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Monday, April 17, 2017

CATfishing:Keeping people on their toes

Although Catfish has become a a common term used by millennials and even others due to the fact that its such a normal occurring event, its surprising to know the origins the term. When someone is pretending to be someone they aren't they are "catfishing"but it never really made sense to me. What do catfishes have to do with pretending someone you aren't? It made no sense. Towards the end we see Angela's husband talking about how when fish are shipped to china, they are shipped with catfish. The catfish are what keep the other fish on their toes. They keep them alert. Those people that pretend to be other people are catfish. They keep the other people alert.

Angela is the Catfish and Nev is the Cod. She  plays Nev into thinking that she is Megan and (a different version of Angela. Not only does she pretend to be these two people, she also manipulates Nev by pretending to be 15 other people on Facebook.

I do not feel much sympathy for Angela, just sad. I think she lives a sad reality. She deals with a lot at home, taking care of Abby and her husband's two handicapped sons. She's given up her dreams to do what she's doing and this is her way of escaping and doing what she enjoys. She is living out her dreams through Facebook and being everything she wished she could be.I just think that is sad that she went to the lengths as to bring her daughter into it and to say that Abby had a "gallery" and that Megan lived in Gladstone.

Losing the friendship with Nev was her reason for doing what she did. She didn't want to lose this. Its part of her life and its real to her.  This is part of her, what she does is her. It's her reality and she didn't want to lose it but I think that it doesn't matter. The relationship she made isn't real. Nev is real but she wasn't. she wasn't herself, she was someone else, its not a genuine relationship. When you have a friendship you are who you are, and you make connections through being you. Its not a real friendship. I think that it was real to her but it shouldn't because she wasn't herself she was a different version of herself when she talked to Nev. This is what makes the relationship fake, because although it may have felt real and they exchanging feelings with each other, she wasn't genuine with Nev. Her intentions were not genuine and i think its wrong that she did that to him.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I do have some sympathy for her, but like you I also feel sad for her. Her reality is what lead her to make up a new life and life a double life. And I also think it's sad she had to drag her daughter in her lies. But I also think she did not want to lose Nev's friendship and it's another reason why she kept lying.

Unknown said...

You mentioned the true meaning to the word Catfish in the beginning and I couldn't help but think, of all the titles why that one? The original meaning was not a malicious one, as it is often thought of now. Regardless, I like how you made the connection between Nev and Angela to the story. Hearing Angela say that she did what she did to maintain their friendship is truly sad, and it's sadder to think that lying was the only solution she saw fit to deal with her real life. Like you said, "It's not a real friendship", but rather an illusion of one.