In today's society with all of this access to millions of websites online, one is bound to come across a few social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Among all of the accounts, there are thousands of fake accounts designed to ensnare unwary internet surfers with their various scams. One that catches the most people off guard would have to be the posting of fake pictures and stories to catch the sympathy of others. In the case of the film Catfish, Angela was using it to have an affair on her clueless husband with a young man named Yaniv who fell for the whole lie.
In the end, Yaniv discovers everything and forgives her because he sympathizes for her. She has a very rough home life and is a struggling artist with a support lacking husband, who could blame her for wanting to find an escape? I believe a few people, including myself, can agree that Angela crossed the line with creating the fake Megan Faccio. I must ask a question though, in a way, art we all a bit like Angela? Our lives are all complex, confusing, and different, and when we look to others, doesn't the grass seem greener on the other side? Don't we all use the internet as a way to escape our own lives to some degree? We may not even realize we are doing it. Look at a picture of yourself you've taken recently. Does it have a filter? Is it taken from just the right angle to catch your good side? How about the lighting? All of these factors manipulate the real subject of the matter, you. Do you act the same way you act in real life as you do on the internet? I know that I don't tell everyone on the internet what happens within the deepest corners of my mind. I only give a lighthearted version of something and make people believe that the event was not a big deal when in reality it could be crushing my very soul.
Angela claimed that everyone of those 15 Facebook accounts were a piece of her that she either could not express or had failed to explore when she had the chance. She talks about how she gave up dancing and seeing Yaniv's photographs of the dancers in the magazine made her long to go back to that time and pursue her dream. She painted the painting using the picture as a reference and sent it ti Yaniv claiming her daughter did it in hopes he would send her pictures of dancers to remind her more of her failed passion. Soon, she began to want more and created Megan. Thus, began the tangled web of lies. "Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive! (Marmion, Canto VI, XVII)"
Because of this, I can sympathize with Angela when she says her daughter painted those paintings and not her because, who would want to buy a painting done by an older woman when they could buy a painting with the same degree of talent by a little girl? With the woman, her style is probably set for the rest of her life. The child is just a child and has tons of room to grow and develop. Also, she's absolutely adorable. Who could say no to a face like that? I do not sympathize for Angela for lying about being Megan. Now, that was disturbing and wrong on many levels.
5 comments:
I really like how you showed the sympathetic aspects of Angela's character, but didn't pretend like she didn't do anything wrong. I also agree that the Megan part was way too far into the lie. I also like how you say that at some point we all deccieve the world, even if it is as subtly as pretending a certain ordeal didn't affect us in certain ways.
I do understand the ideas behind the questioning that you have. Yes, people only present themselves in a way that will portray the "best" them. There are parts of personality that people don't necessarily broadcast, but have we delved into the reasons why people only present the good things. Today, so many things are based on what people portray themselves as on the internet. Job offers, personal image, different brands are all based on what people put out in the internet. I don't want this shameful connotation of someone not being truly who they are, or feeling phony because they don't completely express themselves on the internet, which is expected because people only present the "best" them.
I think you're right when you say there are a lot of people out there who are creating fake pages and lying in order to get attention and sympathy. What these individuals need to understand is there are much better ways to make friendships, including face to face interactions. If one is really in need of a friend that badly, perhaps they should seek professional help.
A part of me sympathizes with Angela because she had such a rough life and she wanted to find a way out. Another part of me is critical of her because of her means to find her freedom. She tried to be happy at the expense of someone else and even worse the person didn't realize he was being used. If she would have found a different method of finding happiness I would feel more bad for her.
I disagree with you about sympathizing about being Abby because it's not like she as using Abby as a somewhat pen name. She actually deceived multiple people that Abby, her daughter, who is a real person, was doing those paintings. It would be another thing if Angela just signed her paintings "abby" so remain anonymous. But she used someone else's identity. I can't sympathize with that!
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