“Make Me Famous,” directed and written by Reggie Yates, is a short BBC drama offering a rare and raw insight into the devastating and socially corruptive effects of reality TV on participants and viewers. The film opens with a series of interviews with several young, trendy, and hopeful applicants for the fictional TV show “Love or Lust.” Extremely cringeworthy, the applicants accurately imitate the stereotypical cocky and sleezy personas that are customary of reality stars on dating shows like “Love Island.”
However, “Make Me Famous” contradicts this fake and shallow opening image by exploring deeper the real and realistic experience of contestant, Billy Fearon, and how he copes with being plummeted into a harsh and unforgiving spotlight. The film cleverly flits between flashback of Billy being interviewed with the “Love or Lust” casting directors, to the present day which is set a year on. Billy is now considered “famous.” He is recognised instantly on the street, is invited to all the top parties, and has brought himself a penthouse suite. On the surface, Billy looks like he is living the perfect life, swimming in cash, Instagram likes and DMs from attractive girls. Yet it becomes clear as the movie progresses, that Billy’s life is far from perfect.
Yates subtly acknowledges the pressure that comes with being a public figure. From the very first few minutes, it is clear Billy is overly conscious of his appearance and constantly checks his hair and smooths down his stomach. He struggles to keep up with sponsored posting on Instagram. When Billy checks Twitter, he grins at the positive, complimentary tweets and ignores the nastier hate mail. However, Billy’s public image begins to rapidly degenerate, after a sex scandal about him is published.
The more we get to know Billy, the faker we realise his life is becoming. He lacks real friends and support with his own approval being based on his thousands of Twitter followers. Billy begins to spiral as he loses popularity and job opportunities, even being denied work at his old recruitment firm. His ex-boss explains how the world cannot take him seriously anymore. He has become a joke, an outcast and someone who it is acceptable to make fun of.
The last scenes are devastatingly sad. [SPOILERS] Billy morosely cleans his house, zips his jacket up and sends a lovingly heart-breaking text to his mum. Then, he swallows a bottle of pills. The film fades out to darkness and a moment later tweets from strangers appear on the screen. There is a clear switch in tenor. From aggressive hate mail and insults, people now comment about the awful news of Billy Fearon and emphasize how much they respected and loved him, and how he deserved better. The irony is frustrating; the very trolls that pushed Billy to the edge reject all their responsibility as culprits in his suicide and instead offer meaningless sympathy to cure their guilt. Billy, however, actually survives his suicide attempt and upon waking up to the messages of love, he realises that in order to win back affection from society, he had to attempt to kill himself.
Tom Brittney in the BBC film “Make Me Famous” (2020).
Horrendously dark and sad, “Make Me Famous” underscores the materialistic and corrupt nature of our modern world, where our public reputation and malleable personality on social media is more important and essential than what we are like in real life. Yates highlights the unethicality of it all, how reality TV poisons our morality and allows for nasty commentary. We become faceless bullies and judgmental bystanders, whilst the participants on these shows—naively in search of acceptance—instead become victims. The film echoes the suicides of “Love Island” stars Mike Thala and Caroline Flack, both of whom have become symbolic of the tragedy of fame and online hate.
I found it particularly interesting how the film juxtaposed Billy’s suffering in present day with the complete cockiness that he had in his interview for “Love or Lust” a year earlier with the casting directors. Tom Brittney can be applauded for mastering the classic arrogant persona he plays in these scenes, winking and flirting with the directors to get his way onto the show. The show is presented as a fantastic, life changing, and an incredible opportunity. In one scene, Billy talks about his past. He admits that he used to be overweight and a bit of a loser. But he ‘killed’ that Billy and became something ‘better.’ This can indicate that Billy’s overconfidence stems from a deep rooted insecurity. He is fragile and trying hard to be someone he is not. The directors take advantage of this, using his vulnerability as a way to transform him into a watchable commodity, stripping him of worth and humanity. Billy, although he cannot quite see it yet, is being sentenced to a life of exploitation and ridicule.
Summarily, regardless of if you enjoy reality TV or find it incessantly annoying, “Make Me Famous” is an original watch with an important purpose to raise awareness of the dangerous and addictive side effects of reality TV and social media. Highly topical and brutally honest, Billy’s story is one of many similar experiences and it needs to be told and heard.
