international content.
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Problem with Netflix is it’s programming is a mile wide and an inch deep.
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At least 50 of my dreary evenings listening to the news have been transformed by The Dr. Blake Mysteries from Australia and Shetland from the BBC. My anticipation around the arrival of "season five" of Shetland knows no bounds.
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This is a great article and I appreciate the optimism presented in describing how technology can break down walls and help us understand other people's world's. Netflix is awesome and I have long enjoyed foreign movies to escape my mundane world. This is the type of article that makes reading the New York Times the best part of the day.
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Many of my favorite Netflix series are foreign:
For example, the brillian English comedy, WHITE GOLD, the compelling Italian crime drama, SUBURRA, and I can't forget the Colombian, now-Mexican, true crime drama, NARCOS.
They also have many great foreign documentaries, for example, the true crime documentary, SHADOW OF TRUTH.
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By engaging us with views of different cultures and their narrative imperatives ( what interests them ), Netflix softens the urge for isolation and grows our curiosity. The demonstration that others think differently, sometimes passionately so, and yet still engage a life no less fulfilling, this is an opening for growth.
A mark of learning used to be to have read widely; increasingly it will be to have watched eclectically.
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Many of my favorite Netflix series are foreign:
For example, the brillian English comedy, WHITE GOLD, and the compelling Italian crime drama, SUBURRA.
They also have many great foreign documentaries, for example, the true crime documentary, SHADOW OF TRUTH.
For those of us in smalll cities, Netflix & iTunes are fantastic! We can finally see on demand, legally and for a modest price, indie & foreign films that would never come to our cinemas. Everybody is talking about Roma, but 'Club de Cuervos' is a very well-done Mexican "black comedy" series about soccer. The subtitles will improve your Spanish. (The subtitles also help with "Shetland"!)
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There is a good lesson here for Facebook: charge customers a monthly fee instead of bombarding them with so-called targeted ads.
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@Mark Siegel: Throw in Google and you could change the entire web.
Netflix is looking high and low for content. Bringing the world together has not crossed their mind. But that's nevertheless what they're doing; humanizing the other for all.
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Good for Netflix. American ideas are dead. We no longer represent progress. We now represent backwardness. I'm glad I can now watch Netflix series produced in Cuba, Spain, France and other countries. Although the BBC is still pretty good. In NO U.S. series will you ever see a realistic representative of the plight of migrants and refugees, or the vast corruption of the police. In this regarded, Cuba, Spain and France ALL beat any U.S.-produced show. In fact, the only U.S. show we watch in SNL...to see real news on "Weekend Update."
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This is not news - half the Netflix we watch is from non-English-speaking programs. I fully choosing the subtitled version as the dub is never close to as good. Watch Dark (Germany), The Bridge (Sweden-Denmark), Les Bon Sejours (Belgium), Bordertown (Finnish) and, for stand up, some of it with subtitles, the very ambitious Netflix World of Comedy. And many, many more. - and more is added all the time. This is the best thing about Netflix and now Amazon Prime Video is starting to copy it.
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"For me, it was nice British people politely baking against one another..."
This article starts with the presumption that British people are somewhat different...I'm sure everyone can imagine them in their crisp aprons, politely toasting each other with tea. I love to be able to watch Netflix throughout the world, but the other aspect of this is that it schmooshes culture together until there is none. I think it informs, but also swallows. While we wail when some Amazon culture of 500 people is swallowed up, we don't seem to notice that this is happening to other cultures as well. And especially here in America, where every variance requires not only tolerance but total acceptance. I hope that Netflix will let us celebrate differences and not impose sameness. At least it is not an American Action Adventure movie.
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One of the best parts of Netflix is all the international shows.
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"Wouldn’t it be amazing if the internet did turn out to bring the world together after all?"
The internet DOES bring the world together!
Why has the past few years of corrupt practices by "trolls" both government sponsored and private organizations resulted in throwing the baby out with the bath water?
Yes, social media websites allowed malicious practices because of their business model, but that doesn't mean the "internet" creates the divisions that already exist in society.
Unlike Hollywood which remains predominantly white, male, and insular, Netflix and Prime both demonstrate the power of technology based business models to give consumers vast viewing choices right in their homes.
I use Netflix films to curate travel groups, as important conversation starters and, sometimes, as a way to refocus on the world- not just my corner of it!!
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It's a winning strategy for everyone. My family is now hooked on Siempre Bruja, a Colombian telenovela, helping us improve our Spanish and sparking conversations about race, colonialism, and gender. On our weekly movie night, we tend toward Scandinavian crime thrillers, easing my husband's homesickness. And our regular Saturday morning cartoon lineup now includes Japanese anime. I grew up with two television stations, NBC and PBS. My kids have access to the whole world--through Netflix. I don't mind when they watch TV now.
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Also interesting is Netflix's embrace of access for users with disabilities. Although this was largely spurred by the 2011 court case (National Association of the Deaf (NAD) v. Netflix), it is encouraging to see that not only does Netflix allow globalized access to consumers but also access to those who were largely disenfranchised from benefiting from Netflix's breadth of content.
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Yes, Netflix brings us the world and as a long time subscriber, I'm not too happy about. Recently, I have thought about cancelling my long time subscription because much of the imported content is not first rate. Of course there are a few standouts although some like Roma, are politically motivated and really not that good, despite what the biased critics write. There is a plethora of Chinese and Indian movies that are simply dreadful, not to mention Mexican B and C movies. The Brits and Aussies make some fine shows but they have the advantage of kind of speaking the same language as me. I think the company is trying to provide content at a cheaper rate to pay for the self-produced shows. Most of the Netflix content from non-English countries supports the old adage that many people will watch paint drying.
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We are recent subscribers to Netflix and it's an interesting experience. We still watch mostly American shows though (not being Americans ourselves). I am interested to know how they determine which series should be renewed. One example being Damnation (by Tony Tost, who did a great job with Longmire) which I assume has not been renewed. Seeing as how there are no ratings to go by, how do they determine whether something should live on or die early? It's a real shame Netflix couldn't keep it going because Damnation is top notch stuff on every level and delves into some very unusual subject matter (for a TV show anyway).
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Farhad, I totally enjoyed your extrospection of Netflix as a global epoch-maker and change agent. This is globalization at its best. Netflix is outsourcing (crowdsourcing), outspending, and outwitting the Hollywood (s) of this world. Its recipe is simple yet profound: telling the stories of people, everywhere in this world, to themselves in their down-to-earth languages and customs. And technology has everything to do with it. Netflix would not have been where it is today if it was not for streaming technology. The assertion is true: technology is bring the world closer together.
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Netflix really seems to be producing a second stage of globalization through films - the first, commonly called "mondialisation" pioneered by the Lumière brothers at the turn of the 19th century. At that time what interested were the views coming from the rest of the world, now we are captured by the narratives of the rest of the world brought by platforms like Netflix. Mr. Manjoo's article resembles Louis Lumière's speech when he sent his cameras to far-off places to "bring the world to the world," considering that for Lumière the world was Paris. Nowadays "the world" is US.
Coincidentally or not, it happens to me the same as Mr. Manjoo, I need a sanctuary to live in the world where the Brazilian president-elect and the Brazilian controversies simply do not exist! And I turn to Netflix and its wonderful narratives-view of countless places in the world. Maybe there's salvation somewhere.
However, for commercial reasons, for computational or even cultural reasons, Netflix as a database is very precarious: its system of search, indexing and curating of movies is not up to the films and their authors. The system is global with a Hollywood mentality. Any viewer more accustomed to quality international films realizes this deficiency and thinks: "what Netflix could be!".
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@Jane De Almeida So good to see another brazilian commenting, specially when the comment was very interesting.
However, Netflix is also a second stage of the cultural industry and, as a big database of movies, it is still more indoctrinating than anything else.
To think everybody is watching what I am watching in several countries just shows how impoverished the whole scenario became.
Anyway, I am in agreement with your last point; if there was a part of Netflix focused on transforming the consumption of movies into a cultural background formation, it would be wonderful.
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It isn't always clear when selecting movies that it is a foreign film with subtitles. As soon as I see the sub-titles I stop watching it and give it a thumbs down. I don't like the work involved in trying to follow on sub-titles.
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@Philip W: Agreed, the blurb when you hover over a movie should state the country of origin and the language. I don't mind the subtitles as much if the show is well done, but that' a matter of taste.
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Your loss!
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@Philip W: I've watched foreign films since I was a teenager, and dealing with subtitles is just a matter of practice.
I find that people who "hate subtitles" are in the habit of reading word by word, so naturally they find it distracting.
The trick is to learn to see the whole screen at once.
If you ever are unfortunate enough to suffer a hearing loss, as I have, you will find that you have to watch everything with subtitles.
This is one of the most optimistic stories I've read recently. Anything that can help bring the world together, rather than exacerbate the divisions, gets my vote of appreciation. Kudos to Netflix for its work and to Mr. Manjoo for the story.
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So true - and so refreshing to read an article that is positive about a global company that uses algorithms to feed choices to its viewers. My favorite show is now Grand Hotel - and I even started learning Spanish as a result! Thank you, Netflix! And thank you, optimistic opinion columnist! You are a delightful rarity!
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Netflix can easily fool you in thinking so, if that’s your worldview.
Machine learning algorithms for recommendation systems used at Netflix for related movies (and Facebook for ads, and Amazon for related products) are so sophisticated that it’s beyond human capabilities.
So, Netflix can easily reflect whatever your interests are and show movies in the catalog that best match your view.
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I was surprised by how much I liked Scandinavian shows in particular, and listening to the languages. I used to think subtitles were tedious, but the shows are so good that I don't even notice. Occasionally, I forget to turn off the dubbing and quickly realize that I expect to hear the real language with the actual spoken inflections and emphases that the actor used.
An unexpected pleasure.
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@Sequel: One comment. "Occupied". I look forward to the next season.
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@Sequel: just finished watching a Finnish detective show. Wonderful plot and actors. But without a doubt, the language of Finland has to be virtually impossible to outsiders. Among its many peculiarities is that when Finns greet each other, they say “hey,” just like the good folks here in North Carolina.
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@Sequel
Yes, also interesting to see how advanced they all are. People who have not traveled don't realize the rest of the world looks just like us, and that "America" is not special and superior as we've been programmed to believe.
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Aspires to monopoly. An acculturation and mono-culture, assimilating, homogenizing. The FoxNews does the same thing. Remember finding Fonews in eery hotel breakfast lobby, gym? They are involved in Charter schools as a hobby, but Charter schools run online schools. Talk about a monthly membership and captive audience. I joked with my friends, a decade after they have a true monopoly, they will have the entire word waiting for 6 movies a quarter, and we will all identify with one of the 6. They will get net bandwidth preference with no net neutrality, and other voices will be shut out.
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@4Average Joe To the contrary, it was the old model that promoted just American movies that was homogenizing and fostering a mono culture.
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Love NETFLIX but it has two shortcomings. It needs: (1) more classic movies, including art, indies, and international as well as standard Hollywood classics, and (2) a better search tool.
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@Thector Yes! Where are the classic movies? They have so few. Many old movies are in the public domain now but they don't even take advantage of that.
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@Thector
I agree. I am sorely disappointed that I am unable to find a variety of time frames of classic movies to enjoy as Netflix offered in the not so distant past. Primarily providing access to only their own projects has greatly decreased it's value as a source of entertainment. Maybe there is room for a competitor!
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@Thector Couldn't agree more on the first point!
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I enjoy watching many programs made by Netflix for other audiences in other countries. I have watched many Norwegian series, and programs in many other languages. The subtitles are great. Granted, some of the programs seem a bit unsophisticated, but then, so are many made for an American audience. As always I pick and choose. And what I see is that Netflix is miles ahead of HBO, to cite one example.
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I think Netflix is merely responding to the world we now live in. As an expat living in the US, I only joined Netfix when I found out that it was streaming some shows from my home country that I was interested in watching. So, yes, I now subscribe because of its international programming, but its a global world so it didn't really have a choice if it wanted to survive.
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Personally, I have no problem with Netflix "escapist fare" from other countries.
Not only because it's interesting to see what other people are viewing around the world, but because it offers one the chance to escape what's going on here in the U.S.
Good for them.
And better for us.
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"In the process, Netflix has discovered something startling: Despite a supposed surge in nationalism across the globe, many people like to watch movies and TV shows from other countries."
Well, hello? I certainly love the service because of all its foreign offerings, a wondrous way to escape the nonstop drumbeat of Trumpian corruption.
Netflix, and to a certain extent Prime Video, are surpassing traditional premium services like Showtime and Starz. Original series, and original movies, many offered in the original language of protagonists like "Cold War," can expand the sterility and repetitiveness of American fare.
That they do so at competitive pricing is the real miracle. Many who get TV through Comcast get Netflix as a freebie in new bundled packages. Prime is part of the Amazon group of must-have toys, whereby the annual Prime subscription more than pays for itself in free delivery charges and increasingly interesting TV series and made for Prime movies.
As a consumer, I love the fact I can get foreign films and higher quality TV content than are offered by traditional TV networks.
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Netflix recently increased their subscription costs. One reason is they will invest in more international content. I resent that we have to pay more so they can make content for other countries, yet Netflix pays no federal taxes here.
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I say good for Netflix! Thanks for removing the wall that has surrounded us for so long. There is indeed a world outside our own borders.
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@Confused What a groundbreaking discovery.
I'm surprised how naive the article and many comments are. A Norwegian show is made by Norwegians, yes, but not (exclusively) for Norwegians. Why should we wonder that people outside Norway can find pleasure in such a show? Do we wonder that people across the globe enjoy reading Gabriel García Márquez's novels? Did he wrote them primarily for Colombians?
Even if Netflix's economic model is driven by subscriptions rather than by advertising, it is driven by economic, shareholders' interests, obviously, and by a cultural perspective that remains an American perspective. Yes, Netflix may help promoting 'exotic' (for Americans) productions but they always will be productions for a broad public, productions that enter into the mold cast by Netflix. If you agree that TV programs are products like screws or cars, that's fine. If you assign them a cultural value or, even more, a cultural ambition, the picture is not that bright anymore.
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In addition to internationally, I hope Netflix also expands through history by filling the spot filled by Filmstruck and badly done through Hulu. So many movies I saw when I was younger and yearn to see again now as an adult have disappeared entirely. Films that created the foundation that today's movies and programs are informed by are entirely missing not just from Netflix but younger people today have never had the opportunity to see and look at you funny when you reference them. For me Now Voyager, Bell Book and Candle were instrumental in my now considered modern notions of what it means to be a woman now. Who knew there were models from the black and white era or in a crack pot notion of witch craft from the 60's?
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@no one special Yes! I miss Filmstruck so much, and although its replacement, which I understand to be all Criterion, will be good, there will still be a yawning abyss. It's particularly galling because its closure seems so unnecessary. I hope they are able to eventually bring it back to the full Filmstruck offerings and interface. What a gem that was.
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Well said. There is nothing worse than homogenised entertainment that comes off a production line, with the same bland storylines and themes.
I have found foreign TV shows and films to be among the most insightful, thought-provoking and vivid entertainment I have ever consumed. The only downside of Netflix, I suppose, is that it has almost too many options.
Still, it is going on the right path if it continues to promote films such as Roma and TV shows, such as those the columnist described, that broaden people's horizons rather than narrow their collective focus.
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hey, you left out Midnight Diner and Kim's Convenient Store. And Senses 8. All wonderful. I'm glad you did this story. Thank you.
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Might be broadening. Or perhaps - am not sure - people open to seeing foreign films are already open (to new ideas, etc). Sadly, I know a some - call them belligerent nationalists - who would never watch a foreign film ('on principles'). I myself enjoyed Netflix foreign offerings from years ago (DVDs) - even before they began streaming massively. Lately I've gotten jaded from the streaming fire-hose (domestic and foreign) - not too many fresh ideas out there - and have mostly reverted to old-fashioned reading.
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Interesting argument here from Farhad Manjoo, inasmuch as the current zeitgeist about the internet's influence on our political perceptions has generally tended towards the negative.
It should be pointed out (as he does), that as the Netflix model is subscriber, rather than advertiser, based, its potential audience might be limited. On the other hand, since that means its content is actually curated, it should be far less vulnerable to "alternative fact" actors.
The internet is too new a phenomenon for us to have determined what the optimum level of access is, but we certainly have seen the problems that arise when just anyone can post up anything--because apparently anyone will. One wonders if Netflix might set an example for other channels that may want to consider requiring that subscribers have some skin in the game, a small commitment for entry (I'm looking at you, FB).
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All I know is that I should have invested 1000 dollars at their IPO.
On another note, this columnist is behind the curve.
I have been hooked for years on Korean movies thanks to Netflix. Korean movies have no filter and sure you have to read them, but hey just have more punch to them than ours do.
Finally, can Netflix save the world? I don't see bringing together countries or "shrinking the world" a bad thing. Worldly conversations about movies? Takes away our proclivity to fight.
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I use the native language closed-captioning for the French and Spanish language shows. It's helping me in my quest to learn how to speak those languages.
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@priscilla don't forget there may be a cable channel TV5Monde USA available to you as well...
@priscilla: Yes, I'm a language buff with a background in several languages, and I have watched a number of foreign Netflix offerings with the original language subtitles, especially "Dark" with the original German subtitles.
I'm convinced that one reason Scandinavians tend to speak such good English, aside from starting in elementary school, is that most of their TV comes from English-speaking countries and is always shown with subtitles, not dubbed. From an early age, they unconsciously absorb English content intended for native speakers.
I’ve been a fan of Netflix ever since the days they used to mail movies in those little red envelopes — they just seemed always ahead of the game. This well-written article brings home the extent of their reach, and the fact that international diversity in programming beats the daylights out of the formula-based fare we were held hostage to by Hollywood.
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@Clyde Bartel
The still send the little red envelopes. It's a different division within Netflix and, incidentally, where the selection is vastly superior than the Netflix streaming service. Unless the this had changed. I don't have Netflix at present and was unaware that they changed (or did away with ?) user reviews. Reading the article and comments is encouraging to me to return. I had thought that so many of these Netflix productions were insipid but was not aware of all the foreign fare. Hmmm.
I enjoy shows produced in other nations, and in other languages. Me and my wife watch more foreign shows than U.S. produced shows (we are chord cutters, and only have streaming services). There is a trove of Scandinavian crime dramas that have introduced me to the books they are based on. There are quirky shows in multiple languages, such as Lillyhammer, which is filmed in English and Norwegian. There are odd-ball series from Australia such as Rake. As this column points out, there is a treasure trove of enjoyable escapism from domestic turmoil, regardless of your native homeland.
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@Ken I'm surprised this article makes no mention of the number of Nordic/Scandinavian shows.
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Totally right
I have watched some terrific German, Israeli, Norwegian and Dutch tv shows on Netflix
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@Chicago Paul
Hear hear! Occupied and The Wave are some of the best Norwegian offerings on Netflix.
@Lisa Mims
If you're into their Norwegian content, be sure to check out "Maniac" (the original series).
My wife and I are finding British crime dramas more interesting than American produced content. The level of their professionalism, writing, acting, directing, cinematography, costumes, etc. are more mature and more creative than American TV. The British and other foreign countries take pride in what they are producing as opposed to American TV which churns out repetitive garbage for complacent minds. We look forward to watching more international content. However, there are some American produced gems like Breaking Bad, but that is rare.
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@Phil M; Largely agree as to drama, especially period pieces, But the Brits certainly churn out their share of crime and comedy junk.
1
That British baking contest is as bad as the British themselves baking are . How can you watch that ?
Netflix has become the vehicle for so mediocre material. There is not even one Fellini or Pasolini movie in the classic catalog. Visconti unknown. Godard ? And none good recent European movie .
Speaking of international culture.
Roma is good but Netflix is buying its artistic alibi for cheap here.
Roma did not cost much to film and does not brake conceptual barrieres either.
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@JPH "That British baking contest is as bad as the British themselves baking are" Thanks Yoda but the Brits are pretty good at baking actually.
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@Martin Really ?
Who are you going to make believe that ?
Heavy ready made dough pies with artificially colored cream on top ? I think very few British people are even able to knead a dough just to start with . Profiterolles au chocolat ? Who in England knows how to make a St Honore ? Make jelly bought at the supermarket might be the best performance in any case .
In the words of that great Latin philosopher Maximus Decimus Meridius "Are you not entertained?" No, I wasn't, I was being manipulated. That's why I canceled my Netflix subscription.
@Richard Mclaughlin - Manipulated? How exactly?
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It's good to see this getting attention.
We've enjoyed shows like The Ministry of Time, The Money Heist and Four Seasons in Havana.
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Netflix is great, I've been a subscriber for years. And it works for everyone. Mr. Manjoo seems to be perplexed that Netflix is so successful despite growing 'nationalist' or 'right-wing populist' insurgency around the globe.
Well, I am what you'd probably call a right-wing populist and still enjoy foreign shows from all over the world. Just because I don't want the whole world to immigrate to my country, does not mean that other cultures can't be interesting or that I can't respect them. This obvious distinction seems to be intellectually incomprehensible for most modern liberals.
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I totally disagree. I am an old Netflix subscriber. Long before streaming was available. At that time Netflix had a vast library of foreign films. Hop was my favorite about an immigrant boy and the man who sheltered him. These foreign films opened ones eyes to maybe, just maybe America is not #1 which in my eyes is a good thing. Since that golden age of Netflix most films and tv shows they peddle appeal to the lowest denominator. Sex and Violence flood the foreign film genre today and not much else. Oh, and lots of fluff.
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I'm currently watching Black Earth Rising. It's fascinating not just for the thriller aspect of the story but because it brings to light some very interesting points of view with respect to African countries' rights to control their destinies & their histories.
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I wish this were totally true - many of the British shows (BBC, ITV) I’d like to watch are not available to Israeli Netflix subscribers. There still seem to be a lot of issues about which programs can be shown in which countries.
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@Dfkinjer: That's because streaming services have to negotiate rights for each country they operate in.
"Despite a supposed surge in nationalism across the globe, many people like to watch movies and TV shows from other countries." I could only laugh when I read this because, although the movie market is mostly dominated by American films, TV has always been quite diverse in origin in Chile and Latin America in general. Besides domestic and American productions, we are used to watch TV shows and series from other Latin American countries (which, and this may shock Americans, sometimes differ greatly from our own accents, culture and reality), Spain, Turkey, South Korea, UK, Canada and more. I suspect that Netflix's multicultural offer is a surprise only to Americans.
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I loved Roma.
I felt transported to another place and time
and that is all I ever look for in programming..
take me away.
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Don’t forget the excellent French shows, including The Hookup Plan and Call My Agent!
Thanks for this take on what Netflix is trying to do. (I have a lot a new shows to add to my queue now.) I was wondering why it seems like Netflix is really pushing foreign shows to me lately. It must be great for filmmakers and video storytelling in those countries. However I do worry that some of the shows have a creeping Americanness that isn’t entirely true to the other cultures. The high school in Sex Education, for example, has a prom, which even the characters joke is an American tradition with no roots in Britain.
I agree with you, though, it’ll be interesting to see in the future how much cross-cultural Netflix programming will shape opinions about sexuality, race, and human rights around the globe. So far, most of the shows I’ve seen have a very progressive world view.
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@Agarre Call my agent was such a wonderful find that I found myself watching it again. Besides being funny, the characters have unusual beauty and character not found in American fare. I’ve stopped watching U.S. films and TV and look forward to trying more international films, which are more vibrant and mature—in plot, acting, character portrayals, themes, everything. I’ll check out the Hookup Plan.
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We are really enjoying Netflix! And happily accessing serials from Australia which we would never have otherwise seen!
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@Kiran
It's not only Netflx. By virtue of the myriad of streaming services out there (Including YouTube on TV), we are able to watch, say, cricket matches between India and Australia.
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@mike edwards: YouTube restricts a lot of content here in India eg Saturday Night Live!
FOND AS I AM OF Foreign films, I had not envisioned Netflix as a shining beacon, lighting up the orld as the purveyor of free expression. OK so they cannot deliver their wide diversity and open discussion of taboo subjects such as sexuality, in the repressive Saudi Arabia. Maybe when nobody uses petroleum anymore, they society will open up. But I'm not holding my breath. I've seen a number of foreign films on Netflix that I've found to be very well done, informative and enjoyable. Just last night, I watched a Netflix film, 100 steps, about an Indian family that settles in France, across the street from a restaurant that had been awarded a Michelin star. The plot involves the influence that the Indian cuisine brought in by the restaranteurs, has a great impact on a temple of haute cuisine that is completely French. There's the merging of cuisines and also of the two families, with two love stories. There was a series about a young Korean pianist who falls in love with his teacher. The music is sublime, compensating for the predictability of the plot. Then there's a madcap comedy, The Good Police Officer, and Israeli film that pulls out all the stops in mimicking Israeli quirks. It's a rollicking good time!
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@John Jones - 100 Steps is a good movie based on a good book. It's a box office film however and not a Netflix production.
Netflix is a godsend to expats and immigrants like myself for exactly the reasons outlined in this article. For me, it has helped me stay connected to my birth country (Australia) with hits like Nanette as well as quirky comedies such as The Letdown and Sisters which showcase the unique Australian sense of humor which I find Americans are never quite able to grasp. It has also helped me understand the American experience through intelligent comedy (particularly its wonderful standup collection) and documentaries (Get Me Roger Stone). If the passive nature of cable television dumbed down the nation enough to bring us Trump, maybe Netflix’s algorithm will begin to reverse the tide.
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I remember when I was a young man in New York to get an international film with subtitles I had to go to the Paris theater on 58th Street (across the street from the Plaza Hotel).
Now, we enjoy watching films from all over the world at home. (Some British shows we actually use English subtitles. Even some American movies where whispering unintelligibly seems to be the director idea of suspense.
German, Spanish, Indian, South American, Nigerian etc all stream into our house.
Oh, and now to go to the movie theater for two costs between $40 and $75 without or with popcorn.
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I am a fan of Netflix's international offerings. How else are we going to be exposed to what the rest of the world thinks and is watching? Not at the cineplex.
I watched an Iranian film and received insights into the culture, and how differences in culture can make the plot go in a different direction than it would in the United States. "The Road to Calvary" from Russia did not seem to take sides in the Russian Revolution -- there were characters from all sides motivated by good and bad impulses -- and it showed how quickly the thin veneer of civilization can vanish from a society. There are films from Israel/Palestine which are illuminating.
The better we understand each other and see each other as people, the better things are going to go. One can hope, anyway.
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@Thomas Didnt even know about Road to Calvary! Added! Thanks!
Many of us around the world do not have the means to travel extensively ... or at all. Netflix is promoting a low-cost and convenient alternative, so people can still expand their horizons. Is it any wonder that it's so popular?
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@Blue Moon
"There is no Frigate like [Netflix]
To take us Lands away..."
With thanks to Emily Dickinson for the idea!
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@YReader
Media content such as histories, documentaries, and films/TV shows that offer genuinely unique perspectives should be disseminated globally (as well as within the country of origin). The international distribution of vetted productions that focus on the more mundane has been largely stymied until recently, despite the fact that these vehicles provide insightful cultural perspectives. Netflix is picking up the slack in an economical and readily available way.
It looks like the time for the dispersion of this material has come. And why not? Let people decide for themselves if they like it or not. Providing more information means we all can make more informed decisions. We need that ability now more than ever.
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