Netflix and Chill?
The billion dollar streaming company has one asking the billion dollar question: “Netflix and chill or ‘nah?'”
With an arsenal of compelling and complex streaming series on deck, Netflix has become a staple in pop culture. Noted to line up its available playlist with the modern times, ideologies of Black lives matter, Asian lives matter, women’s rights and even pandemic themed arrivals are dutifully categorized to keep the world engaged with the latest stress-inducing or sensitively timed visuals and storylines.
Entertaining and thought-provoking as it may be, the need to take a break from the world’s issues may not necessarily be granted with an evening of Netflix watching. It is quite possible to be all Netflix and no chill.
For starters, Netflix takes notes from rival company HULU’s , “The Handmaid’s Tale” series, which easily evokes the inner feminist from watching the plight of women forced into servitude, rape and baby making commodities at the hands of a male-ruled dystopia. Netflix brings a similar series known as “Alias Grace.” Both are compelling, upsetting, uncomfortable and perfectly aligned with the recent visibility of the “Me Too” movement. Such series amplify the recent female power shifts, specifically within a modern U.S. government that recently welcomed its first female vice president.
Audiences were awakened to the sudden popularity of unsung African-American film makers and the stories of African-Americans falsely imprisoned, as told in the streaming documentary “13th.” More series tackling the stories of African Americans discriminated against and those legendary figures in art and history, such as James Brown and Ma Rainey had their stories heard on the heels of a racially-charged climate, amid George Floyd’s death and community marches for change.
More Asian representation made its debut on Netflix after a rise in pandemic-fueled hate crimes against the Asian community. “Kim’s Convenience” has been noted as a popular Netflix series that more accurately depicts a facet of the Asian community.
Netflix categorizes these societal themes in the same way Twitter highlights trending topics. Netflix has no chill.
It is the theatrical time capsule you never knew you wanted, until you decided it’s going to be a Netflix kind of evening.
-Angela Fedrick-Lewis
