‘The Tinder Swindler’, ‘Bad Surgeon’, and endless true crime series are just some popular (especially among women) examples showing that people love a somewhat shocking documentary. And while there are thousands, if not millions, of them covering basically anything and everything out there already, there are nearly equally as many stories waiting to be uncovered.
Members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community recently discussed such stories, when the user ‘Ninac4116’ asked them about ‘open secrets’ that don’t have a documentary created about them yet. If you’re curious about what stories people would love to watch on the big screen—or their TVs, at least—next, scroll down to find their answers on the list below and see what might be coming up in the world of documentaries in the future.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interviews with the OP themself as well as with the Cinema Studies lecturer at Rutgers University, Albert Nigrin, who were kind enough to answer a few of our questions.
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Even though secrets typically refer to something that is not widely known, there are some that are common knowledge to many (even if certain people would rather they weren’t). These often include stories of someone’s bad deeds, intrigues, and even crimes, all of which are far from positive, yet often captivating nevertheless.
In a recent interview with Bored Panda, the redditor who started the thread, ‘Ninac4116’, shared that it was curiosity that led them to pose the question. “As an exposé junkie, I was curious what more in the world we don’t know about yet,” they said.
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There’s an industry that basically takes guardianship of elderly people by getting them declared incompetent, without their knowledge. They move them into nursing homes, sell off their homes and assets and take over their money. It’s like the title theft scam, but with people being taken over rather than just real estate. It’s brutal and frightening:
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Discussing what tends to captivate people the most when it comes to documentaries, the redditor suggested that whenever they cover something that affects viewers directly or paints something in a completely different light from how they viewed it before, it immediately gets their attention. “Due to our contentious political climate, anything with a political tie will draw in more viewers [nowadays],” they said.
“Many answers were surprising,” the OP added, “but a common theme [that was] somewhat unsurprising were the Jeffrey Epstein and Trump comments. It makes you wonder why certain things don’t get more media attention.”
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Discussing what “open secrets” they would want to see presented as a documentary, the OP said that an exposé on chiropractics is long overdue. “Many people consider them a back doctor and blindly go see them. But the reality of its foundations and its practice are pretty mind-blowing.”
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Seeking to learn more about what makes a good documentary, Bored Panda got in touch with Cinema Studies lecturer at Rutgers University, Albert Nigrin, who said that for him, a good documentary is one where new information is presented in an interesting and unbiased way.
“Documentaries are very important as they are a window into the life of our planet,” he added. “They play an increasing role in helping us understand ourselves and our lives better.”
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DuPont plants have a ridiculously high cancer rate for contractors/employees. Studies on titanium dioxide get buried.
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According to the expert, popular topics for documentaries vary by time period. “During World War II, documentaries focused on the war effort [were popular]. During the 1960s, documentaries started to focus on the turmoil of that period.
“Today's documentaries are all over the place given that there are so many more outlets for these; everything from ‘reality TV’ to series on the climate crisis.”
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But even though they cover a wide range of topics, documentaries are rarely successful, Nigrin pointed out. “Only a few have had successful theatrical releases. Hoop Dreams, Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins were a few of these and they featured pretty in-depth analysis of its subject.”
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Maga is a cult.
I'm not talking about Republicans necessarily. I am talking about the portion of Republicans willing to surrender their entire free thought to the whim of a charismatic leader.
The closest documentry would be the Alt Right episode of the Netflix docuseries "Web of Make Believe: Death Lies and the Internet"
Edit: For clarification, my personal definition for a cult is:
A high control group that follows a specifically tailored ideology which is used to abuse and manipulate followers for the benefit of the group leader and/or leadership.The Supreme Court has been bought.David Miscavige's wife has not been seen in public since 2007. Miscavige is the leader of Scientology.Private equity is destroying healthcare. They siphon every cent out and then close hospitals down.
Doctors and nurses are now laborers, not professionals. There won’t be much left in 20 years.The prevalence of microplastics in our food and water supply is an 'open secret' that needs a dedicated documentary. the long-term health effects are still unknown, and it’s a topic that deserves more attention.The Mormon Church is sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in stock and real estate. They do almost no charity work directly from those funds. The majority of the humanitarian funds the church claims are from an equivalent dollar value of labor from their members and another entirely separate charity arm which doesnt involve church contributions.I’d love to see a documentary on the PPP loan fraud during Covid (US). There have been a lot of news articles about it, but a deep dive that exposes wealthy people would be awesome.I’m surprised there isn’t a documentary on the quackery behind chiropractics. It was literally invented by a man hearing what a ghost said to him. Google that.How the private prison industry basically got tons of local sheriffs departments into the prison industry, especially in the south by financing, building and training them to run jails and prisons for profit. It's like a franchise, and poor people are the product.Putin and Russia's influence on social media around the world. I don't think there's been a documentary into just how deep it goes, and how prevalent it is.I feel like there aren’t very many docs on how horrible tipping culture is.Backyard dog breeders could probably fill an hour.Steven Tyler of Aerosmith adopted his 14 year old wife, so he could legally take her across state lines. Wrote about it in his memoir. Said it was consensual. Later became a judge on American Idol.The way old folks are treated in care homes.A company can sell you a printer and then render that printer inoperable if you decide not to also purchase the ink from them (in which said ink is being sold as a subscription service).Someone needs to do something about the robber barons of the 21st century. Tech industry is doing almost exactly what the oil, rail, and gas companies did in the gilded age.Pilots aren’t allowed to fly if they’re depressed (treated or not) or taking any mental health medications, but most of them can’t afford to take off work until they get better (depression is chronic for many), so they fly regardless of how poor their mental health may be and keep it secret if necessary.The new uranium mines that are being opened on Native American reservations in the Southwest US. Also the ones that are abandoned and the government refuses to clean them up. Not to mention a lot of Navajo Nation is still feeling the effects of the former Bennett Freeze where they couldn’t get anything fixed or anything new built on their land for over 40 years. A good portion of people living in Navajo nation in those areas affected by the freeze still don’t have access to running water and electricity in their homes.Just how much bribery and effort coordination go into lobbying on Capitol Hill.Tiger King kind of covered it, but some states have really lax exotic animal laws. Lions, tigers, and bears are not pets. They are wild animals.How some of the top fashion magazines send young models over to meet wealthy donors in hotel rooms who will ‘help’ them get the modelling contract they were after.Air-fryers are just rebranded convection ovens from the 90s.How recycling is essentially not a real practice. I mean maybe there is something about it but I feel like everyone I know recycles so much of their trash and over 90% if not all of it ends up as trash. Piles and piles of trash.How much the military actually waste. If they don’t use what they’re allotted one fiscal year they don’t get the same the next so towards the end of the year they’ll throw ammo off boats in the ocean and purposely break office furniture and burn excess uniforms so the same amount at minimum is allotted the next year.Powerful people using tax havens to avoid paying taxes. While there have been some documentaries on specific incidents or individuals, a documentary covering the system seems to be lacking.The province of New Brunswick, Canada is basically the play toy of a small handful of wealthy families (Irving, McCain, Oland). The government is just there for show.The way apartment leasing mega corps like Greystar squeeze renters for every penny (initial lease rate algorithm for starters) and in return cut every corner to save money destroying their customers without care because there’s always hundreds more lined up due to the horrible housing market. Predatory leasing at its finest. Don’t see this ever changing.I would say the amount of people that fail at raising their kids.
Not even obvious and serious things like abusing their kids, but just not raising them right.
