I recently watched the documentary Catfish, which is about a young man being scammed by a woman who
claims to be something she’s not. Just by chance, I watched the documentary
right before the scandal broke about
Notre Dame football player Manti Te’o’s imaginary girlfriend. Like the subject
of Catfish, Te’o was allegedly the
victim of an online hoax.
In Catfish, filmmakers
Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost document the online romance of Ariel’s brother,
Nev. The trio soon comes to suspect that Nev’s Facebook friend who is passing
herself off as a beautiful young woman is not what she seems.
After becoming a hit on the festival circuit and attracting a
cult following, Catfish was adapted
into an MTV reality series. The term “catfish” has also become a buzzword for
anyone who is duped, especially online.
The documentary Catfish is
suspenseful, keeping the viewer guessing about what’s going to happen next as
Nev, Ariel and Henry uncover more and more deceptions that Nev’s online friend
concocted. Although the ending is a bit anticlimactic, the movie is definitely
a cautionary tale about keeping a healthy dose of skepticism and thoroughly
checking people out before you let them in your life.
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