Catfish, Fishing for Fools

To be deceived by a person or figure we have grown to trust, or have generally formed a friendship with, is one of the most bewildering and frustrating experiences we face in our interactions with other people. We often reason with ourselves that behind the facade of decency and compassion, those that betray our good intentions must have always been maliciously intending to do so, a plan to capitulate our emotions in order to assure some sort of gain for themselves. Feeling used is a typical trait in these encounters, or at the very least one feels a sense of indignation. Being "catfished" is a uniquely contemporary dilemma, fostered by our enhanced internet presences. In this age of mass communication and informal relationships with strangers whom we may have never met, it's possible to fall into this trap of being enraptured by the thought of a seeming stranger to be genuinley interested in one's life. For many of the catfish cases, including the case presented in the movie "Catfish", there is a genuine feeling of affection given by "Megan Faccio" to Nev, who soon falls for the girl, in contact through her presumed painter sister. The painting begins to unravel as faults in Megan's lifestyle begins to slip, and Nev finds himself at odds with how to handle the situation.

For a portion of this experience, Nev seems to wish to distance himself from the situation, the thought of having been fed lies and following along makes him reserved about any further interaction. Perhaps it is the horror, the astonishment of a bond broken, that fuels these "catfish". However, Angela, who is the puppeteer to Megan and many other accounts, does not embody a sadistic nature. Indeed, her life is incredibly tense, her marriage to "Vince" included the taking on of his two special-needs children, whom she works for tirelessly to maintain a decent standard of living. The outcome seems to be that her persona got away from her hands, and she found Nev to be an escape from a world that is difficult, and that she blames herself for creating when she was married. Her husband left unaware, commenting only on how stellar of a wife he has, seems to punctuate this sense of a "lost self". Who, then, is the one who loses the most from the encounter? Nev seems forgiving enough to accept the circumstances at hand, but does doing so truly foster healing for either party?