It’s hard to avoid negative content online, and eventually it begins to rub off and affect your day-to-day. But it’s important to see the other side—the efforts being made by awesome people to change the world for the better.
6
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Watch Won’t You Be My Neighbor? on Amazon Prime Video
I always understood that Fred Rogers was a very influential figure in television, and I remember catching reruns and new episodes when I was a kid. Although it’s biographical, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is really about Fred Rogers in the context of his show and what drove him to pursue television.
More importantly, it reinforces the belief that Rogers was a genuinely caring and loving person, and how that was used to spread goodwill and lessons. I particularly like how the documentary highlights the other actors, who also had a significant hand in the show’s success.
5
My Octopus Teacher
Watch My Octopus Teacher on Netflix
You’ve heard of a boy and his dog, but what about a boy and his octopus? My Octopus Teacher documents an incredibly touching story of a filmmaker, James Reed, visiting the same octopus for a year. They form a sort of friendship, and through their friendly interactions, James witnesses the life cycle of this animal.
What’s most inspiring about My Octopus Teacher is the dedication James exhibits. The spot he revisits isn’t safe by any stretch of the imagination, and yet he dives right in to befriend and record this octopus without disrupting the natural world. Ultimately, it gives us a reason as to why we should be protecting the oceans.
4
Salt Fat Acid Heat
Watch Salt Fat Acid Heat on Netflix
One way I like to relax and shut myself off to the doom and gloom of current events is to cook something. I’ll put YouTube on or stream a show in the background, allowing me to focus on making a delicious meal for my kids and me. The documentary Salt Fat Acid Heat is a love letter to cooking, but it is also very informative to someone who wants to learn how to cook.
The show is broken up into four parts, each of which covers a foundation of cooking: salt, fat, acid, and heat. Our host, the bubbly Samin Nosrat, then visits four countries that feature one of those ingredients in their recipes. For example, how fat is used in Italy or acidic ingredients in Yucatán meals. My advice to new cooks: try meal planning!
3
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Watch David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet on Netflix
While My Octopus Teacher is more focused on an intimate sliver of the ocean, David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet is a look at the entire planet. Although it does draw attention to global warming, the documentary isn’t meant to be all doom and gloom—quite the opposite. Instead, it fixates on the problem and what we can do as a species to make it right.
The documentary is superbly effective at how it markets that message, too. It uses a combination of Sir Attenborough’s own experience and scientific facts to emphasize just how much the world has changed since he was born. However, he asserts numerous solutions can be easily implemented, like renewable energy, universal healthcare, and rewilding. The way the Netherlands grows crops is incredibly fascinating, utilizing massive greenhouses to grow plants with fewer resources.
2
Kids Take Action Against Ocean Plastic
Watch Kids Take Action Against Ocean Plastic on YouTube
Kids Take Action Against Ocean Plastic isn’t a long documentary—it’s a mere five minutes long—but it’s still powerful nonetheless. It’s not every day you see a group of kids, barely into their teens, getting together and doing the dirty work of cleaning plastic out of the ocean. There’s a real sense of community on display.
What’s so uplifting is seeing how dedicated the kids are in the short film, not just at scooping up plastic pollutants, but also understanding why it’s so important. It’s really impressive to see these young kids point out different types of plastics and the kind of damage it does to an ecosystem.
1
Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine
Watch Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine on Netflix
I recall the anticipation I felt the year the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was set to launch, which was at a fever pitch when it was in space unfurling, but I can only imagine what it was like for scientists. And what an accomplishment! Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine is a behind-the-scenes look at the problems the scientists faced designing, building, and testing the JWST.
Knowing what I know now, it’s a miracle the JWST is in space at all. I didn’t realize just how delicate the instrument actually is, particularly with its very thin sunshield, which has to be unfolded carefully. Otherwise, it doesn’t have protection against the sun, nor be able to cool down at the temperatures it needs to operate. And because of the JWST’s successful launch, we get to learn more about the universe and better understand our place in the stars.
What matters most is having a variety of documentaries to keep your spirits up. I don’t think it’s enough to just be aware of a problem, like global warming, but to balance those feelings with solutions and inspirational efforts made by others that ultimately encourage you to do the same. If life is really overwhelming for you, then you can always binge the best comfort shows.
