This week we watched the
Documentary “Catfish” following Nev and his pen pal, Abby, relationship. Nev is a photographer and his photographs are
being painted and sent to him. Abby, an
8 year old is apparently the artist. Nev
begins a pen pal relationship with her and becomes friends with her
family. He finds out that Abby has an
older sister Meg and she is very attractive.
Nev and Meg start to talk a lot and they are in a long distance virtual
relationship. Nev starts to have doubts
when he finds out that she isn’t actually singing in these videos she is
sending to him, so he investigates into the family more. He is astonished to see that this whole
relationship is fake and he assumes the mother Angela is acting as Megan, so he
goes to Michigan to confront the family.
There, he see’s the mother doesn’t look like her picture and he
eventually learns all about the betrayal and Angela’s deception.
Angela was a pathological liar. She craved sympathy and tried to make it seem
like her actions were okay when she told about her past to Nev. She says that she just settled for her life
and always wanted something more; and with this alter ego, she was able to
forget about her tough life and pretend her life is better than it is. Nev was a very big person for forgiving her
so easily. I think someone is psychotic if
they pretend they are someone they aren’t and then lie, not only before they
get caught, but after they get caught, to the person’s face. I do feel a little for Angela, her life is
difficult, she has severely mentally ill stepsons, that she has to take care
of, but nothing can be an excuse for her wrong ways. She loves art and it’s her escape from her
tough life. I still think that Angela is
wrong in every way, and I don’t think she feels bad for her actions either. I’m proud of Nev for handling the situation
like he did, because if it was me I would have sued or punched her. Finally, Angela’s lesser-minded husband, Vince,
tells of the story of cod being shipped to Japan and how they would be soggy
and gross when they got there. The
fishermen would put catfish in the tanks to nip the cod in the tails, so they
wouldn’t be lazy and they would be fit.
The world is like this story; the world would be boring if we didn’t
have catfish that would nip at our fins.
Angela is like a catfish, which nipped at Nev’s fins.
I agree that Angela was completely wrong in this situation. If she wanted to lie to herself then that is her decision, but to do it at the expense of someone else is not okay. Nev actually had feelings for "Meg" and he was vulnerable with her and Angela completely betrayed him. I wouldn't be surprised if Nev developed trust issues after this "relationship," I know I would have. Yes, Angela's life is sad and hard, but I think she is responsible for how her life turned out. She even said in the documentary that she could have been a professional dancer but she threw it away to "have fun." Not only did Angela lie about herself and create numerous fake accounts, she also used her daughter to lie also. This is not healthy for children and not something a mother should be doing.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I can definitely agree on Is that Angela using her daughter as part of the scam is unacceptable. The fact she made the poor girl lie, although she didn't know why she had to lie is the most morally wrong action.
ReplyDeletePretending to be someone or somewhere else isn't that uncommon. People have been doing it for a long time, so I don''t think that part was immoral. Making up all of these alternate personalities and then leading people on and lying even through the confession and confrontation is what was immoral. Using your imagination with video games, comic books, TV shows, Movies, etc. but we don't convince others we live in those worlds
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that what Angela did was immoral. Many difficulties in her life contributed to what she did, but that doesn't justify her actions. Angela may have not been able to fulfill her dream, but that happens to a lot of people. She brought everything on herself.
ReplyDeleteI agree that what Angela did was wrong. It is sad that now a days people create fake identities online and toy with others emotions. What Angela did was an immoral thing; she used her daughter to aid her in lying. Her life is difficult, even more so than others. However, that does ot mean she can use people as an outlet from that world as she did with Nev.
ReplyDelete