A Hulu and Netflix viewing on January 19th.
Hulu's Fyre Fraud came out with the first documentary about the heinousity that was Fyre Festival. Fyre Fraud focuses a lot on Billy McFarland, the main organizer of the festival along with Ja Rule. McFarland was the money man and Ja Rule was the celebrity promoter. They delve into McFarland's past and his previous sketchy businesses. The film basically tries to steer you towards the conclusion that he's been a fraud his entire adult life. It also brings to light, whether on purpose or by accident, the gullibility of his mostly millennial marks. They wanted to be special and elite. McFarland gave them that opportunity and they couldn't get their wallets open fast enough. It's worth it to note that Hulu actually interviewed McFarland while Netflix did not. Apparently Hulu paid McFarland.
Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened focuses in on the origins of the festival. It relies mostly on interviews from the people that were tied to McFarland. They mostly come off as victims of McFarland but they went along with him every step of the way even when things started to look sketchy. My takeaway was that these guys turned a blind eye to what was going on in the hopes of a huge payday. They also raised the idea about having "influencers" take more responsibility about what they're promoting. However, if I were an Instagram person that was given $250,000, as Kylie Jenner allegedly was, to promote some concert... I am taking the money. Maybe these "celebrities" should be more responsible but my guess is that falls on the handlers and agents of said "celebrity."
Both films are really well done. At least in the sense that it made me angry that these people exist and can get away with it. I do not have a lot of sympathy for the spoiled concertgoers that were ripped off and had a genuinely horrible experience. The real victims were people like Mary Ann Rolle, a local restaurant and bar owner that went out of her way to feed local workers and concertgoers even after the scam fell apart. She ended up being cheated out of being reimbursed and bankrupted herself trying to take care of people. Netflix did a nice job to show you that it wasn't just spoiled American rich kids that got ripped off, there were hardworking Bahamians who took a huge loss.
I am not one of the old white guys that thinks millennials are the cause of all the problems. Every generation gets that. As a Gen Xer, we got hit with how apathetic we were. It's a cycle. I will say that the ripped off concertgoers and influencers came off as spoiled jerks and it's hard to drum up sympathy for them. Both films are worth watching.
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