# Required viewing you would mandate. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 10, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078 "2014-09-10T16:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078/21 "2014-09-16T15:15:38Z")
Every voter in every democracy should watch Ken Burn’s WWII documentary _The War._ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078/22 "2014-09-16T21:02:57Z")
90% of the time, when someone else has told me “This book should be required reading” or “This film should be required viewing,” it’s turned out to be a didactic bore. I’m no more inclined to make other people watch my pet films or read my favored books than I am to have thers imposed on me. ASK me one on one for a great movie to see or book to read, and I’ll be happy to talk your ear off. But I’ll never proclaim EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE TO READ THIS, no matter how much I may love it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078/23 "2014-09-16T21:06:14Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I had my kids watch Scent of a Woman for the ending portion at the Prep school. They were having issues with the idea of protecting some so-called friends who were actually screwing them over. They got the message. But Pacino told everyone that nothing is worse than being a snitch- in effect, he was on the side of the rich, entitled punks who were O’Donell’s so-called friends. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078/24 "2014-09-16T22:26:38Z")
I can’t think of any required viewing. But back when people could _read_, I wanted every young person of military age to read John Keegan’s _The Face of Battle_, a historian’s attempt to convey the reality of combat, as a counterweight to jingoistic claptrap and fantasies of glory. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078/25 "2014-09-16T22:28:18Z")
The documentary film _[Fed Up](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fed_Up_%28film%29)_. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078/26 "2014-09-16T23:07:50Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But Pacino told everyone that nothing is worse than being a snitch- in effect, he was on the side of the rich, entitled punks who were O’Donell’s so-called friends. That’s not the entire message. The rich punks were being the snitches, and then abandoning O’Donell. My kids had to learn that real friends don’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078/27 "2014-09-17T03:10:01Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I can’t think of any required viewing. But back when people could _read_, I wanted every young person of military age to read John Keegan’s _The Face of Battle_, a historian’s attempt to convey the reality of combat, as a counterweight to jingoistic claptrap and fantasies of glory. Gwynne Dyer’s documentary series, “War,” isn’t as good as reading Keegan, and is a bit dated, but does what I think you’re trying to do. Alternately, they could just watch, “Threads.” I understand that Generation Kill also does that. I really liked Restrepo. I’d recommend watching Rashomon for anyone going into the law or history. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/required-viewing-you-would-mandate/698078.md?page=1)