By: A.J. Merch
Staff Writer
amerchant1@umassd.edu

After months of putting it off, I finally looked at the Kanopy app which was an on-demand streaming video platform for public libraries and universities that offers films and documentaries.

It was during my Spanish class when my professor had assigned a homework of watching a movie called Chico & Rita on the app. While doing so, I would fall in love with the movie, after finishing it I got a chance to go through the varieties of movies I even knew there were. I would usually spend time on Netflix. But Kanopy was something different, I found myself watching multiple forms of police and serial killer documentaries because of my love of shows like Criminal Minds and NCIS. But after doing so, the app drew me and introduced me to the spaghetti westerns. Which were very important to the early years of Hollywood. Immediately I was taken into this world of westerns like Django Kill… If you live, shoot and Django, Prepare a Coffin.

I had already watched Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained with Jamie Foxx, but these movies were what inspired and were loved by Tarantino. I could see why I started to be in love with these types of films as well. Kanopy has a great selection even sometimes I get bored because of Netflix and the selections they have. After a while I would end up being on foreign language shows on Netflix to pass the time. But with Kanopy I was watching films that were interesting and something I wouldn’t expect to like.

I think more people should take out the time to check out Kanopy on their free time see what films they’ll end up finding. As someone who wants to be a filmmaker, the films I watched on Kanopy kept my mind running with ideas. I found that Kanopy opened my eyes and made me feel real nostalgic. I was watching films that were from long ago, they had so much originality and flair. I was deeply obsessed with the documentaries and how they help me get more educated on different things.

At first, I truly believed that Kanopy was just full of boring documentaries that were not interesting. But I was very mistaken and I think everyone should sometimes leave Netflix and check on Kanopy and not just for research and homework for classes. I know a huge amount of people like police and serial killer documentaries based on how much they trend on Netflix. They should come to Kanopy because they’ll be introduced to a bigger selection and variety of subjects that even I didn’t know existed. I find that interesting and very good as something people can find fascinating. I was amazed and spent day after day spending time learning and finding out more each and every day on the app. It’s pretty fun in my belief and I like it a lot. I hope more people can see the fun within and the education that can also be learned through genres that you’ll like a lot and I think that is really great.