Creative High-Five: Dark
Dark on Netflix
Dark is the first non-English television show that has managed to keep my attention span throughout the series. Like most people, I know bits and pieces of other languages (broken Chinese, terribly broken French) but English is the only language I’m fluent in speaking and writing. It’s interesting that when I do speak in Chinese, I still think in English which means everything that comes out of my mouth sounds like a weeping mess. Things like sentence structure, tone and culture references don’t translate.
Despite language barriers, I do enjoy listening to something I don’t understand and reading the English translations. Even if the word for word doesn’t make sense, there’s usually enough to follow along. When you have to consume information that’s foreign to you, you also have to form your own understanding.
Good for: Someone looking for a new way to process information. Even something as small as watching a show in another language will challenge you to think it bigger ways. Also, this is a pretty complex series so be prepared for your brain to hurt.
Hard pass: If you can’t watch anything with subtitles or insist on watching the English-dubbed version. Watch this in German (with English subtitles) or don’t watch it at all. The cast is phenomenal and worth watching as intended.
Creative High-Fives is a series discussing the things that unexpectedly spark inspiration for creativity, design thinking and productivity.