So I finally saw the documentary called "Catfish", which is described as ‘a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue’ and it doesn’t disappoint. I saw a trailer for it a few months ago and wasn’t sure what to expect. (The trailer is extremely misleading but that's besides the point). "Catfish" is one of those films that makes you question the e-world entirely, and no--not everything on the Internet is as it seems to be in reality.
The film is based around Nev, a photographer in New York. In early 2008, one of his pictures was published in a New York newspaper. A few months later, he received a painting of that picture in the mail from an eight year old girl in Ishpeming, Michigan called Abby. The painting was remarkably good and Nev started up a correspondence with her. This grew over a period of months and extended to Abby’s family and their friends. They all became Facebook buddies, Abby’s strikingly attractive half sister Megan, Angela ( Abby's mother) and the whole family.
Megan and Nev got in contact regularly and sparked up somewhat of an online romance. Nev’s brother and best friend, who are film makers, decided to start documenting this blossoming friendship with Abby, her family and the romance with Megan.
But before long, all was not quite as it seemed and when Nev and friends decide to pay an impromptu visit to Abby and family in Michigan, the story unravels rapidly.
Without giving too much away, it's all rather tragic. One person had created 13 Facebook accounts and everything is either half truths or outright lies. But it's hard to be mad at the person who started all this because the fantasy life they have created is not for malicious reasons. Within minutes of meeting this family, you understand. This person has created a web of make believe people and it's no different than writing a novel, except this obviously involves real people, feelings, emotions and trust.
I can barely even manage my own personality in life, online or otherwise. Just to entertain the thought of going through extreme measures to do what Angela did completely baffles me. Who has that kind of time on their hands and what do they gain from it?
While in some cases, this kind of behaviour can clearly be sneaky, malicious and mean, I came away from this documentary feeling sad. For some, loneliness can drive them to create a whole other world to escape what they have going on and it really does take a genius to pull it off. If Facebook is the face of friendship and loneliness, then "Catfish" is the movie that illustrates this, most compassionately.