Written and produced by journalist Nick Bilton, "Fake Famous" shows the development of fame today, fame which once rewarded only people with a certain talent, actors, athletes, etc.
"Fake Famous" offers a new window into the world of influencers, conducting an experiment to see if three young people can turn into marketing dynamics.
While their tales are not fully developed as planned, the HBO documentary exposes how open to manipulation this whole culture is.
Bilton starts by interviewing candidates, mostly young people who aspire to become actors and models, and selects three of them to "travel" on the path to fame.
Bilton starts by interviewing candidates (7,500 followers for $ 119.60), renting a large house / villa to take beautiful photos and a change of style to look "cool".
Although it sounds a bit cynical, this is also the idea: The approach with deception and falsity to build a "follower" model that people follow.
Bloomberg reporter Sarah Frier says the whole premise behind influencers depends on "presenting a lifestyle that people want to imitate." It is a marketing approach built on envy, emphasizing the benefits associated with "advertising" products, while the "stars" benefit from this relationship.
The way people use this formula to their advantage is an inevitable byproduct of social media, where, as cultural critic Baratunde Thurston puts it:
"We are all making our own films and trying to be the star."
However, influencers can take these vague narcissistic impulses to another level.
Despite the often misleading nature of images, Bilton points out that it is not in their interest to acknowledge how modified the industry is.
"The main issue is not just the tricks or tricks used in the whole process, but the fact that everything, in essence, is not making people feel better, but feel bad about what they do not have," says Bilton.
The creation of the documentary also includes the explosion of the coronavirus, which actually strengthened the game of "influence", creating a ready audience of people with a lot of free time who are observing the lives of other people.
At a time when the inability to separate facts from fiction has become a dangerous problem for democracy, "Fake Famous" illustrates how easily those lines fade - less for power, in this case, than for fun and profit.
Source: CNN
