Fyre + Fyre Fraud

In the spring of 2017 a massively hyped-up music festival failed spectacularly as it was revealed to have been built on a bed of lies. Its attendees who were promised extravagant beach-side housing were left to sleep in wet tents. Everyone who bought into it felt scammed and whose on the outside ridiculed and memed their misery. This infamous debacle is known as Fyre Festival, an event that was spearheaded by entrepreneur Billy McFarland and professional rapper/grunter Ja Rule.

After a few weeks the memes died down, lawsuits were filed, and Fyre Media went into bankruptcy while the incident faded from the public eye. I have barely thought about Fyre Festival since with it only coming to my attention again after watching the Internet Historian's great video "The Failure of Fyre Festival" about a year ago. However it seems the event has remained in quite a few people's minds as in the span of one week not one but TWO documentaries about the festival were released on competing streaming platforms. How do they differ from one another and which is superior? Well that's what I intended to weigh in on.

Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened  (Fyre)/ Netflix

When taking a documentary studies class about a year ago the first lesson our professor taught us was how to identify a doc's intent ,and Fyre's  main goal is to illustrate how the many failings of the music festival (like its deceptive marketing, questionable business practices, and terrible event planning) can be fully blamed on Billy McFarland. Many testimonials from his former employees, advisors, and contractors paints a picture of a man whose thirst for success led him to lie to everyone around him as he refused to properly prepare for the monumental task he was throwing onto their shoulders.

Pay for villas, get wet tents.

The film attempts to level all blame onto McFarland is fairly transparent. Using cliche demonizing methods such as the heavy use of ominous music and slowing down clips to make them seem more threatening. Having a majority of those interviewed being those who played a prominent had in the festival's creation is also telling as they deflect all blame onto McFarland, even when talking about failings that their departments were in charge of. It's odd that the documentary never criticizes them, even the other major players, for the roles they played. Even weirder is that Ja Rule, the co-founder of Fyre Festival, was shown to have a lot of influence over how it was organized early in the film but after the first 30 minutes he barely gets mentioned again.

Fyre's heavy bias and focus on incriminating McFarland prevents the movie from truly exploring every facet of the doomed event. I am not saying that McFarland is blameless, far from it, but rather that he can not be the only one to blame. What about Ja Rule the other co-creator who in every clip seems to be the dominant personality in their relationship who, after the first 30 mins, barely gets mentioned? Or those who worked alongside McFarland yet dismiss any culpability? The film's narrow scope ultimately makes it feel more like a hit-piece then a comprehensive deep dive.

Fyre Frau/ Hulu

This doc succeeds where the other falters by offering a wider scope of the entire operation of Fyre Media and the history that led up to the festival. It covers many of the subjects that I wanted to be further explored such as the impact of influencer culture, the complicity of the other major contributors to Fyre Fest like its marketing and planning director, and what hand Ja Rule played in it all. The greatest advantage this film has is that it actually interviews Billy McFarland.

McFarland just riding the waves of a sea of tears. 

Despite not setting its sights squarely on McFarland, this film is better at showcasing his faults by having him speak. Seeing him dodge questions, frequently avoiding eye contact with the interviewer, and getting aggressively defensive at any allegations while evidence of his deceit are shown is fascinating. McFarland is shown not as a cartoonish monster but instead as a human being. A flawed, destructive, delusional man who refuses to take responsibility for what he did. A interesting character portrait is made alongside a critique of those who aided him in creating the event.

An interesting aspect mentioned at the end is that Jerry Media, the marketing company that advertised Fyre Festival, is funding its own documentary which is Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened. It seems Fyre was created by Jerry Media as damage control, using McFarland's terrible reputation to make him a scapegoat for any and all responsibility they had in organizing the failed event. Fyre Fraud has accomplished one of the most impressive clapbacks that I have seen, easily poking holes in the other doc's credibility.

Conclusion 

Of the two films Fyre Fraud is definitely the one worth watching. It only has a wider scope, more interesting editing,  and a greater statement. The dubious motives behind Fyre's creation led to a documentary that oversimplifies the situation while excluding important context. Hulu's Fyre Fraud is a powerful blaze while Netlfix's Fyre is merely a flash in the pan.

Both of the docs bring up the island of pigs. I figured it was the happiest thing to end on.