By: Miguel Ernesto Yusty
TOTAL FIASCO: WOODSTOK 99 is a Netflix documentary series consisting of three 45-minute episodes that recount the events in upstate New York in 1999 when an attempt was made to stage a rock concert that would emulate the success of the eponymous 1969 event, which, 30 years earlier, had left an indelible mark on popular culture. However, the organizers of the 1969 version failed to consider that the youth of the late 1960s were different from those of the final year of the 20th century. Consequently, the 1999 Woodstock ended in a tragic and violent failure.
The series uses interviews as a narrative method, showing attendees of the 1999 concert as well as the event organizers, including some who participated in the original 1969 concert. On the other hand, it is a journey through time that, thanks to archival footage, takes viewers through different moments in history.
The central conflict of the series is the clash between expectations of the world and reality. The original Woodstock, in '69, is an idealized event symbolizing the triumph of peace over violence during the Vietnam War and the Cold War. In other words, faced with the threat of nuclear war, the youth championed love as a tool for changing the world. The landscape of the late 20th century is different. Although the confrontation between the "capitalist" and "communist" blocs supposedly ended after the fall of the Soviet Union, the young people of Woodstock '99 are not pacifists. On the contrary, they embody the aggression of those who disregard rules and lack any self-control. They are the youth of an unrivaled superpower who believe they have absolute freedom to do as they please. Thus, their instincts run rampant in the Woodstock of 1999.
The new documentary produced by Netflix is therefore a success, because it accounts for the evolution in the scale of values of the youth of the United States over half a century and leaves one wondering about the strength of the primitive in human beings, who are willing to take control at the first opportunity they can find.