Online social networking has many different objectives. It serves as a central hub to bring people together from across the world, yet others use it as a means of escapism. The World Wide Web allows users to take on different identities. Consequently, their appearance is much more attractive, smarter, and extraordinary than they actually are. What boundaries are crossed, when we constantly lie about ourselves? Do we lose touch with reality? How far is one willing to go for social acceptance? Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman touch on these questions through their film Catfish.
What's the story?
New York photographer Nev Schulman enjoys posting pictures of his work on Facebook. He captures the attention of eight year old Abby Pierce, also a Facebook resident, who mails him paintings of the pictures posted online. Instantly, Nev forms an online friendship with Abby, her mother Angela, Angela's husband Vince, and Abby's older half-sister Megan. Nev, convinced he found his ideal girl, begins a romantic correspondence with Megan. The relationship extends beyond Facebook to text messaging and phone calls. Eventually, she sends him recordings of songs written by her, but Nev discovers that they were all fabricated from much more famous musicians. Heartbroken, he decides to confront Megan at her house. Unfortunately, he learns of a much bigger deception than just a simple act of plagiarism.
The Result?
A critic should never judge a film by its trailer. Unfortunately, I am guilty of falling into that trap. I was expecting a much bigger climax, yet it wasn't what I desired. The problem was an error in the narrative. If nothing had been revealed about Megan, then there could have been a much more lasting impact. Joost and Schulman should have played more with the idea of deceiving the audience. Megan's lie watered down the film's theme that appearances are misleading.
The originality and concept were interesting ideas. Joost and Schulman explored how users let themselves be fooled by what is shown to them online. Social networking websites create this built in validity, yet we accept all this information without question. Assumption over inquisition hinders our chances for a positive outcome.
Tyler's Verdict: 2 Stars. A nice idea, but it offers nothing special.
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