Fyre Fraud
The Fyre Festival was the defining scam of the millennial generation, at the nexus of social media influence, late-stage capitalism, and morality in the post-truth era. Marketing for the 2017 music event went viral with the help of rapper Ja Rule, instagram stars, and models, but turned epic fail after stranding thousands in the Bahamas. Featuring an exclusive interview with Billy McFarland, the convicted con-man behind the festival; FYRE FRAUD is a true-crime comedy bolstered by a cast of whistleblowers, victims, and insiders going beyond the spectacle to uncover the power of FOMO and an ecosystem of enablers, driven by profit and a lack of accountability in the digital age.
13 May 1964, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
1 August 1942, San Francisco, California, USA
19 September 1974, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
4 September 1981, Houston, Texas, USA
20 February 1984, Johannesburg, South Africa
6 June 1967, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
18 July 1950, Blackheath, London, England, UK
February 3, 1984 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA
10 November 1978, Tupelo, Mississippi, USA
3 November 1995, Los Angeles, California, USA
December 1, 1949 in Rionegro, Medellín, Colombia
23 August 1997, Mableton, Georgia, USA
29 February 1976, Hollis, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
18 July 1975, Hounslow, London, England, UK
24 July 1969, The Bronx, New York, USA
January 25, 2019
Overall, Fyre Fraud works better as a longform journalistic piece. It's sprawling and detailed at the same time.
January 24, 2019
It is so good to see [McFarland] squirm.
January 28, 2019
It's interesting to hear the madness explained, but Hulu's documentary Fyre Fraud zooms out to contextualize Fyre Festival as a symptom of a much greater issue.
January 17, 2019
[A] helpful reminder that, like so many stories, one account can't contain the whole truth.
February 01, 2019
Fyre Fraud convincingly identifies the fraud-fest as just one more chimera of modern times, a 24-hour game of "let's pretend," in which one cannot tell if someone is a delusional liar or the smartest person in the room.
January 16, 2019
It does a [great] job pointing out the secret villain of this story all along: the subtle menace of social media marketing.
January 18, 2019
If you love a story of absolute, no-holds-barred, extravagant disaster, you'll probably want to watch both. But if you just want a better idea of what the heck happened here, the truth is that either film will serve.
January 28, 2019
The Hulu doc works harder to paint a bigger picture -- such as how McFarland was able to access large amounts of money to fund his schemes. However, its patronizing depiction of millennials may well alienate many of them.
January 17, 2019
Fyre Fraud is a little zippier and pop culture-y in its skewering...
January 16, 2019
It has arguments to make about the insecurities of millennials and the perniciousness of social media. And the arguments don't feel like blather.
January 18, 2019
Fyre Fraud, which had been planned as a series, feels unfocused and rushed.
