Catfishing is hard work

In the film Catfish, the filmmakers are unintentional find themselves playing detective as they begin to suspect that something is not right about the family Nev is becoming so involved in. Through clever investigation they managed to piece together that things are not what they seem and realize that the various people Nev has been in contact with people who are not what they say they are or are just non-existent. This lead to a confrontation with Angela, the catfisher, that was handled surprisingly well on both sides. All this to say that one thing that this film demonstrates how much work is done to catfish someone. Not to commend this type of work, but it certainly shows how people are willing to give their all in the things they want to do.

The amount of effort required to pull this off was tremendous. Angela has a very intricate system that she makes to keep everything in order. She reveals how she had the two separate phones set up and kept track of all of the different Facebook accounts. She did all this to keep track of the small lies and fabricated people just to hold the integrity of the bigger lie that she was Megan, which stemmed from the original lie that her art was Abby’s. This web of lies was spread so thin for one person that it was inevitably going to come apart, and while Angela admits this, it was still something she managed to run for a solid six months. The level of dedication that she put into managing all this demonstrates her commitment to keeping this rouge up for as long as possible. It certainly takes some level of tenacity to be willing to not only put Nev, but herself through as well. While she knew that it was very possible for him to find out the truth, she was more than prepared to keep the charade going. This becomes evident as she tries to keep the lie going until Nev finally tells her they need to talk. The overall ordeal is like a child being caught in a lie. Initially, Angela’s reaction felt more like she was sad she got caught as opposed to feeling bad about what she did. Granted, she does show remorse later as she confesses. Ultimately, her actions were wrong and she should not have done what she did; however the amount of work she was willing to go through is commendable.