Deception and Fraud

In the documentary “Catfish”, the film revolves around a young photographer named Yaniv “Nev” Schulman. He is recorded and documented by filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. It starts innocently enough as Yaniv begins a a friendly relationship with 12 year old child prodigy Abby. She sends him talented paintings of his photographs. He then begins a series of relationship with her other family members; however, he prominently begins a romantic relationship with Abby’s older sister Megan. Megan is depicted as a talented singer, model and dancer. Nev can’t get enough of her. Things starts spiraling downhill when Nev finds an exact copy of one of Megan’s cover on youtube. The more research he does the more he begins to find inconsistencies with not only Megan but the whole family. At the end of the show Nev and the others realizes that the family is not who they appear to be. Abby’s paintings actually belong to her mother Angela. Although Megan is indeed her sister they have not talked in years. The photo that represents Megan online belongs to Aimee Gonzales, a professional model and dancer from Vancouver, Washington. Nev has been texting and conversing with Angela the whole time. This is where the term “catfish” sprung.

Today, “catfishing” has gained a lot of attention online – especially in the online dating world. It is when we pretend to be someone we’re not.  I do believe that this act comes from a series of insecurities. It is hard for us to pretend to be someone else in real life; but online, it is much easier because the risk of getting caught is low. They believe that they need to either enhance" their looks or personality/characteristic in order to do so. The more we depict ourselves as “perfect” and “flawless” the higher the change of getting noticed (hence the dating app “tinder”). It doesn’t just stop at dating apps. For example, certain products are now endorsing people on Instagram due to their high number of followers. Most of these people are extremely attractive and/or charismatic. They prominently appeal to the people.  As a result, apply filters and photoshopping photos are becoming more popular than ever now. Who’s to say that their photos are 100% untouched? 

“Catfishing” isn’t entirely wrong because most of those who do it do not have ill

intentions for the other party. They simply want to be acknowledged in a mass group of people. However, although it does seem innocent and fun at first it is still a form of deception. The other party is also to blame as well. They should not always believe and trust that person, knowing that they could simply be pretending.