One Fish, Two Fish, Catfish

   What had started out as a documentary following the relationship between a young, talented painter named, Abby, and photographer named, Nev Schulman, transpired into a cringe-worthy act of betrayal. Although he was reluctant, Nev had agreed to join this documentary not knowing that he would be lured into a web of lies. This documentary had shed some light into the dark side of social media. Nev had not only befriended Abby but her entire family on Facebook. Over the course of nine months Nev begun a relationship and later on became infatuated with Abby's older sister, Megan Faccio.
    One careless Facebook message was all it took for this ruse to disintegrate. Nev was left speechless that the girl whom he had fallen in love with had led him to believe she had written love songs that he later had found throughout the internet under another girl's name. Seeking for the truth, Nev, his brother, and his friend collected all the lies that were told throughout the documentary. Nev had felt unsettled and the three of them had planned to make a pit stop at Abby's house before heading to an event in Colorado. The trio had no idea that the lies they had uncovered were only the tip of the iceberg. The "Facebook Family" as Nev had described them was all fabricated by Abby's mother, Angela.
    The artwork that Nev had admired and deemed advanced for eight-year old Abby were made by Angela. There was never a Megan for this persona was only created to seduce Nev, whom Angela had fallen in love with. The lies and ploy of having this artistic family could have stopped the minute Nev had arrived on Angela's doorstep but she continued to deceive Nev in fear of losing him. This woman had lived a saddening and desolate life. She created these accounts to escape from her reality. Her husband was clueless and rather than worrying over her second-guessing her decision of choosing her family over her dreams of becoming a renowned artist;he deemed her unhappiness insignificant. Angela's ruse was so intricate and creative that it could be perceived that her only remorse was having been caught and having hurt Nev. In my opinion, I do understand her need to escape her reality, but that will never excuse what she did to Nev.
    To this day it is still not illegal to "Catfish" someone on social media. Though one can see the red flags before it is far too late, there are still a few people who cannot seem to see right through this scheme.





For those who are curious of what happened after this documentary, here is a link to when Nev met Aimee Gonzales and her reaction to the documentary:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Io-djZGkc&t=29s