This documentary, Thirst Trap, is a whirlwind of a trip down a social media influencer. I had not heard of William White before now and probably because I’m not on TikTok. If there was ever a dumber, ridiculous, exploitative, and over the top story, what happened to William White and his followers takes first place. What catapulted William White into a social media darling (if you can call him that), is his lip-syncing to Barry Manilow’s song “Mandy.” Once middle-aged women found this video, William White’s popularity skyrocketed causing such a frenzy. This is a good cautionary tale of hype, obsession, fantasy. People can get stupid crazy.
It can get easy to forget the damage of social media fame for those profiting from it. While I don’t place all the blame on William White rise and fall from social media, he bears most of it. He knew what he was doing even despite his young age. His need for fame (recognition) and wealth (money) at whatever cost is what separates the old way of earning a living and the new way. The newer generations think social media influencers are more normal than a 9-to-5 job. It takes a village to create a monster, and the people of the village strengthens or weakens the monster. Whether Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok, behind every opinion, statement, photo, and video most likely is a living person that bleeds. Some posts get thousands of views while others get hardly any. Something sparks and the creator of the social media takes a life of his or her own. There’s no turning back because as people are drawn to death, crime, love, they are equally drawn to fantasy, hype, and reward.
I rate Thirst Trap FOUR FINGERS at 90%.
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