How Documentaries Lie: Netflix and Hulu's Fyre Fest Films

[@dondrap513]

I find this man's ample eyebrows comforting and trustworthy.

[@kelleymcbride4633]

Hes got the kind of eyebrows you can set your watch to!

[@RiceNoodlestw]

Agree. The brows are trustworthy

[@less-taken4664]

I find this man's impeccable comment comforting and trust worthy

[@alanluscombe8a553]

Caterpillar head

[@barrsjohnson3168]

I want to curl up on his forehead and tuck myself into his plush eyebrows

[@xman4800]

So what i'm hearing is Internet Historian still has the best fyre fest documentary

[@ThePwnedProduction]

Internet historian is the only trustworthy source of information left in this world.

[@joelmiller2539]

internet historian's documentary is FIRE. or, perhaps, fyre.

[@dbacks2023-]

I watched his yesterday but was sad to see it didn’t cover the wages not paid to island workers

[@alanluscombe8a553]

@@dbacks2023- same here, those people already work very hard and got screwed over big time, if I was a billionaire I would have given them money for their time myself. I can’t imagine how they felt after all this.

[@animock3051]

@@dbacks2023- Sad? Why the fuck sad? There was so much shit to cover and he was one of the first to do it. If he was going to try to cover EVERY single problem in his hyper editing style, the video would have been 8X as long

[@NinaEye]

My assumption was that the attendees were all spoiled rich kids with bottomless expense accounts, but one of the KZbinrs who also covered this festival, maybe internet historian, said that the promoter lied about the price on social media. And the attendees themselves even lied about the price they paid just to make themselves appear rich. The price to attend this was really under $1200, and some only paid $500, for a "package deal" worth much much more. So most of these people were not rich and they panicked because they realized they were stranded without any extra money left for alternate accommodations, food and water. Anyways, it was sickening to see these influencers, including Kendall Jenner, laughing at these kids. They lured them to this island and left them there for dead while taking their money.

[@chad3232132]

The $500 tickets were single day. The *average* ticket price sold for the festival was roughly $5,000. The number of those $500-1200 tickets was fairly small as a share of the total attendees.

[@catsincredulous9998]

this was one of the funniest fucking things I seen in a while. Nothing like a great rug pull! LMAO

[@mmjjnn0]

$500 is per person of a villa package. It costs $2000 for four.

[@Mahmoodaltaha]

The kids and people who bought the tickets deserve as much blame as the influencers. The law does not protect stupid people. I'm laughing at these kids that bought the tickets too because if you really gonna buy a ticket for an event like this after being lured from an Instagram post but people who have no attachment to real life, like Kendall, then its 100% your fault.

[@Bree420]

@@Mahmoodaltaha what do you mean the law doesn't protect stupid people? That's the point of having laws and rules in place. If you're so smart, then you won't get scammed in the first place and laws concerning scams won't be needed. However some people are more naive, perhaps because of youth, sometimes because of getting old. That's when the law is needed, so these people can be protected from people with malicious intent.

[@daddydavey]

The Hulu filmmakers should have promised Billy the $250,000 and then,after filming him, paid the day laborers that Billy owed instead. He lied and stole money,so maybe he would have learned a lesson from having the same done to him.

[@nataliazaborowska4926]

he’s got money for lawyers, the people he stole from did not

[@deaddropholiday]

One thing I did notice watching the Netflix doc was that whilst the filmmakers were shovelling all of the blame onto Billy - it was very apparant that whenever Ja Rule was in the shot (which was quite a lot) - he seemed to be the one who was giving the orders.

[@uimanex7860]

ohhhh yeahhhh

[@R3TR0R4V3]

I hope you're joking.. Skin color has absolutely nothing to do with scamming people out of money. Ja Rule was certainly part of it, so yeah.. He's just as guilty as Billy. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@BruceLeroyUK]

WizardsWithMachinery yes he was joking

[@phabiorules]

It's because Ja Rule has fans, so it's easier to just make Billy as the main bad guy.

[@mario10zeus]

Ja Rule also probably has a good attorney

[@michaelcrull2993]

It's a bit misleading to say the disaster of this "festival" only took money off rich people. The base ticket price was a decent bargain for what it was "supposed" to include. It was something around $500 and included round trip flight tickets, accommodations, food, unlimited drinking, and you entrance to the whole festival. Even for the average person, a $500 dollar round trip vacation to a tropical island which was advertised as basically "all expenses paid for" makes a lot of sense. A lot of the basic package deals were sold to regular people who thought they were getting a great deal on an all expenses paid week long vacation for like $500-$700; not a bunch of rich snobs.

[@jennyneuman8674]

For the record the tickets ranged in cost between $1k-12k, not $500...to be completely honest these rich college kids aren't the ones who were really hurt. It was the workers on the island who lost thousands of dollars they were promised and labored for.

[@SuperShortAndSweet]

only took money off rich people i think he referring to getting money off hulu as in they payed him to be in the film

[@Aster_Risk]

@@jennyneuman8674 There actually was a $500 option at one point. You can easily find that information online.

[@brycelindseth5965]

Its deceiving to say round trip flight included when it was only the 20 min hop from Miami included. Obviously the vast majority of people paid their own tickets to MIA

[@lorraineald411]

@@jennyneuman8674 paying for a $1k two person tent is $500 between you and your buddy, plus not having to worry about transportation and meals, and getting to enjoy some good music would be a great deal to most people. Even paying $200-$300 for a flight to Miami, that is still just $800 for one person to get an all-inclusive vacation to the Bahamas. That is a crazy good deal that is very easy for your average person to be able to afford.

[@anodtothevoid]

Brillant critique. I was hoping that at the end of the documentary there would have been disclaimer that all profits were used to fund the victims of the fyre festival. That interview from the owner of the restaurant brought me here as I was disappointed to find that Netflix, Hulu, Jerry Media, McFarland profited off the victims many of whom were economically vunerable.

[@LIBERTYSINCURSION]

The owner of the restaurant was the benefactor of many different crowd funding campaigns, and if I'm remembering this right, she ended up with far more than she lost.

[@ZosAos]

@@LIBERTYSINCURSION Great, then why aren't the profits reimbursed to the crowd funders?

[@user-do2ev2hr7h]

Of course they did. They're a business, not a charity. In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with that.

[@graysonoliver2632]

It seemed to me the victims were definitely not economically vulnerable and if they were it was probably their parents money. Just getting there was a fortune. Don't waste the money if u can't afford to be disappointed.

[@anwarhussain1768]

@@graysonoliver2632 anodtothevoid wasn’t talking about the influencers (most of them whom I agree got what they deserve) but the natives who were promised payment for their manual labour but were never actually compensated.

[@superelfdan99]

Key takeaway here: every source is biased and useful in giving some kind of PERSPECTIVE but no one source can be labeled "the truth"... no academic paper, or textbook, or documentary can be without biases and we should approach all media with this in mind

[@myragroenewegen5426]

I watched Netflix's doc without realizing the conflict with the Jerry Media CEO. My brain right away put together the logical suggestion that if the company was so detached from the festival that they could claim ignorance, that puts the blame in their laps too. It became part of a wider theme in the doc that the fraud could be a wake-up call for influencers, employees, businesses, those concerned about international development and consumers. On the other hand, not spelling that out more clearly, in the case of corporate responsibility may have been a conflict-of-interest in action. And it casts suspicion on the doc's unwillingness to imagine how exactly these big systemic changes should, can and do happen. A legal perspective on the challenges of including the local workers in legal compensation-seeking or class action lawsuits seems apt here, in any case. That poor cook pulled my heart right out of me with her story. I long for a fictional cop drauma that tackles fraud like they usually tackle murder and rape. Financial abuse and pyramid scemes and faux business cults bring folks down much of the same force. I want Law and Order: White Collar Crime Unit--who's with me?!

[@marianonseq472]

You got me at te L&O WCCU!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@phabiorules]

It's a shame how we still think of conmen or thieves as handsome, charismatic individuals who steal from the rich, when they usually steal from a ton of poor people.

[@pearlkohler5422]

Oh my god imagine sitting down in front of a professional documentary setup to talk about “your brand” then struggling to come up with more than 1 adjective to describe it 🤦‍♀️

[@thefroggy5240]

influencers seem to be chronically stupid. bit unfair for the amount of money they make

[@noodlebanana7512]

With editing, we actually don't know if that's all he said about his "brand." That was a point this video was making.

[@anthonyhutchins2300]

@@thefroggy5240 are they? How are you so smart if you can't find a way to make some money? Lol

[@camilanovalife]

the point of the video is this, that the doc is edited hahaha

[@silvertube52]

Creative and emotionally effective editing isn't necessarily a lie. It's only a lie if the narrative generated is inconsistent with the facts. You need to make the case that the narrative is false, pointing to the use of manipulative techniques or incomplete information is insufficient. The important point you make is that documentaries are about entertainment, not truth, so consumers should always be critical and skeptical.

[@TheShattenjager]

That’s why I usually stick to documentaries done by BBC, PBS, National Geographic etc. and anything I watch on Netflix or the like, I assume is dramatization. These are not platforms one should expect true documentary on. With some exceptions.

[@rsmith02]

@@TheShattenjager I think that's too simple and limiting a way to watch documentaries. There are excellent ones on Netflix and film festivals and elsewhere. PBS ones can talk over their subjects with intrusive narration. I think the lesson of this video is to ask who made the movie and why, not that documentaries are all "lying" to you. (and I think he uses "lie" too broadly- documentaries have a point of view but is it based in reality? If so it is not a lie as Harold stated.)

[@Jane155-x6d]

@@TheShattenjager Even documentaries from those can lead to uncorrect assumptions. I watched a National Geographic about the end of the last ice age, and it showed all the humans huddled together and miserable, as if the end of the ice age was going to be the best thing that ever hapened to them. And that simply isn't true.

[@across_the_plane6800]

@@TheShattenjager all media manipulates truth, especially bbc and nat geo, you are way off by trusting them simply because they are big names.

[@briansinger5258]

The Internet Historian’s doc is bar none.

[@Vendrix86]

One thing you got wrong was implying all the attendees were wealthy. Many weren't. Some paid only $500 for tickets + whatever the flight cost. I'd hardly call that being "wealthy".

[@O_Rei]

The fact that you think regular, “non-wealthy” young people in their 20s have the conditions to pay over half a thousand dollars to attend a music festival shows the sort of bubble you live in.

[@Vendrix86]

@@O_Rei Hey dipshit, in your 20's you should be working and even broke college students can scrape up that much on part time work over time. I'm sure many treated it as a one-time thing. In a video where he talks about perception, he misses one of the most glaring ones which is why I called him out on it. I can't afford to spend $500 regularly but once in awhile? Yea, no problem. Tell me what part of my comment was wrong and what implies living in a "bubble". You were probably too eager to jump on a guy supposedly defending these people without actually using your brain. Idiot.

[@HaA-s]

@@O_Rei do you have any idea how much burning man for example cost? It’s the same concept.. people are willing to pay 500 for a packaged festival.

[@O_Rei]

@@HaA-s Exactly...

[@Aster_Risk]

@@O_Rei That's bullshit. I've known a few people who made very little money working at retail or fast food, but going to shows was their one big vice. So they saved and then spent that money on a big trip to a concert or festival. Just because most of us can't or don't do that doesn't mean no one does. I'd say you're living in a bubble just as much as the other person.

[@brianjonesy88]

They may touch on the same points, but if the two docs focus on different things. "Fyre Fraud" tries to connect the dots between the festival and millennial culture, particularly with regard to how Instagram influencers can convince people to pony up a lot of money for something like this. Fyre is more interested in how McFarland was able to dupe so many people - not just the ones who bought tickets to the festival, but those who joined his vision and worked for him, or the wealthy investors who believed in him and gave him millions of dollars.

[@OrionBurdick]

I don't see how any of the examples pointed out in the video were "lies". Not only was it obvious to viewers that the Netflix doc was largely from the perspective of the Fyre Media people, but as you said they even disclosed their involvement in the credits. It's biased, but not a lie. Documentaries often distort things in many ways, but I didn't find any compelling examples here. Just a dull editorial that is more about documentaries in general and makes no damning points against these particular films.

[@broncobalboa]

was looking for something like this. i stopped watching when he made the point about how the producers can make an interview look a certain way with the example of the influencers...like bro, they are empty vessels with no productive input on anything, no need blame that on the editing. thats what influencers are.

[@alanluscombe8a553]

Exactomundo, nailed it

[@Microtonal_Cats]

I wrote this in 2000: Filmmaking is the search for truth, but editing is all lies.

[@donaldsmith3926]

Another good argument for watching credits. Streaming services make that a pain, but it's entertaining and informative. I used to watch "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" when I was a little kid. I marveled at the time it must have taken waiting for all those animal dramas; then, the credit revealed: All animal interactions, whether staged, recreated, or naturally filmed, reflect natural behavior. I was floored; they too two animals and put them in a fended area and watched what happened. It's also long-term informative to know the directors and producers; helps to form a time line and money flow.

[@sunnypie2]

Thank you for this. People see a “documentary” and it equates in the mind to nonfiction and therefore scientific, objective, truthful, but it’s not always the case. This happens with biographies or memoirs too. I’m a Prince fan, and I’ve read tell all’s about him by his ex associates, that are obviously based on “their truths”. But when is “their truth” sensationalism or blatant lies. Glad you’re educating people.

[@CommercialForest]

After I saw making a murderer, I googled around for more information. Was shocked at How much significant/relevant information was left out of the film. Basically, anything that weakened the film’s premise was left on the cutting room floor. Crazy

[@nomanejane5766]

nothing new, Disney killed a bunch of lemmings for a documentary in the 1950s. it spread the myth that lemmings commit su*cide

[@mollynash2597]

Just look at all of Michael Moore's documentaries.

[@fmcevoy1]

McFarland is an interesting character. The Hulu documentary strongly suggested he'll grift again when he's released from prison. I did not know he'd been paid for his Hulu documentary interview, but I imagine he needed the money. He needs it now for the canteen.

[@moimeself1088]

He was released on bail before his trial, and started another scam. He will never change. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[@droolingfangirl]

The worst was Tiger King and what they did to Big Cat Rescue.

[@SarahStudt]

I agree! Cheaplazyvegan did a great video covering this

[@phabiorules]

Tiger King was entertaining, but it was definitely deceptive. They made an entire episode talking about Carol Baskin's missing husband, and spent 40 minutes saying she did it, but then spent 3 minutes saying "but here is evidence she didn't, so who knows." They also left out a lot of info about Joe Exotic that made him come across as unlikable. They made him off as the silly, gay, polyamorous tiger King, who had problems but wasn't as bad as the other tiger people. When in he reality he was just as bad, as he was also incredibly manipulative, and super racist (the latter, was not shown at all in the show.) Also, it's funny how many people thought Joe Exotic shouldn't be in prison but Carol Baskin should, despite there being no evidence she killed her husband, yet there is alit of evidence Exotic tried to hire a hit man to kill her.

[@DiscoTimelordASD]

People get scammed every day in a variety of life altering ways and the idea of mocking a scam victim is just gross. We should just be grateful it wasn't us that fell for a scam this highly publicised.

[@kellylyons1038]

People love to mock scam victims....until they're one themselves. Literally anyone can fall for a scam, it doesnt matter how smart you think you are.

[@marlaerwin3610]

So the “lie” is that interviews are edited, and that some interviewees are paid? The only true lie here is the title of this video.

[@rodrigometzker4960]

they lie when the editor and interviewee was involved in the scam in the first place. and in hulu's documentary, the interviewee was the causer of everything. to me is not that simple

[@shreyagupta2233]

The lie is that some people are shown as good when they really weren't. They only show you the documentary by one point of view and leave out the details that could negate their viewpoint. So basically, if you watch a documentary don't think that you know the whole truth, you have just heard one side of the events.

[@fluffyfour]

Well, I heard Will say that the perpetrator of the fraud, who brought misery to the locals and left some of them without their life savings, has been paid an obscene amount of money for a few minutes of his time, while he hasn't paid the people involved - the caterer for the festival was paid by crowdfunding after people took pity on her, for instance. Maybe you approve of that?

[@O_Rei]

You’ve clearly not watched the video. Or are severely cognitively impaired.

[@Aster_Risk]

@@O_Rei I watched the video and everything is surface level, so it feels like it's for middle school kids. Babies first skepticism. He isn't wrong, but he didn't really provide specific examples of lies aside from omission. Also, cut the bull with calling people cognitively impaired. Learn to get your point across without the ablism.

[@rer9287]

If interviews are NEVER fair, why does any person ever sit for an interview?

[@umiyuki5566]

He's right that there is a power imbalance between the interviewer and the interviewee, however, if the interviewer has a history of blatant nasty edits, he'd never get any more interviews. That said, good editing usually isn't blatant but can change the way you understand/judge the information (through camera angles, lighting, when and where scenes are cut, how everything is put together, etc...) It's all part of the storytelling without you consciously realizing its impact. That is the power of the side of the interviewer. Even watching the video back, the interviewee may not realize that it's the editing that is altering his meaning. Also, interviewees do get something out of sitting for an interview. Usually, it's publicity or some kind of promotion thing. For some actors, they can also show a side of themselves that isn't normally shown which can endear them to more fans (especially if they are typecast). I've never heard of either those two KZbinrs before, but now I know their name. Out of the hundreds of thousands of views, who knows how many people will get curious enough to look them up... or how many of them will then become hooked onto their content? As the saying goes, no publicity is bad publicity.

[@sigh824]

Probably some of the same reasons why ppl try to represent themselves in court or the interrogation room

[@signsandtimes]

I used to drive uber in LA and I have to say the influencers were the worst type of entertainer to drive around.

[@Jersey.D3vil]

Humph...I drive an Uber around NYC. What were they like...lets exchange war stories

[@ryangibson2831]

The Netflix Doc got the gist of it. It covered more than what the casual user wanted or needed to know.

[@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368]

You're asking people to do what Fyre Festival attendees did not do: use common sense.

[@gladiatorinsweats]

I get the desire to make fun of others that aren't aware of the things mentioned in this video to make yourself feel smarter than the average person, but it's been made very clear lately that people aren't taught how to critically review what they're consuming.

[@oldmandoinghighkicksonlyin1368]

@@gladiatorinsweats They teach it in university. But it won't be taught in high schools because that would upset the consumerism dynamic. A large segment of the economy would either collapse or it would adapt to be so heinous in its mental subversion. Things are already egregious in terms of our personal data being used against us in psychological tricks to sell us things, but I fear what evil would replace it if the current model were forced to be more aggressive in order to bypass the advertising awareness taught in public schools.

[@bobbest1611]

documentaries have editors. OMG instead of 10 hours of tape they edit it down to 45 minutes! OMG

[@melikab]

While watching the netflix film, we distinctly thought the CEO's interview amounted to a bundle of poor excuses and baloney, and mostly highlighted the flawed and a "head in the sand" approach of their apparently professional media company 🤔 I definitely didnt walk away thinking "oh poor them, they were conned"....

[@bookcat123]

No but as an employee at a marketing company I did walk away with a healthy fear of higher-ups “give the client enough rope to hang themselves, then maybe they’ll let us fix it” mentality 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@jojersey5018]

Forget the spoiled rich kids who got scammed...how about all the locals who worked their tails off for this man and did not get paid?

[@SelphieFairy]

I watched both films as well and enjoyed them. I like the Hulu one more because it seemed like it had a more interesting perspective on the whole fomo culture and I liked the film's style a bit more. I did think it was crazy how they got Billy in an interview, but now that I know he was paid, it does make sense. That said, I think it added a LOT to the film, so maybe it was worth it from a film creator point of view? For the netflix film, I think having Jerry Media produce the film allowed us to see some footage of Billy and what was going on behind the scenes that we would have never seen otherwise was very cool tbh. That said, I did think the fact they produced it made it a little more sketchy and the constant defensive stance from their employees was a bit frustrating, although i suppose understandable.

[@mario10zeus]

Jerry Media did their best to wash their hands of any guilt and throw all the blame on Billy. They're expert marketers after all.

[@andre23833]

Your voice is really suited to this kind of material. Very good

[@joshuadowdle9691]

He needs to get that vocal fry under control though.

[@lofish72]

It was public knowledge who made the documentary. Articles and news stories mentioned ot

[@fc7777fc]

Idk if this was on purpose but your use of the rule of thirds here was very pleasing to me

[@noodlebanana7512]

I didn't even "notice" that til you mentioned it but I did really enjoy his placement being that way.

[@mojavefry2617]

“That’s a nice story, Mr. Documentarian. Care to cite a source?” “My source is I made it the fuck up.”

[@jeremyphillips3087]

How youtube videos lie to you: they claim documentaries lie to you but then dont offer any actual examples of lies. I hope people are critical of everything the watch, including youtube videos like this.

[@Banquet42]

"QUESTION EVERYTHING!" "why?"

[@DeanJ2009]

The left look before each cut is driving me insane 😂

[@richardfinlayson1524]

I just can't get used to the idea of influencers... Imagine seriously calling yourself that, they are such uninteresting people, just self obsessed

[@dcan911]

It's not much different to pop stars all through the last 50 years.

[@danieldicicco3605]

Influencers... I call them sheepherders.

[@PGar58]

Even if they pulled this off, and their planning was nonpareil, there’s simply no way they could get by charging 1,000 for GA tickets, as our narrator said. 5K, maybe. Good call about lying by omission Yes the narrator is a cool dude.

[@randyjax09]

We have the same problem in mainstream media “news” coverage. Most pundits that are invited on to talk about specific issues typically have financial conflicts of interests that they fail to disclose. It’s no wonder the world is losing its mind.

[@seatheparade]

Late to watch, but this was very much needed! It's disappointing that both docs benefited the people who hurt so many workers and conned regular folk, vids like yours help audiences remember to be critical of what we're told

[@TheOriginalLexa]

You might want to check your editing. Almost every cut of your dialogue is just after you look right. It might actually be every time. It’s a little unnerving. Also, you bring up excellent points. It’s fair to say, though, that both docs are accurate, even if they’re skewed one way or another. There’s no media of any type that isn’t skewed somehow.

[@DDoubleEDouble]

It’s definitely not every time and I only noticed after I read your comment but now I can’t I see it lol

[@tubbalcain]

Shit, now I can't stop notice 😕

[@lesliemartin3]

The best part of internet historians review of Fyre was the fact that he listed a swimming pig as an actual attribute similar to like a performance highlight and incentive for buying a ticket.

[@cloudtx]

Very interesting points. I've watched the Netflix doc a couple of times by now since it's so entertaining and I had no idea about the Jerry media connection. It's unfortunate but it'll make me think about the people behind the docs I watch in the future.

[@TheBuri00]

Good analysis man. Finding a filmmaker taking an 100% objective approach to a topic is rare. Putting everything out there with no edits.

[@vampy8112]

Great critique, really enjoyed your video. Quite surprised you haven't got thousands of subs tbh

[@BinkyTheElf1]

Jar Rule and Jerry Media should both have faced charges. Due diligence, culpability, legalities need to be followed. And the company making their own NetFlix movie about the disaster? Very much a conflict of interest, IMHO.

[@nicwinsteadart5330]

I wonder if any of the people they interviewed for the fyre festival Netflix special got sued or were implicated as accomplices because they all act like innocent bystanders in this whole situation when they all admit that they lied to countless people just to get paid.

[@OGfancy420]

If you look close, his eyes are constantly moving away from each other. He has to cut the take every 15-30 seconds to reset their location, less they fall off :(

[@williamherman9065]

"I find that separating a wealthy fool from his money is generally a good thing" How so? Could you please elaborate? How, exactly, is it ever OK to scam anyone, and why is being a fool a stipulation that makes it ok to literally steal from a wealthy person? Is it ever OK to steal from, say... a poor fool? Is being a Con Artist an acceptable endeavor to you so long as the Con Artist is ONLY stealing from someone who has a lot of money?

[@Serenitie3]

The word fool in that saying is important. An idiot with money could do more harm lol it's supposed to be more lighthearted

[@sk8rot]

Unfortunately it hurt the people around more than the wealthy ones more too

[@OmfgHiii]

robin hood once said

[@bostonblackie9503]

You don't have a list of sources!

[@rer9287]

If you think the marketing company not knowing what is going on with production has to be a deception, then I can only suppose you don't understand what a marketing firm is and have never been involved in a professional business relationship. It is basically the marketing firms job NOT to know what is going on with production. For example marketing firms successfully kept tobacco firms alive during their entire battle against science to say that smoking tobacco is healthy. No one holds marketing firms "accountable" for the lies and resulting deaths - because it's not their job to know about those things. It would be nice if they took the extra effort to investigate it themselves, but it is not an expectation or requirement.

[@russell2952]

After five minutes he hadn't made a single point about how documentaries lie. Couldn't take it anymore. Clickbait shit.

[@marooned_space_princess]

You popped up on my recommendations somehow and I know this video is a year old...but is there a chance you might want to do a video on the the Allen v. Farrow documentary? Some points you raised here made me immediately think about that doc, it comes across very convincing but its obviously biased. Just thought it would be good to do a breakdown on it, maybe point out what the doc doesnt do/show, etc. Anyway, great video!

[@jamesnguyen]

Completely agree with your take on documentaries. I think this day in age though too many people get their news from main stream and documentaries and take them as facts, but it's really for entertainment purposes. I mean look at the History channel's poor excuse for the series about Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence. I use to think they at least do their homework before putting something like that series out, but nope. There's not much pride is actual journalism anymore, it's just networks wanting to get the most views and headlines. It's a sad sad state of affairs given there's tons of information on the internet and no one wants to do their homework further than just sound bites. Keep up the good work! You've got another subscriber now. ;) PS: I use to be on the faaaaaar left, but after growing up and finding out every side is really out for themselves and both own main stream media, I've lost all trust. The only favor I can do for myself is always do additional searching and constantly learning.

[@swapode]

I think it's pretty likely you've never been "on the faaaaaar left" but to what media painted as such. The far left, particularly in the US, has virtually no representation. Claiming that they are "really out for themselves and [...] own main stream media" doesn't line up with observation. At all. I'd be curious to know who you'd consider far left, be it now or when you felt aligned with them or anywhere in between.

[@changemymind8692]

I would have never looked at the docs in the way you viewed them. Well done sir, you have enlightened me.

[@MikeynRoger]

This was great. I loved the Netflix version and haven’t seen Hulu’s. To know, at it’s core, the film was made to salvage Jerry Media’s reputation is disappointing. The lies and corruption around us all is so vast. Would love to see your take some day on other documentaries where subjects overpower filmmakers points of view. My favorite documentary is Hoop Dreams. I’ll be crushed if I find out the motivation behind it was something other than the story.

[@across_the_plane6800]

Reading through the comments, the amount of people that did not already know this is astonishing.

[@jodo1971]

The film, WHILE WERE YOUNG, is a satire about the modern documentarian

[@barrsjohnson3168]

Every documentary is biased . It’s always somebody tryna sell you something

[@jacknewman9256]

I appreciate your work, but you need a moral equivalence check. Its hard to create something that avoids personal bias, I get it. But when you are calling out bias in others, it shouldn't be so easy to for the viewer to identify your own. From just a simple teacher.

[@vinylhorror]

The price of the tickets was FAR TOO LOW. Yeah I said it. Considering all that was alleged to be included the price of the tickets should have been much higher. Not that this would have saved the festival. It’s impossible to put a festival on in that timeframe regardless of money

[@Rose_Bride]

You look like you could be *Grant Gustin's* younger brother. *Edit:* I posted that comment _before_ I finished watching your *AWESOME* video. Just wanted to say that I _really_ enjoyed this, and it was *EXTREMELY* insightful and informative. It seems like common sense in hindsight, but researching the author of an article or the producer/writer of a documentary is something we should all be looking into. _Thank you_ for sharing this! ❤️

[@elroywilko6888]

He's a lumberjack and he's ok looks like Billy's lil brother and he's ok!

[@Robinem]

Technically if the criminal was in jail he wouldn’t receive much, if anything, for his input.

[@doctorjames4245]

So what you’re saying is don’t believe everything you see. Ok gotcha.

[@AyitaIam]

So glad I found u...subscribed ☺ I like ur voice and introverted feel. Ur very logical and able 2 explain in forthright way..saying the most with the least amount of time and words is a gift.

[@robertclark9]

Compared to Elizebeth Holmes, Billy was a Boy Scout. Billy managed to scam a bunch of Daddy rich stoners out of their Daddy’s money. Just something that happens every day on a smaller scale. Now Lizzie? She conned the best of the best. For far longer, and far far more.

[@dreadwolfrising]

As soon as a documentary has an interviewee or a subject who is a producer of the project, it immediately reduces any journalistic integrity or objectivity in the project as they have input on editing as well as profit off of the project. It's incredibly disingenuous and unethical to misrepresent status of producers and interviewees like netflix did

[@faithalityblog]

I don't believe omission is the same as lying (unless there is a play of words, maybe), but I get what you are saying; your main advice is solid and I'll take it. Thank you.

[@bigbettybloom9107]

Yeah lying and omission are different actions. But they have the same result. Whether you lie or withhold information, you’re being dishonest. So I think they kinda go hand in hand.

[@bookcat123]

Depends on the importance of what’s being withheld. If the house inspector for a real estate deal neglects to mention your castle’s built in a swamp and starting to sink, that is at least bordering on a lie…

[@mikerochburns4104]

You think only Netflix lie about history? just wait until you read a school text book!

[@Mathur1n]

Thank you for making this, it was enlightening. I've watched both of the documentaries before, but I'm going to rewatch them in light of this video. I hope you continue to make more things like this.

[@ms.mojo_risin]

Interesting! I’ve never thought about questioning a documentary. Thank you. PeaCe&ReSPeCt, Shelley Anne

[@BruceLeroyUK]

Why did you type peace & respect like that. Just curious.

[@jodo1971]

I like that your thinking critically; a rarity these days. Very smart discussion

[@Huss_D]

I can’t believe that guy was gloating about pissing on and destroying mattresses. Doing stuff like that just so people don’t camp near them, is true dick behaviour.

[@TheLordByron]

There is a reason they aren't truly documentaries, it's because they are infotainment.. It has some info and a lot of entertainment.. Little fact lots of flash. They generate this stuff to make money, that's all..

[@j.andrews7832]

If you are reading an article about climate change, you also don't want studies conducted by the "green industry". It's good that you demonstrated in your own video how choice of information or its presentation can be stilted by leaving out information.

[@petermoss208]

Interesting that he’s so focused on a tiny segment of interviews at the start of both films. That’s it, that’s what this whole video is based around. And coincidently he happens to be someone who makes a living being basically an influencer. Albeit his own style and not the stereo typical instagram personality, but he is still an influencer who makes youtube videos and counts subscriptions for income. To make a video about misleading videos while making a video trying to turn peoples opinion of influencers, because he doesn’t want those films to hurt his career collaterally…

[@bagpipercalifornia8361]

In this landscape, it is important to be clear that, an interview is NOT Testimony!

[@foreignparticle1320]

Actually, it's not at all out of the question that the marketing agency didn't know about the frenzy of ineptitude in terms of the set up and production. They're only given information the producer wants to give them; so they may have also been victims of the whole debacle.

[@ironmonger27]

Edited interviews!!! Holy shit who’d have thought such a thing could happen. They made this amazing festival look like an utter shit show but what??? They were lying? I feel scammed.

[@streetlegalone]

I would have thought an even better example of documentary manipulation, deceit, omission and lies would be Making a Murderer.

[@wiseauserious8750]

Yeah I was legitimately angry after watching it and going online finding out how full of s*** that documentary is

[@robindeanna1323]

I was less concerned with the money, I thought it was incredibly careless to put these people in danger. Almost no food, water, plumbing, way home? Foreign land with angry workers? Survival mentality, people started hoarding toilet paper and mattresses? That is straight up dangerous, I'm surprised that no one died to be honest.

[@devongrans9035]

Thank you reccomended for finding me a great channel I can binge now. Great video man, keep up the awesome work 🙏

[@soulsearchingride20plus21]

Really enjoyed your take. I just finished the Netflix one. Going to have to see the Hulu one.

[@mdstanton1813]

Yeah you can only go through so many cats before people catch on. I still think they can fly though Interesting review. Keep it up please 😊👌

[@845835]

For me the Netflix one was the better of the two and the real reason they are similar is because the two projects started as one but because of disagreements they went their separate ways. This guy is correct with regard to the issues with these two so-called documentaries. The HULU one is wrong for paying McFarland and the biggest issue with the Netflix one is the fact that the documentary is made by those who had culpability with regard to the festival. They turned themselves into victims when the fact is they failed to do anything about the fraud they saw coming.

[@shkirenko]

I'm surprised someone as smart as you is also watching Bojack Horesman.

[@annfisher3316]

We all need a mindless show to watch. ✌

[@nickmoney]

It wasn't a "fake musical festival" it was just a failure and disaster as bands pulled out a few days before the event due to various reasons. So it was going on, just fell apart at its poorly sewed seams.

[@Goodbrew84]

When Bowling for Columbine became a massive hit despite egregious misrepresentations, the documentary genre faded and docudrama became the new norm.

[@amg202benz]

First video I have seen so far of yours. If you have not already fixed this tick; I noted most clips of you end with you looking most likely right and down to click to stop recording. May just want to keep your eyes up for just a split second more to allow for you to then edit with no movement in eyesight👍 Great and clear points made here so will check some more of your content

[@superelfdan99]

Enjoyed this video. Keep making more content my dude, even if it takes someone like me 2 years to appreciate it, your work is worthy of being out there!

[@MrAsh1100]

Documentaries do indeed lie. All you need to look is who's paying.

[@whatifschrodingersboxwasacofin]

History is written by the survivors. Doesn’t mean it’s true.

[@jakeyjervis]

Imagine waking up with a terrible hangover in the middle of nowhere with no food water or Tylenol? No thanks.

[@winterkrash]

This is a great analysis. I also find your voice soothing 🙂. And it helps with your presentation. You speak very clearly. At the right pace, at a desirable pitch and range.

[@Zak6009]

Doesn't the "son of Sam" law prevent Billy from profiting?

[@valmarsiglia]

Wait, cats can fly when the moon is full? Neato!

[@lilacscentedfushias1852]

I agree with dontrap, you do have a very honest, truthful look. I don’t know why but I expected you to have a Scottish or Welsh accent 🤷🏼‍♀️ Yeah, I was wrong 😂

[@lilacscentedfushias1852]

I think events should have to have a trained person to oversea everything, without that it should be illegal. This event wouldn’t have happened if they had that. I’m not someone who even listens to music, very rare, but if I’d been told to not take any cash or cards…nah, I’d have taken some lol maybe I’m old? 😂