catfish (n.) - a person who creates fake
profile online and pretends to be someone they are not by using someone else's
pictures and information.
Have you
ever wondered if the people you speak to online are really who they say they
are? For any of you who have seen Catfish the movie, you'll get the jist of
what the TV show is about. But let me summarise for those who may not be so
familiar.
Nev is a
photographer who lives with his brother Ariel in New York. An eight year old
girl, Abby, sends him a painting she did of one of his photographs, which
leads them to becoming Facebook friends, thus exposing Nev to Abby's whole
family, including her attractive older sister Megan. Before they know it, Nev
and Megan are involved in an intense online relationship, with Ariel and his
film-making partner Henry film their progress for a documentary. Perhaps not
your regular fairy tail, but it worked for them, until Nev found out
that everything wasn't what it seemed. In actual fact, who Nev thought was
'Megan' was actually Abby's mother Angela, posing as her estranged daughter -
who does actually exist - using photos taken from someone else's
Facebook profile. Not only that, but Abby's paintings were actually done by
Angela.
Crazy,
right? Well, it gets crazier. After the film became a huge success, Nev started
receiving messages from hundreds and thousands of people in the same situation
- they are in love with someone that they met online and they want his help to
find out if they are the real deal. So Nev and his film-maker friend Max joined
forces with MTV to create Catfish: the TV Show, bringing people in online
relationships together... with varying consequences. Nev picks one of the many
people who message him daily, reads their story, then Skypes them to see if
they're up for him helping them connect them to their online lover. He and Max
then fly out to wherever they live, do their research in attempts to uncover
the truth, and arrange the meet up. It's like Miss
Marple and Blind Date all in one, with a modern twenty-first
century twist.
Two
episodes in and I'm hooked. It's series-linked on the Sky box and I'm inching
for more after each hour. In fact, I'm so anxious for more that I think I may have to search
for the episodes online. It's like I'm fueling some sort of docudrama crack
addiction - I just can't get enough. Watching it brings about so many emotions,
I feel like I'm properly involved in these people's lives. I'm just as nervous
as they are as they are on the Big Day when they drive out to meet their
elusive other half. And I'm just as disappointed when the person they fell in
love with online aren't who they really said they were.
As
addicting as it is, it brings about so many questions: How can you fall in love
with someone you've never met face to face? How can one not get even a little
bit suspicious when their significant other refuses to Skype with them? Why
would anyone want to lie about their identity and lead someone on like that?
And the big one - is this all 100% real and genuine? Catfish the film had
its skeptics, Super Size Me's
Morgan Spurlock called it "the best fake documentary I have ever
seen," and others have questioned its authenticity by pointing out
how convenient it was that Ariel and Henry just 'happened' to catch
all the pivotal moments in Nev's journey on film, and why they would even begin
to document it in the first place.
Personally,
I like to think the film was real. And as involved I now am with the TV show, I
too question its authenticity at times. Like when the person is faced with
their "catfish", how do they stay so calm knowing that they've been
lied to for however long they've been involved? And how do they go from being
so hurt and upset, to understanding and eventually becoming friends with their
catfish? It's all very up in the air, but I think that's what I love about it,
it keeps me guessing.
As
someone who has had online friendships pretty much since first being introduced
to the internet, it's quite unsettling thinking that the people I'm speaking to
online and forming bonds with may not be the real deal. Admittedly, we all have
an online persona. Not to mean that we're all fakes, but we choose what aspects
of our personality we expose to the world wide web. We want to show off the
best version of ourselves, but some people take it a step further and showcase
someone else entirely. Whether it is to explore different options or decisions
they could have made in their life or simply because they think being
themselves just isn't good enough. That's the saddest part of it all.
Though
it's not all doom and gloom, executive producer of Catfish: the TV Show insists
that it's not all about the deception aspect of online courtship, "We've
stumbled into some love stories. We found people who are exactly who they say
they are. We are putting those on television, too. We find people who are
willing to get past an initial deception and really do make a connection at the
end - in person and in real life. That's been really heartwarming." And I
for one can't wait to watch those episodes.
