Maddie Muldoon Prompt #3

Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

Maddie Muldoon

            In the modern digital age, whether one considers themself to be of high-class or among the more ordinary, social media has left the majority of us plagued by an irrepressible desire to constantly appear superior. We crave this image of superiority both in comparison to those around us and also to the person who we truly are; that is, when we’re not posing for a camera or meticulously crafting an Instagram caption. In an era where this is unfortunately a reality, Fyre Festival is the pinnacle illustration of the damage that can ensue when human’s innate desire to appear ‘elite’ is taken a step too far, and makes evident to its audience the flawed priorities of 21st century society.

            The Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened directed by Chris Smith (2019) provides ample insight into one of the most disastrous social media catastrophes that has occurred to date. The founder and mastermind behind the fraud, Billy McFarland, advertised the festival to be a magical, unparalleled weekend on Pablo Escobar’s private island, where guests would be flown in on private jets, party aboard magnificent yachts, and watch some of the most famous artists in the world perform. When the day of the festival arrived, this image was proven to be anything but a reality: many guests were left with nowhere to stay, no food or water, and no means of leaving.

            In the first chapter of John Storey’s Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, Storey states one of the six potential definitions of popular culture to be, “simply culture which is widely favoured or well liked by many people” (Storey, 2009, p. 6). This definition can undoubtedly be applied to Fyre Festival. Billy McFarland purposely sold Fyre Festival to be what he knew would be ‘widely favoured or well liked’ by the people. In McFarland’s own words during the documentary, “We’re selling a pipe dream to your average loser” (Smith, 2019). McFarland knew exactly how to sell this pipe dream; he reached out to some of the most admired celebrities, supermodels, and influencers in the world, asking some to come to the island to film a promotional video and others to simply advertise the festival on social media.

Here, one of the key themes of the documentary is made evident: how easy it is to mislead an audience using instant communication via social media platforms. With a single promotional video, McFarland was able to, in his own words, “create a small buzz that can become a big buzz” (Smith, 2019). Thus, hype was built surrounding Fyre Festival portraying it to be a luxurious and unmatched experience when, ultimately, it was anything but. By posting the same images from the initial promotional video repeatedly during the weeks leading up to the festival, few people were able to realize that they were being scammed. Fyre describes the Fyre Festival as being the “best coordinated social influencer campaign ever” (Smith, 2019). Not only was this campaign well coordinated, but it was also successful; the festival sold out almost instantly due to the ease with which McFarland was able to manipulate consumers.

            The hype that was built up surrounding Fyre Festival connects directly to John Fiske’s interpretation of popular culture as a living, breathing process rather than a static entity. In the second chapter of Fiske’s Understanding Popular Culture, he describes how “Popular culture is not consumption, it is culture- the active process of generating and circulating meanings and pleasures within a social system… Culture is a living, active process” (Fiske, 1989, p. 23). Fiske’s theory about the active process that is popular culture is even more relevant in present day; the quantity of social media platforms available to release content leaves endless room for varying interpretations of popular culture to develop. If Fiske were to analyze the surge in the popularity of Fyre Festival, he would likely note that Fyre Festival did not instantaneously become popular culture upon its release; the circulation of buzz about the festival by the people is what transformed it into what it ultimately became.

            In the documentary Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class, Barbara Enhrenreich explains that “There are no absolutely fixed mathematical definitions of social class… But I think we usually recognize that there’s another dimension… which depends on your occupation, on your lifestyle, your expectations, your education” (Asner, 2005). This analysis of class directs us towards another key theme of Fyre about the obsession with maintaining an appearance of high status that is prevalent in modern society. Fyre describes how, “A couple of powerful models posting an orange tile is essentially what built this entire festival” (Smith, 2019). In an age where infatuation with maintaining a desirable social media presence is commonplace, the existence of influencers makes it even easier to manipulate consumers. One of the employees of Fyre explains how “We live in this influencer society; everyone wants to have online clout, people want to have access and they want exclusivity. Fyre was basically like Instagram come to life” (Smith, 2019). This connects directly to how digital technologies and popular culture are used and interpreted in present day, as social media fuels humans’ desire to appear superior to others.

This phenomenon can also be explained by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s analysis of commodity fetishism, exchange value, and use value. Particularly in the digital age, modern consumers perpetually wish to satisfy ‘false needs’ with low use value, a perfect example of which are tickets to Fyre Festival. At the time of their release, Fyre Festival tickets carried tremendous quantities of exchange value, as you could not purchase them without some level of status. However, the use value of tickets to Fyre Festival is close to none; I predict that Adorno and Horkheimer would analyze society’s desire for these tickets as a product of capitalism’s deception, which manipulates consumers into valuing commodities that are not truly beneficial to them. The prevalence of social media in 21st century society has validated Adorno and Horkheimer’s arguments about societal obsession with exchange value to an even larger degree; not only do consumers desire items with high exchange value, but they also crave the ability to flaunt these items to others.

            A telling representation of this unfortunate reality is introduced at the end of Fyre. One of the previous employees at Fyre describes a company in Russia that sells 3 hour time slots inside of a private jet that never leaves the tarmac. Customers spend this time immersed in a photoshoot, trying to capture the perfect image of class and exclusivity to show off to their Instagram followers. This example ties in to the key themes in Fyre of the ability to seamlessly spin lies using social media and also of the 21st century societal obsession with class. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is a window into the warped priorities of present-day consumers and the damaging obsession with status that motivates modern society.

Bibliography

Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (1944).  Dialectic of Enlightenment. pp. 1-12

Asner, A. (2005). Class dismissed: How TV frames the working class. Retrieved from https://upenn.kanopy.com/product/class-dismissed-0

Fiske, J. (1989). Commodities and culture. In Understanding popular culture. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 23-47.

Smith, C., Purzycki, M., and Gabai, D. (Producers), & Smith, C. (Director). (2019). Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened [Documentary]. Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/watch/81035279?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2Cc1fef49a502ca3a616a3ff4682abd7b0f4cea3d6%3A0690bdb73752e27d8a174285dcf3692bbd4308ad%2C%2C

Storey, J. (2009). What is popular culture? Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, pp. 1-16.