NetFlix Delivers the Docs

There’s an interesting article over at Patrol highlighting one of the benefits of NetFlix and other on-demand options: the variety of content offered. In this particular article, a documentary called “The Education of Shelby Knox” is examined. If you read through the informal doc review, it hits the heart of the subject on hand. Here’s a snip:

For a documentary, Shelby Knox received a surprising amount of attention at its 2005 release—reviews in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, a broadcast on PBS’s “POV” series, even a mention in a Dixie Chicks song. Since then, though, it’s faded into pop-cultural oblivion. Good luck finding it at Best Buy or Blockbuster.

This is a path followed by most documentaries, and even most movies. But Shelby Knox is still worth watching, even when it falters as a documentary, because of its subjects. Whatever else they do or don’t, Lipschutz and Rosenblatt tackle a thorny issue and a small-town locale, bringing needed attention to both. And Netflix‘s “Instantly Watchable” service continues to provide a home to fascinating but flawed stuff like Shelby Knox and its less-hyped brethren.

If you haven’t given VOD a thought yet, consider this: by viewing content online you eliminate the need to leave your house and track down a film that you may never be able to get in your town. For some people this might be part of the adventure, and I can sort of see that argument. However, if given that choice and the fact that you may never be able to find the film, I think most people would click “download” instead.