Netflix: Pushing Boundaries Like No Other Service

By Jake Lankford. Written on April 6th, 2022.

After sitting down and watching all seven episodes of Sion Sono’s crime/thriller/drama series THE FOREST OF LOVE –DEEP CUT– (the extended miniseries cut of Sono’s film THE FOREST OF LOVE), I came away from the series feeling a myriad of emotions: disturbed, haunted, but most of all, impressed. Here was a series that crossed boundaries that few cable TV series are willing to cross and taking all sorts of risks as well.

THE FOREST OF LOVE –DEEP CUT– and a few other recent Netflix series ultimately proves one thing: Netflix is willing to give creators and directors a chance to push boundaries and take risks in ways that few other streaming platforms and production companies are willing to allow or accept.

A major example of this is experimentation, in terms of both style and presentation. This can be seen in series such as the aforementioned THE FOREST OF LOVE –DEEP CUT–, which demonstrates such techniques as immersion-breaking by having credits sequences smacked right in the middle of the episodes and by having episode titles not even appear until the very end. Experimentation of presentation can also be seen in the satirical dark comedy series AMERICAN VANDAL, which is presented as a true crime documentary and also experiments with metafiction, a piece of fiction about fiction.

Netflix is a platform that gives creators under them so much more freedom when it comes to experimentation, thus allowing more avant-garde filmmakers, like Sion Sono and David Lynch, to achieve their full and complete vision. This freedom of experimentation ties into another thing that sets Netflix apart from a lot of other streaming services and production companies: freedom of content.

Netflix has always been known for its laissez-faire attitude towards content in their series and movies, in both good and bad ways. Back then, Netflix had very little boundaries of what was allowed on their platform. I can testify to this by having seen films from extremely controversial directors such as Gaspar Noe and Lars von Trier on Netflix back in the late 2010’s. Now, Netflix has tightened up on what films and series are allowed, but their hands-off attitude towards content remains. This can be seen in such series as JU-ON: ORIGINS, which polarized viewers and critics for several reasons, content being a major reason why.

I for one loved that six-episode miniseries, it crossed boundaries few series were and are willing to cross in terms of content and is an amazing example of Netflix’s laissez-faire attitude towards content being used in a way not to create shock value, but to tell an amazing and creepy story. This also ties into the overall freedom Netflix gives creators that produce under them, creators are allowed to experiment and push boundaries much further than with other streaming services and network TV channels.

All in all, say what you want about Netflix’s content, but you can’t deny that it is a platform that is allowing bold, fresh and innovative filmmakers and creators to fully realize their projects. From bold and disturbing series such as THE FOREST OF LOVE –DEEP CUT– and JU-ON: ORIGINS to experimental series like AMERICAN VANDAL, Netflix is truly paving the way for innovation and boundary-pushing in television and movies.