Documentaries and docuseries: Netflix and other streaming platforms have ushered in a new golden age, and TV is struggling to keep up
- Documentaries today have bigger budgets and are more creative and experimental, often combining entertainment with factual content
- Even low-budget unscripted series such as Tiger King are outperforming historical dramas like The Crown
Guitarist Malis blasts out power chords as hardcore rock band Obstacle Upsurge thrash through their set. The drummer wears the headbanger’s obligatory studded denim jacket; the vocalist bellows rebellion to a capacity crowd at indie-arts nerve centre The Substation in Singapore.
Afterwards, reflecting on the prejudiced music business, Malis says: “It’s not easy … there was a lot of [criticism] – about me wearing my hijab.”
The all-female Obstacle Upsurge, still active, were a vital component of Singapore’s 1990s’ underground music landscape; and defiant shredder Malis sports her everyday Muslim attire on stage.
This may surprise those more familiar with Singapore’s image as staid and suffocating.
Scene Unseen, in which Obstacle Upsurge appear, and which is now in post-production, is part of the rise of what is, potentially, film and television’s most potent currency: the documentary.
It isn’t the first sociological-musical study to scrutinise human behaviour, but it is part of a fast-expanding portfolio in which there seems to be an investigative work for every subject and subgenre, be it niche interest or global headline-grabber, available on the different streaming platforms.