Catfish final paper

           

Catfish is just like a mirror. On one side of the mirror we see ourselves for who we are. On the other side of the mirror we can change ourselves into what we want ourselves to be, even what others want to interpret us as, hiding the reality from each other.
         The movie Catfish was directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman at the studio Rogue Pictures. It was released September 17, 2010. The main actors in this documentary are Nev Schulman, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost, Angela Wesselman-Pierce.

Nev Schulman is a photographer who one day received a surprising e-mail message from an eight year old girl named Abby. Abby saw one of Nev’s photos in the newspaper which inspired her. She asked Nev if she could paint the photograph. Nev agreed, and a little while later he received the painting in the mail. He was shocked by how much the painting looked like the photograph. At one point Nev tried to contact Abby's family, but ended up in contact with Megan, Abby's 19-year-old sister. After 8 months of an online relationship Nev decided he wanted to meet Megan in person to see if their connection was real. When Nev traveled to Michigan to meet her, Nev learned that Abby and Megan's family were not at all what he expected them to be.

Facebook is full of people who are totally different then they say they are. A Facebook page contains nothing but a picture, short biography, and likes and dislikes. It’s easy to create a fake personality and make it become who you actually want to be. Angela did exactly that. She put a lot of time and effort into creating a fake life that seemed so real to Nev. Angela created online profiles for at least 21 relatives and friends to create Megan's social circle. Later on after the documentary Angela told the world.. "I have been diagnosed as schizophrenic, But ... I don't think I have multiple personalities in normal life, really. I just think I have the ability to create a lot of illusions for people." She claimed she had no problem navigating such a complex fantasy world, and she had become obbsessed with her fake life.

I would definitely recommend this documentary. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I would recommend it more to the adult audience though because there are some parts that children wouldn’t understand, and are innapropriate for a younger audience. I think Catfish did a great job showing how careful you have to be when it comes to everything online, especially when getting to know someone. People can be totally different then they say they are, and then not realize it until you meet them.

I edited Abby Sterns Paper.