Fyre Debunked
The documentary, FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,
successfully exposes the nature of the American population and producers as a
result of media and consumerist culture. In an effort to promote his new talent
booking app, entrepreneur Billy McFarland set an ambitious goal to host a music
festival on an island in which people could stay to party, watch top musicians
perform, and stay at beautiful villas. Or at least this was the image he
presented to the masses before being exposed for fraud and preying on the
underlying desires of the American population. The phenomenon of Fyre,
including its hype, execution, and fallout, could not have occurred without the
economic intentions of its producers, as well as the appeal of elitism to
consumers through the assistance of the media.
At the very beginning, Fyre producers appointed famous supermodels
and other artists as social media influencers. They were instructed to post an
image of a mysterious orange tile with hashtags mentioning the Fyre festival
and were then flown to Pablo Escobar’s former island to shoot promotional
footage. The primary goal of McFarland and the producers was to create the
image of an elite, care-free, lifestyle in order to give the public a taste of
what they could “become” by attending the festival. Footage of yachts, tanned
models laying on the beach, and partying was all shot with the consumer in
mind, an encouragement to escape reality. This idea reflects the work of Laurie
Ouellette and Susan Murray (2004) in their analysis of reality
television:
...Reality TV [is] an important...forum for a
range of institutional and cultural developments that include the merger of
marketing and “real life” entertainment, the convergence of new technologies
with programs and their promotion, and an acknowledgement of the manufactured
artifice that coexists with truth claims. (p.3)
Ouellette and Murray
(2004) emphasize the use of deception in the industry, which is masked by the
“entertaining real”. The public is trained to be skeptical of the authenticity
of reality television, yet at the same time suspends any awareness of the
manipulation of the industry. This was evident with the enthralled festival
attendees who were blind to the red flags signaling their own manipulation
because of the false images of reality that were initially presented to them.
The original footage of models and celebrities, and the ability of producers to
skew the perception of the public through media, was enabled by the belief of
false realities. Ouellette and Murray (2004) additionally claim that producers
are invested in upholding the illusion of authenticity. Throughout the entire
production, McFarland was so insistent on maintaining the elite image of the
festival to the point where he lied, stole, and withheld knowledge from the
public. As time ran out and financial struggles became more evident, McFarland
refused to expose the reality of the production out of fear of backlash from
the press and embarrassment. He continued to uphold the façade until inevitably
visitors arrived and saw first-hand how far from the truth their expectations
had been.
The theories of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1944) help
explain some of the fundamental motives of the Fyre festival. They claim
that:
The consumers are the workers and employees the
farmers and lower middle class. Capitalist production so confines them…that
they fall helpless victims to what is offered them...the deceived masses are
today captivated by the myth of success...immovably, they insist on the very
ideology which enslaves them. (p.6)
Adorno and Horkheimer
(2004) implemented Neo-Marxist theory to help explain the culture industry.
They believed that both the base (economy and means of production) and
superstructure (culture, education, and mass media) which constructed
capitalist societies influenced one another. This ideology applies to the Fyre
phenomenon; the economic intentions and the efforts to market the app and
festival influenced the culture of celebrity interaction with the public and
media image. Yet simultaneously, the desires of the public to be exposed to
elitist culture encouraged the further extensive measures of production taken
by Fyre. The public was easily influenced by celebrities due to the instant
communication of social media, as well as the “success” they might achieve. One
of the main driving forces of the festival was the idea that by attending, and
therefore spending tons of their income, ordinary people could have the
opportunity to be surrounded by the extraordinary, and therefore possibly
become one of the elite. Seeing that 95% of the festival tickets were sold
within a rapid 48-hour period, McFarland and his team were determined to find a
way to make more profit. These measures included extravagant parties on yachts,
scavenger hunts with the chance to win a piece of the island, and, when
McFarland decided Fyre was low on funds, a $50,000 overnight stay in a cabana.
Despite the outrageousness of it all, the public took the bait. Adorno and
Horkheimer (1944) might blame the notion of false needs for the extent to which
the public gave in to Fyre. They believe that in large, people have false
needs, and that their true needs, such as well-being, are replaced by the
capitalist demand for more “things”, or, in this case, an additional ticket to
party with Kendall Jenner on a yacht.
The
Fyre festival can be viewed as a model for the dangers of digital technologies
and pop culture. As described by a former staff member, Fyre was essentially
like Instagram coming to life. Posting a picture with the intent of creating a
particular image of oneself to their followers is identical to that of Fyre,
but on a smaller scale. Fyre demonstrated how the easily acquired image of a
person, group, or idea can be completely false and have no real value. The hype
of the festival, including photo editing and celebrity acknowledgement, masked
public doubts until they experienced the lies. Fyre proved that the public will
hold on to images of false reality presented to them by means of social media,
until those images are disrupted with the real by a person of similar status on
social media.
References
Horkheimer,
M., & Adorno, T. W. (2017). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception. Karl Marx, 405–424.
Murray,
S., & Ouellette, L. (Eds.). (2004). Reality TV: Remaking television culture. NYU Press.
Hi Annelise,
ReplyDeleteHonestly it is your post that inspired me to see this documentary. You neatly introduce the story, and your analysis is so impressive that makes me more curious about the it. It turns out to be a great experience watching this documentary and thinking about it. Thank you!
You make great points combining the theories of reality TV with Fyre commercial and influencers on digital media, and I can see how producers invest heavily to realize the use of deception through "entertaining real" (Ouellette and Murray, 2004, p.6). When I rethink about Ouellette and Murray's theories, I am wondering if there is normalization of surveillance among audience through the process of witnessing the influencers. According to Ouellette and Murray (2004, p.9), "as audience members, witness this openness to surveillance, normalize it, and, in turn, open ourselves up to such a possibility." When Fyre Festival turned out to be an awful experience, the audience laughed at those who went to the festival, especially those micro-celebrities who was supposed to share their fantastic experience at Fyre Festival and in fact complained about it. By witnessing "ordinary" people opening up their lives to surveillance, the audience opened themselves up to it when gloating.
I also believe that the Neo-Marxist theories are good ways to think about the story. Culture industry played a significant role in this promotional process, both through the implied value of Fyre Festival and the celebrities chosen. I also think of how Adorno and Max Horkheimer (1944, p.6) talked about audiences, suggesting "the deceived masses are today captivated by the myth of success". I wonder if more people with different classes or social identities fell victims in this fraud, apart from the working class and lower middle class. Your post is so nice and inspires me to think more deeply about Fyre Festival!
References
Horkheimer, M., & Adorno, T. W. (2017). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception. Karl Marx, 405–424.
Murray, S., & Ouellette, L. (Eds.). (2004). Reality TV: Remaking television culture. NYU Press.
Zejun Wu