Hvar Island - an Example of Luxury on American Vandal

American Vandal is a Netflix original mockumentary web television series. Right after it was premiered in September 2017, it got a lot of attention with its original writing style, and the poignant parody of the true-crime genre and its most popular products, such as the documentary Making a Murderer, or the podcast Serial (which was the first podcast to bring the true-crime genre into the centre of attention of a larger crowd, as it became an instant hit and is still considered to be a golden standard in podcasting).

In addition to becoming a hit with the viewers on the streaming platform, American Vandal has won numerous awards, including Peabody Award for 2017. The show manages to be a parody of the overly ambitious genre, a stark critique of the criminal justice system in the US while maintaining a level of humour that’s hard to explain. The first season dealt with finding the vandal who drew parts of male anatomy on cars, while the second season investigates the case of a Turd Burglar – and the jokes are witty and creative, not at all what you’d expect.

In the second season, while looking for the infamous Turd Burglar, the mockumentarians conduct a series of interviews with the students of the prestigious private high-school, located in an affluent neighbourhood in the Pacific Northwest. [It’s not going to be easy setting the scene, while at the same time not spoiling the resolution of the mystery for you] While interviewing a student from a very wealthy family, she confides in them that she’s often made other students jealous by posting on her social media scenes that prove the luxury and glamour of her life. As she was telling that, in the background, her posts appeared, and one of them caught my eye – see screenshot above: it was about a surprise private helicopter ride to an exclusive party on Hvar Island, Croatia!

So, now you understand why a story about American Vandal is on a website about Croatia. Croatians have been trying for years (while some say have not really been trying at all) to brand Croatia as an exclusive vacation spot, not competing with low quality, high numbers destinations. And it seems that it has worked, at least to some extent, if the producers/writers of a top streaming service show decided to mention Hvar as a place from where you post to make your rich friends jealous!