History 101 (2020)

Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/JQCiV0ghtLg I'm a bit of a history nerd, so anything related to this subject usually catches my eye when it arrives on Netflix. So it was with _History 101_. This is a 10 part series that uses archival footage and animated infographics to cover the chosen subject of each 25ish minute episode. The subjects covered are fast food, the space race, China, plastics, oil, robots, feminism, nuclear power, AIDS, and genetics. Given how short the episodes are and how broad the topics are that are covered, this series is a case of style over substance. It looks cool and flashy, but its way too rushed to be of any substance or anything more than the lightest of covering of a subject. They heavily use animated infographic type side pieces which are of a type that gives it all a bit of a childish feel. They whoosh in and whoosh out and spin around but it all blasts over the screen so quick that it negates a lot of the information it's trying to convey. What I did like about it was that it has some most excellent archival footage - this was what I enjoyed the most. Some of it is of a very high quality and there was lots of clips that I had never seen before even on subjects that I'm really interested in. So that's a real cool part. But it's about the only good thing I could take away from it though. I think this might be best for kids or teens. As its only really a surface level introduction to the various subjects, there's not a lot here for history nerds looking to learn something new.