Catfish: the Movie (2010)
The term ‘catfishing’ has become a phenomenon in the world of social media, and was brought to light predominantly after a film titled Catfish was released in 2010. ‘Catfishing’, defined as ‘a deceptive activity involving the creation of a fake online profile for deceptive purposes’ (Harris in Smith, 2017, 33), can be considered as a form of escapism: creating a ‘new you’. This relates back to my fascination with the ‘persona’, and how easy it is to change your persona online.
I find that the subject of Catfishing would be interesting to explore in my piece, and is still relevant to my initial ideas of looking at which ‘you’ you choose to project. I am considering working with a mannequin
This documentary tells the story of a young male (Nev Schulman) who falls in love with a girl online. He then finds that this girl is lying about who she is, and using someone else’s photographs as her own. When Nev finally met the Catfish, she claimed that having Cancer was the reasons behind her actions, and that the girl in the pictures was her niece. It was later found out that these were both lies. This is considered the first documentation of Catfishing, although it has been happening for years, even before the Internet was created. The film gives an insight into the life of the Catfish, and the reasons behind her actions.
The psychology behind the 2010 Catfish:
– Happily (?) married, although had two children with severe learning difficulties and autism. One of her children passed away shortly after the film was released.
– Unhealthily overweight
– Middle-aged and felt as though she was ‘getting old’
– Struggling financially
Catfishing was a form of escapism for her. She was able to free herself from the strains of her own life and pretend to be someone else. When I realised this, I completely sympathised with the Catfish, despite the hurt and anger she had caused. This was something that I wanted to replicate in my piece, as it is usually unheard of.
In this documentary, the husband of the Catfish says:
“There are those people who are Catfish in life, and they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh… And I thank God for the Catfish, because we’d be drawl, boring and dull if we didn’t have somebody nipping at our fin”.
This positive outlook on the act of Catfishing is what initially inspired me to explore it. I had never heard of anyone being thankful for an online Catfish, and I therefore decided to perform from the Catfish’s perspective.
Works Cited:
Smith, L., Smith, K., Blazka, M. (2017) Follow Me, What’s the Harm? Considerations of Catfishing and Utilizing Fake Online Personas on Social Media. Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport. 27, 32 -45. Available from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=7a3a81d9-2bda-4198-9eba-11ae374a2fa8%40sessionmgr101 [Accessed on 20/04/17].