BY TAMARA VON ESTORFF
Netflix’s Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is a crazy and chaotic 2019 documentary directed by Chris Smith.
The documentary plays like a thriller. It’s only 97 minutes, but it’s enough to grab you by the throat and keep you gasping for air until the very end.
It’s a must-watch film for all Netflix users.
The story follows young entrepreneur Billy McFarland and his rapper friend Ja Rule, who set out to plan a luxury music festival on a private island in the Bahamas. The idea was influenced by Fyre Media, an app that lets people book famous artists to play at events.
McFarland hires marketing companies, artists and big-time supermodels to spread word about the festival on social media. Within days of advertising, tickets sold out. Bundles included a private jet ride to the festival, catering, and rentals for luxury villas, homes and yachts.
As the weeks went by, the event’s organization begins to deteriorate. Festival day comes and thousands of people show up to the island only to realize that it is the complete opposite of what they thought it would be. People began posting updates about the chaos on Twitter. Soon enough, the event was cancelled and McFarland was arrested for fraud.
So, what began as an exciting and luxurious event turned out to be a multi-million dollar scam. Workers who helped set up the party were unpaid. Influencers took to social media to apologize for promoting a fake festival. Thousands of people lost their money and did not get any of it back.
If there’s one thing we learned from the documentary, it’s that we should not invest money into something unless we know it is 100 per cent real and worth it. Watching it will open your eyes to the dangerous things that can happen if we aren’t careful on social media. Pay full attention to the storyline, and you won’t regret it.
