Upon the release of the new documentary ‘Melania,’ viewers flexed their petty skills by boosting Michelle Obama’s 2020 Netflix documentary ‘Becoming.’ As conservatives celebrated the release of Amazon MGM’s documentary about First Lady Melania Trump’s life, some social media users intentionally streamed Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” as an act of protest.
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The petty collective resistance paid off: Obama’s film saw a 13,000% increase over the weekend, rising from 354,000 minutes watched to 47.5 million. The surge in the film’s viewership between Jan. 30 and Feb 1 brought it back up to the streamers’ “Top 10” charts.
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However, many social media users noticed that the former first lady’s documentary was recategorized as a “kids’ film,” where it was ranked at 4th on Netflix’s ‘Top 10 Kids Films in the US Today’ list. Naturally, the same crew who rallied to stream the film over the weekend shared their outrage at the change in label, calling on the streaming platform to correct the mistake.
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Though Netflix has not addressed the growing social media discourse surrounding the film’s label, one Threads user claims a Netflix representative said the film’s “Kids” label was due to its PG rating. Though the film has reportedly been moved back to the adult side of Netflix, its reported burial did not affect its ratings. As reported by The Guardian, ‘Becoming’ currently has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the 5% rating for ‘Melania.’
While ‘Becoming’ surged on streaming, Trump’s Brett Ratner-directed documentary reportedly earned $7.1 million in its opening weekend.
