I previously talked about how i can't stand true crime these days but i do have a lighter alternative to satisfy my curiosity for crime: scammer stories targeting the rich. The Bling Ring is not a scammer story but a celebrity burglary story. Luckily they only got 1-2 years in prison or community service but that might also been because of media exposure and connections. The Bling Ring is the perfect crime entertainment containing obnoxious teenagers, fashion, and fame all set in LA in the time of the birth of reality tv stars and Myspace. The crimes(+50 homes!!) happened during 2008-2009, but what people most know about is the fictional film based on these events:

The Bling Ring (2013)
Sofia Coppola Film

"I wanna rob"

The film has sort of gained a cult status. It is so so bad on all aspects. Direction, cinematography, script, acting, editing, costume - it's all ass. TO ME it does not elevate itself to a "so bad it's good" status. Sofia Coppola based it on an Vanity Fair article in which one of the Bling Ring members Alexis Neyers was interviewed. The Bling Ring is depicted as shallow fame hungry teenagers with no personality or emotions.

If it was done today i believe it would be a neo noir. As a writer myself i think that there's few things that seem easy to write but are actually very difficult: troubled and entitled addict teenagers and the effects of social media and reality tv. What i find interesting about the Bling Ring is that they did not come from poor backgrounds but still had issues feeling like outsiders being close to extreme wealth and fame. They were not satisfied with their lives.

Fun detail that the documentaries don't have is that the some of the same celebrities they robbed were also later arrested for robbing or driving under the influence (the famous mugshots of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie) becoming part of iconic pop culture images. 

I guess the film tried to capture the iconic pop culture of the time. The whole thing is so media sexy it's difficult to find what feels real about it.
 

The Real Bling Ring Hollywood Heist (2022)
3-part Netflix documentary

This documentary was also ass. It was so in your face. Trash entertainment like the film. It's a sensationalist documentary with the message that "fame is bad". Am i looking for depth in a story that doesn't exist?

What was interesting is that it gave lot of space for two of the Bling Ring members to tell their stories: Nick Prude and Alexis Neyers. 

You want to know the mind of the criminal, their original story, their traumas, their motives.

Both Nick and Alexis talked a lot about how they used lot of drugs and were not doing well mentally at that time. Alexis had become the face of the Bling Ring which she clarifies is a false image since she only took part in one robbery(for what we know). BUT she was filming a reality show of her own at the same time when police found out about them, so to media she became the perfect face for the crime (Emma Watson played her in the film). She tells she had been painted as a shallow teenager when really she was an addict and exploited by the entertainment industry and by her own mother. Although what is interesting is that she sold the rights of her interview for Sofia Coppola and was a paid to consult in the film.

If someone from the Bling Ring actually enjoyed the fame it brought it was definitely Nick. He ratted out the whole group and told the police about crimes they hadn't even discovered. In the film he is kinda depicted as an awkward gay best friend, but in reality he did play a bigger part in the burglaries although he says everything was influenced by his friendship to Rachel Lee - the ringleader of the group whose absence in the documentary becomes a mystery. Nick and Alexis have conflicting statements and everyone is kinda blaming each other or the drugs, which is understandable since I don't think there's one objective telling of this case especially in hindsight.
 

The Ring Leader: The Case of the Bling Ring (2023)
HBO documentary