5 Free alternatives to Netflix's "Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy" - you're welcome!
Don’t have Netflix? Not to fear, I’ve scoured the internet for 5 free alternatives to Netflix’s new documentary, “Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy”.
Honestly, it’s only been a month that we’ve had Netflix back because when we stopped using it, two years ago, it was becoming very repetitive. But one thing about Netflix is that they have some pretty dang captivating docs and I had seen that they were about to release one related to my area of expertise.
But alas, I realize not everyone has Netflix, maybe because it’s too expensive (which it is) or because there’s just too much noise (it’s literally the fast fashion of movies). Whatever the reason, have no fear, I have compiled a list of 5 free docs you can watch to learn and/or be introduced to the same concepts that are presented in this new Netflix doc.
1. “The True Cost”
“This is a story about clothing. It’s about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world. The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider, who really pays the price for our clothing?
Filmed in countries all over the world, from the brightest runways to the darkest slums, and featuring interviews with the world’s leading influencers including Stella McCartney, Livia Firth, and Vandana Shiva, The True Cost is an unprecedented project that invites us to an eye-opening journey around the world and into the lives of the many people and places behind our clothes.”
2. “Planned Obsolescence documentary - The Light Bulb Conspiracy”
“Once upon a time..... products were made to last. Then, at the beginning of the 1920s, a group of businessmen were struck by the following insight: 'A product that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business' (1928). Thus Planned Obsolescence was born. Shortly after, the first worldwide cartel was set up expressly to reduce the life span of the incandescent light bulb, a symbol for innovation and bright new ideas, and the first official victim of Planned Obsolescence. During the 1950s, with the birth of the consumer society, the concept took on a whole new meaning, as explained by flamboyant designer Brooks Stevens: 'Planned Obsolescence, the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary...'. The growth society flourished, everybody had everything, and the waste was piling up (preferably far away in illegal dumps in the Third World) - until consumers started rebelling... Can the modern growth society survive without Planned Obsolescence?”
3. “Shop 'Til You Drop: The Crisis of Consumerism”
“Are we too materialistic? Are we wantonly destroying the planet with our pettiness? Where is the source of all that energy and endless consumer desires? The document calls for a direct confrontation with these questions. Focusing on the long-term deteriorating ecological and mental realm of American consumerist culture and all the chaotic materialism, he reaches beneath the surface of the commercial world to show that the consequence of growth is impoverishment - the slow and steady depletion of natural resources and basic human values. It shows the connection between the limits of consumerism and our own well-being, and encourages people to develop a critical view of the current economic situation.”
4. “Manufactured Landscapes” directed by Jennifer Baichwal
“Manufactured Landscapes is a feature length documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Burtynsky makes large-scale photographs of 'manufactured landscapes' – quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines, dams. He photographs civilization's materials and debris, but in a way people describe as "stunning" or "beautiful," and so raises all kinds of questions about ethics and aesthetics without trying to easily answer them.
The film follows Burtynsky to China as he travels the country photographing the evidence and effects of that country's massive industrial revolution. Sites such as the Three Gorges Dam, which is bigger by 50% than any other dam in the world and displaced over a million people, factory floors over a kilometre long, and the breathtaking scale of Shanghai's urban renewal are subjects for his lens and our motion picture camera.
Shot in Super-16mm film, Manufactured Landscapes extends the narrative streams of Burtynsky's photographs, allowing us to meditate on our profound impact on the planet and witness both the epicentres of industrial endeavour and the dumping grounds of its waste. What makes the photographs so powerful is his refusal in them to be didactic. We are all implicated here, they tell us: there are no easy answers. The film continues this approach of presenting complexity, without trying to reach simplistic judgements or reductive resolutions. In the process, it tries to shift our consciousness about the world and the way we live in it.”
5. “The environmental disaster fuelled by used clothes and fast fashion”
“The dark side of the world’s fashion addiction. Many of our old clothes, donated to charities, end up in rotting textile mountains in West Africa. This is a story about how our waste is creating an environmental disaster. Have you ever thought about what happens to your old clothes after you drop them off at the op shop? It might be time to start because these goodwill gestures are helping to fuel an environmental catastrophe on the other side of the world. When charities in Australia can’t sell donated clothing, tonnes of it end up being exported to
countries like Ghana, in West Africa. Ship after ship docks every week with bales from Europe, the US, China, and Australia. They call them ‘Dead White Man’s Clothes’. Once they arrive in Ghana, they’re taken to the bustling Kantamanto markets in the capital Accra and from here, they make their way to villages and towns across the country. The industry provides jobs for thousands of people, like Asare Asamoah, a successful importer. He brings in clothes, mainly from the United Kingdom, and if they’re good quality, he can make a decent living.”
Before having watched “Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy”, these are the 5 docs I watched in the past to have a clearer understanding of what’s going on with our waste. I highly recommend them all.
If, once you’re done, you want to talk about what you’ve watched or have any questions, please shoot me a DM.
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