A Catfish with 15 Lives

In the movie Catfish, Nev first forms a friendship with a young girl named Abby. At first it consists of the sending and receiving of Nev’s pictures and Abby’s paintings, but as this friendship goes on, Nev begins to grow close with the rest of the family, especially with Abby’s mother Angela and sister Megan. In the span of six months, Nev develops a romantic relationship with Megan through Facebook, phone calls, and texts.

The truth about the family begins to unfold when Nev, his brother, and their friend discover exact recordings of the songs Megan claims to be originally sung by her online, but under different names. This leads to a flood of questions about who the family really is and what else they have been lying to Nev about. To get answers, Nev’s brother and friend convince him to go and visit the family. Before confronting the family, they decide to first stop by the house Megan apparently lives in only to find out that it is abandoned with no sign of anyone recently living there. This of course leaves Nev hurt as he is learning that this girl he’s been getting to know has been repeatedly lying to him.

The next morning, Nev, his brother, and friend go to Abby’s house to find out the truth, or at least meet whoever has been behind everything. They are first greeted by a woman named Angela who turns out to really be Abby’s mother. Nev plays along as she attempts to drag on the stories she has built up even though they can clearly see that she looks nothing like the woman she claims to be on Facebook. Nev does get to meet Abby, but while she is the same girl shown online, she was never the one who painted the paintings like they said. Everything points back to Angela as they discover more and more of the truth.

Nev ends up confronting Angela about the lies, and she finally gives in and reveals everything as she owes it to him. Nev learns that there was no Megan that he has been talking to and that it has always been Angela. Every Facebook account, phone call, and text message had been set up by her. Nev does not, however, get angry with her for all she has put him through, but instead feels bad for her for what has led her to do such a thing.

Usually when the intentions for catfishing are not malicious, they are for much more depressing reasons. For Angela, she lives a life where she is responsible for three children, two of which have disabilities. Although she does not seem to mind it all, she seems to feel trapped with the life she has come to have. For her, living through these fake accounts and personalities was her way of experiencing the life she wished to have. Although her intentions were not to harm another, it is still not morally right to do such a thing for the effect it will have on others like Nev.