Hulu Vs. Netflix: Which Fyre Fest Documentary Was Better?
The internet has been abuzz about the two streaming platform’s documentaries about 2017’s clusterfuck of a music festival ‘Fyre Fest’, but the real question is which one should you watch? As a big time movie boy, and frequent user of twitter (where this disaster proved to be an all-time roasting day, pun intended) I feel obligated to throw in my two cents to help your decision. Also, I couldn’t do this without including twitter megastar Ellie for a better social angle.
I’d break down the focus of the documentaries into 4 main groups.
Kenjac: The background of the festival’s brain child, Billy McFarland, and the build up to the festival. Hulu for sure takes the cake here, doing a really deep dive into McFarlands upbringing, previous ventures (Magnesis), pattern of sociopathy, and how he “prepared” for the festival along with Jerry Media. Netflix’s doc, partially produced by Jerry Media, makes a huge point early in to the film to shift all of the blame onto McFarland. Hulu’s features an interview with ex-Jerry Media employee Oren Aks, who explains a lot of the strategy behind their influencer campaign to target wealthy millennials into shelling out thousands of dollars for an unproven festival that didn’t even have a boot on the ground for production yet. The festival isn’t FuckJerrys fault, but the fact that they somehow span their complicity in a scam into a producer credit on a documentary is maddening. Point to Hulu here.
Ellie: I’ll give it to Hulu– their documentary was majority background, if oddly so. They interviewed a shit ton of people who’d known Billy McFarland going back to “Magnises”, his weird credit card startup/fraternity. Emily Bohm, former Magnises employee, is hilarious and gives a lot of insight into what this fraudulent company actually was, showing you the pattern of fraud that McFarland had started on even then.
Kenjac: Netflix did way more of an intensive dive into the festival itself and how the attendees reacted, and later dealt with the disaster they were faced with. I’m not sure if Hulu figured we had seen enough of that through social media when it happened, but they definitely didn’t focus on it much. Point to Netflix.
Ellie: I would argue strongly that neither documentary showed us enough of the influencers suffering. I know it’s awful, but you can’t deny that we all wanted to watch some Instagram models go full Lord of the Flies in FEMA disaster tents. Netflix definitely did a better job talking about the actual festival, where Hulu’s depiction was brief and disjointed.
Kenjac: Hulu did an intensive dive into what happened to Billy McFarland following the festival, how he was convicted of wire fraud and sentenced to 6 years in federal prison. A big difference between the documentaries is the fact that Hulu interviewed McFarland himself, as well as his girlfriend. This is a source of scandal for their documentary, because they apparently paid that sociopath a decent chunk of change for him as well. I don’t even think it was worth having him, because all he gave was non-answers where he accepted responsibility for what he was already legally convicted of while denying everything else. They didn’t softball him at all, actually throwing some heavy accusations his way, but he gave scripted “cant discuss ongoing investigation” answers. Netflix focused more on the influencers/attendees and how they had to recoup their money, and more importantly how McFarland affected the island itself. Point Netflix for not paying a con-artist for nothing.
Ellie: I personally enjoyed watching Billy McFarland sweat (also, is he at all related to Seth McFarland? They look kind of related). I don’t know how much they paid him for being there, but I would guess it barely puts a dent into what he owes. When they asked McFarland if he was a compulsive liar and he just squirmed and asked to take a break I was rubbing my hands together like a cartoon villain. So, ethically, Netflix has the upper hand, but Hulu definitely gave us more in terms of background, which is supposed to be the point, Kenjac.
Kenjac: Hulu interviewed one of McFarlands local body men, Delroy who is really the only islander they focus on throughout the movie. All he really does is say how he realized throughout that the festival would never work, but went through with all of it anyway. Netflix interviewed MaryAnn Rolle, a restaurant owner who ended up losing her life savings to feed attendees and pay her staff. They also interviewed an event producer from the island, J.R., who is sort of similar to Delroy in that he foresees a lot of the issues surrounding the concert but turns a blind eye. Hulu sort of ignoring how badly the festival put out some of the locals was a huge misstep in my eyes, and deserved way more of a focus than the social media influencers. Point Netflix
Ellie: Hulu makes it seem like the island McFarland flew into in the beginning of the doc was completely deserted except for Delroy’s bar. They briefly mention the construction workers, but they don’t delve into their plight or the losses they suffered due to the fraudulent festival. Netflix was smart to give a character to rally behind (MaryAnn Rolle) though I felt the sob story angle fell flat when you consider the producers of the documentary (FuckJerry Media) were part of the reason MaryAnn ended up destitute. Still, Netflix did a more complete profile on the Islanders, so this one goes to Netflix.
Kenjac: Netflix was better. Hulu depended heavily on the knockout punch of Jerry Media’s conflict of interest producing a film about a disaster they were complicit in. While I agree that they have no right being involved in a creative capacity (FuckJerry actually had the balls to set up a GoFundMe for MaryAnn Rolle, the woman who they helped bankrupt. Because asking your followers to pay for your own mistakes makes sense, right?), their documentary was more about the actual festival. Hulu’s was more of a documentary about Billy McFarland with a side agenda of being a hit piece on millennial culture, which they ham-fistedly blamed for absolutely everything that happened. The obsession with social media influencers is not a uniquely millennial phenomena. Go look at any one of the political grifters on facebook and twitter. They say jump, and the olds say how high while also Snapcashing women for feet pics.
Ellie: Though the score came out even for me, I personally can’t get past the fact that Jerry Media produced the Netflix documentary, and that tips it to Hulu for me. It’s entertaining, if ham-fisted in its portrayal of the millennial consumer, and Oren Oks and Emily Boehm are laugh out loud funny. Also, it is so entertainingly shady to watch Billy McFarland squirm that I don’t mind that he didn’t have much to say. It’s like watching a documentary about a serial killer where they interview the serial killer. Still, both are really entertaining. It’s really fascinating to me how social media created an event that had hard evidence against its factuality, but people spent thousands on tickets just because Kendall Jenner said to. Again, would’ve enjoyed more influencer suffering, but if I were you, I’d watch both anyways.
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