Catfish

To me Catfish was just plane weird. I felt as though it had taken what we had discussed in class about the cyber world becoming it's own form of reality and just twisted it into something that was just so ridiculous that it was actually scary. The documentary is about a Michigan woman who essentially created this life for herself. She created fifteen people on facebook that in real life do not exist. She then met this man named Nev and using this fake person she started to connect with Nev, who was a photographer.

I can understand having some sort of a connection on the internet. However, this woman was so wrapped up in her own lie that she actually thinks that she can live in the real world and maintain this lie. However, that is very far from the truth. Nev and his friends who have been filming this entire adventure eventually catch onto the lie and the woman then reveals the truth, which was in fact a lie as well.

This woman is trapped. She has two severely handicapped boys that demand her attention, a husband who is slow to say the least, and a little daughter who loves to paint. This woman reveals that he dream was to become a dancer but that dream was short lived. I can understand the pain of losing a dream; however, that does not give her the right to lie and deceive innocent people like Nev into thinking that she is this person.

She using pictures of family friends and creates identities without their consent. She goes beyond lie and right to stealing. She stole a person's identity and used it as her own. I can not understand this for my life. Then to make the whole situation even worse she lied about having cancer. To me I can understand lying about yourself, but to lie that you have cancer is a whole different issue. That is a serious condition that kills millions of people. Cancer is not a joke. It is not something that is commonly thrown around in everyday situation.

Nev is hurt and betrayed by this entire situation, and I do not blame him. He had been lied to for no good reason. He had thought that he had made a connection to this perfect girl. A beautiful woman who appreciated his photography, they shared similar beliefs and made a legitimate connection. However, it was  lie.

This relates to our class because we have discussed the influence of technology on the world and on our own perception of reality. We have discussed the power of technology and what it can do for the every day person. However, I feel as though this story is an extreme. The internet has given this rather simple woman an entire new life. She had complete control over everything because she was everybody. She was able to handle every situation. However, is that real? Does she live in her own virtual reality? How? She is controlling everything, that doesn't seem like reality.