Catfish is a documentary that follows the online friendship of a young
filmmaker and a family that aren’t who they appear to be. I will admit that I was
a bit wary of this at first and didn’t know quite what to expect; but soon
couldn't stop watching.
Yaniv Schulman and his brother Ariel Schulman are filmmakers. One day
Yaniv receives a painting of one of his published photographs in the mail from
eight year old Abby Pierce. Blown away by the talent of this young prodigy
Yaniv begins an online friendship with Abby’s mother Angela and sister Megan. Over
the course of several months Yaniv receives regular paintings by Abby in the
mail, chats by correspondence and phone with Angela and develops an online
romance with Megan.
However eventually not everything is adding up and Yaniv discovers holes
in Megan’s claims. Not happy with the answers he is getting to his questions
the brothers, along with their friend Henry Joost plan a trip to visit first
Megan at her house and then Abby and her family. The trip to Megan’s place adds
to their growing doubts when they turn up to a house that is empty and where
the mail hasn’t been collected in months. However when they arrive at Abby’s
house and Angela looks nothing like her portrait, Abby has no idea who they are
and doesn’t know anything about the paintings they know for certain that
nothing is as it seems.
The truth is that Angela is the painter, not Abby, but the lies do not
stop there. Angela is also Megan and a string of other personas she created on
Facebook to keep the backstory up for her deception. Angela’s husband had no idea his wife was
living this double life and believed the painting she was sending off to Yaniv
to be commissioned pieces. However even when confronted and the truth comes out
Angela is still unable to completely let go of the lies straight away, they are
ingrained in her and part of her doesn’t want to lose the connections she has
forged.
The documentary’s title comes from a story told by Angela’s husband Vince
about live cod shipped overseas and not being of decent quality on arrival due
to inactivity. It is said that placing catfish in the tank with the cod keeps
them active and therefore they remain of decent quality on arrival. He believes
that Angela is much like a catfish.
Catfish was such a fascinating and eye opening look into the riskier
side of the Internet. At the end of the day we don’t always know who we are
talking to and there is a risk that the other person is not who they say they
are. That in extreme cases there are people who have concocted elaborate
deceptions to be part of people’s lives. It is an interesting insight into the
lengths some people will go to to reinvent themselves and live, albeit vicariously,
a life that they have always wanted or to try on a persona that they would
never be courageous enough to try outside the safety of hiding behind a
computer screen. It reminds us of online safety and that above all it is
important to be honest, sincere and respectful.
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