Is "Yellowstone" Like "The Beach"? When Pop Culture Overwhelms Paradise

Taylor Sheridan’s hit series Yellowstone has become a cultural force — but at what cost? Much like Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Beach, which famously turned Thailand’s Maya Bay into a cautionary tale of overtourism, Yellowstone is drawing waves of fans to Montana and the Greater Yellowstone region, with real-world consequences.

After The Beach hit theatres in 2000, Maya Bay saw a massive influx of tourists eager to walk the same pristine sands DiCaprio once did. The result? Severe ecological damage that forced the Thai government to shut the bay for four years to help it recover.

Conservationists fear Yellowstone National Park and its surrounding areas are headed down the same path.

What’s unfolding in Yellowstone is a complex mix of admiration and unintended harm. Record numbers of tourists now line up before sunrise to enter the park, overwhelming trails, campgrounds, and wildlife habitats.

Nearby towns like Bozeman have seen housing prices surge by 85% since 2019, driven by wealthy newcomers chasing the show’s dream of Western freedom. Subdivisions sprawl where open land once was, elk are wandering into neighborhoods, and bears scavenge through trash. As political shifts deregulate development, Yellowstone’s iconic wilderness faces mounting pressure.

Just as Maya Bay needed rescue from its own pop culture fame, Yellowstone may require urgent conservation — and perhaps help from the very franchise that brought the crowds. Will Paramount and Sheridan step up before it’s too late?

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Source: Hollywood Reporter

Photo Credit: Paramount+/20th Century Studios