Why do white Americans still hold 13 times more wealth today than black Americans? What will happen when parents can freely modify their children's DNA? Is monogamy the result of a natural state? Or is it a social construct that is collapsing just as you read this? Big questions, huh? Well, that's the kind of questions answered In short, the new docu-series freshly landed on Netflix.
In short, or Explained in English, is the new documentary series that will make you shine in the evening. Each episode focuses on a social issue whose effects spread over time. We will seek here to prevent potential disastrous consequences for humanity, or on the contrary to explain the delusional success of a pop culture product. In short, we will seek the explanation of a complex phenomenon at its source, and we will try to make it as clear as possible. And we will take the necessary time to properly pose the problem.
An original program
For this new program, the streaming platform has partnered with the online media Vox. The pure player , halfway between journalism and entertainment, specializes in the production of explanatory content at will pedagogical, especially in the form of short videos.
In short is different, says Ezra Klein, editor-in-chief of Vox:
Each week we choose a new topic. The racial wealth gap, monogamy or cryptocurrency… We try to give people a real understanding. Talking with the best, trying to navigate through the thorniest issues.
The kind of themes covered in In Brief is often overlooked by the mainstream media in favor of fast-breaking stories. From cryptocurrency to K-Pop to diets, it feels good to stop a little on topics that are rarely found in the light on a daily basis. A bit like slow journalism, but in short format. Moreover, these videos are intended to remain relevant over time. Since this is not hot news, In Short finds its place on a platform like Netflix that does not only favor novelties.
In short, it's short but intense
The series is reminiscent of the rise of science popularization on YouTube. Indeed, we are dealing here with a short format, on subjects treated in a pedagogical way, which have little to do with each other, and whose duration varies according to the episodes (from 15 to 20 minutes) unlike programs calibrated for television. Not to mention that only one episode is broadcast each week. A method on which Netflix returns more and more. However, the platform had revolutionized the way we consume by swinging an entire season in one go to encourage binge watching. Like what, viewer loyalty requires different strategies.
In short becomes a small weekly meeting nice. We take the time to sit down for about fifteen minutes to be interested in pop or cultural phenomena that we had not necessarily thought of. The whole is punctuated by worked visuals, interviews with researchers, testimonies and archive images. The result is fluid, understandable, simple to look at. We do not necessarily wait for the next episode with the same impatience as season 8 of GoT but it remains light and we appreciate.
