The Best Part of Netflix’s Ryan Murphy Deal Have Been the Documentaries

A lot has been written about Netflix’s $300 million deal with Ryan Murphy. The super producer has been alternatively named “the king of the streaming boon” and criticized for his streaming originals. But beneath the long think pieces, there’s another story about Murphy’s growing legacy that has been largely ignored. Through Netflix, Ryan Murphy and his team have been quietly reshaping the documentary space. And The Andy Warhol Diaries is simply the latest installment that challenges the restraints of this medium, while always remembering to focus on the humanity of these stories.

In anyone else’s hands, the six-part docuseries would likely be predictable — another self-serious project that exuded praise for its famous subject without offering much in terms of true reflection. That’s not what director Andrew Rossi delivers. In a move the late artist would likely respect, The Andy Warhol Diaries is both a retrospective and an active conversation about Warhol’s work.

Subjects argue. As the docuseries ticks through Warhol’s various partners, muses, and lovers, debates about Warhol’s sexuality emerge. Was the late artist’s refusal to label his sexuality an act of empowerment we should learn from today? Or was it harmful to the gay and LGBTQ+ communities? Would Warhol even want to be considered part of these communities? It’s all a big headache with no clear answer. You get a sense that the late Warhol would be thrilled a simple documentary about his life would have the power to cause such widespread internal turmoil.

This blend of intense intimacy and twisting, uncomfortable contradictions appears in the documentaries Murphy has produced time and time again. That intimacy is most apparent in both A Secret Love and Circus of Books. A Secret Love, director Chris Bolan’s deep dive into Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel’s decades-long romance, literally opens in the couple’s kitchen. As Donahue takes a call from her doctor, you see a concerned Henschel lingering in the background. It’s proof of their loving relationship. Circus of Books feels even more vulnerable as Rachel Mason is both the film’s director and the daughter of its subjects. As Mason tries to to get her parents to talk about West Hollywood’s famous gay pornography shop, you can sometimes hear the frustration in her voice. In those moments, she transforms from confident filmmaker to frustrated daughter who just needs her mom to pay attention.

Even the sweetest of these moments come with notes of discomfort. Donahue and Henschel show their love for each other in sweet, daily ways, ordinary examples of care that emerge when two people have loved each other for years. But when they explain why they kept their relationship a secret for nearly seven decades, the answer is delivered in that same ordinary manner. For them, hiding a huge part of their lives from friends and families was their normal. That’s horrifying. In Circus of Books, that discomfort lies in Karen and Barry Mason’s reaction to their son coming out. Most people would assume that the couple who owned one of the best known gay porn shops would be fine with their son’s sexuality, yet that isn’t the case at all. The film doesn’t hold back as it details the ways the Mason family was changed by this truth.

In these small ways, the documentaries Murphy has produced hold their subjects’ and our society’s feet to the flames. There are no magical gay angels who can rise above any slight unscathed. There’s only brutal honesty, shame, and regret. How horrible is it that this is the world we’ve created?

That uncomfortable examination is best explored in Pray Away, Kristine Stolakis’ heartbreaking film about conversion therapy. It is 101 minutes defined by regret. As former leaders of the movement grapple with the harm they caused, former poster children for this gross practice — LGBTQ+ people who once claimed that conversion therapy “cured” them of their homosexuality — reveal that they’ve come out once again. Even though Stolakis’ documentary is solidly opposed to conversion therapy, it covers the subject with a delicate hand. Pray Away even takes the time and care to explore the alternative Christian viewpoint through the perspective of Jeffrey McCall, a formerly transgender man who has now dedicated his life to converting people to be straight.

These documentaries refuse to be easy or straightforward. They examine the contradictions and hypocrisies of these stories and pick at them without breaking them down. It’s through these mental and emotional somersaults that these documentaries capture a fraction of pain the LGBTQ+ community has experienced. The queasy feeling these flips cause are how many people live their lives on a daily basis. They stand as some of the best arguments against homophobia brought to television. How can anything be worth making so many people hate themselves so, so much?

The contradictions around humanity and sexuality have always been part of Murphy’s work. American Horror Story, American Crime Story, The Politician, Ratched, and even Glee have dealt with these themes as they revolved around characters who lie to themselves and cause pain all in a misguided attempt to belong. That’s something the documentaries Murphy has produced and executive produced have continued to explore to brilliant effect. You can argue about and knock the fictional shows all you want, but these documentaries? They’re something special.

Watch The Andy Warhol Diaries on Netflix