Funny how things work out; both Netflix and Hulu have released a documentary on the infamous scam that was the Fyre Festival. The two documentaries approach the story from a different angle and, having seen both of them now, the Hulu one, "Fyre Fraud," is definitely the stronger of the two; it offers far more context and it's much more entertaining than this one.
Netflix's "Fyre" omits a lot of context and the finer details of surrounding events, in order to offer a much-more narrow focus on the specific crew members responsible for organising the event and, as a consequence of the Fyre Festival crew's direct involvement, is much more biased with the film insistently implying that the event was merely an "honest mistake" instead of a deliberate scam. Yet, despite ignoring key facts in order to cast the event in a more positive light, I have a greater criticism towards the production itself: unfortunately, "Fyre" relies on a "tell; don't show" approach to documentary making; it's much more of a disjointed collection of orated testimony than a comprehensive audio-visual record of what happened. Then there's Hulu's "Fyre Fraud" which, as the name suggest, takes a step back to focus on Billy Macfarland's long-game con, offering information on the antecedent events, the lasting cultural and legal impact, and plenty of concurrent transactions that aren't exclusively focused on the "Fyre Festival" itself. This extra context plus the greater breadth of the documentary, make it more accessible to people not already familiar with scandal. Additionally, visuals and music play a much bigger part of the viewing experience. It does all of this while retaining a slight sense of humour about things and offering some provocative subtext on the hollow promises at the heart of a generation's optimism. So here we are: two documentaries; each offering a unique perspective on the same scandal. If you have the time, it can be worth while to watch both of them to get a more-complete picture of what happened this controversial disaster. I definitely prefer "Fyre Fraud's" greater context and insight on the key figures involved but I can also see why some people may prefer "Fyre's" more-narrow, sympathetic focus; to put it in ratings, I'd give "Fyre Fraud" a 9/10 and "Fyre" a 6/10.
If you want to know everything about the Fyre Festival you can: watch both. If you're only going to watch one: watch Hulu's "Fyre Fraud"; it offers more context and is generally far more entertaining.
Netflix's "Fyre" omits a lot of context and the finer details of surrounding events, in order to offer a much-more narrow focus on the specific crew members responsible for organising the event and, as a consequence of the Fyre Festival crew's direct involvement, is much more biased with the film insistently implying that the event was merely an "honest mistake" instead of a deliberate scam. Yet, despite ignoring key facts in order to cast the event in a more positive light, I have a greater criticism towards the production itself: unfortunately, "Fyre" relies on a "tell; don't show" approach to documentary making; it's much more of a disjointed collection of orated testimony than a comprehensive audio-visual record of what happened. Then there's Hulu's "Fyre Fraud" which, as the name suggest, takes a step back to focus on Billy Macfarland's long-game con, offering information on the antecedent events, the lasting cultural and legal impact, and plenty of concurrent transactions that aren't exclusively focused on the "Fyre Festival" itself. This extra context plus the greater breadth of the documentary, make it more accessible to people not already familiar with scandal. Additionally, visuals and music play a much bigger part of the viewing experience. It does all of this while retaining a slight sense of humour about things and offering some provocative subtext on the hollow promises at the heart of a generation's optimism. So here we are: two documentaries; each offering a unique perspective on the same scandal. If you have the time, it can be worth while to watch both of them to get a more-complete picture of what happened this controversial disaster. I definitely prefer "Fyre Fraud's" greater context and insight on the key figures involved but I can also see why some people may prefer "Fyre's" more-narrow, sympathetic focus; to put it in ratings, I'd give "Fyre Fraud" a 9/10 and "Fyre" a 6/10.
If you want to know everything about the Fyre Festival you can: watch both. If you're only going to watch one: watch Hulu's "Fyre Fraud"; it offers more context and is generally far more entertaining.