“Catfish” –Virtual Relationships and Cyber Fantasies

The 2010 American documentary film “Catfish”, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, involves Ariel’s brother, Nev, as he fantasizes about a “friendship” with a beautiful young woman on Facebook. A documentary reflecting our times, “Catfish” is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue. The film tells the unsettling story of cyber-friendship: who we are in real life versus the way we present ourselves online.

The Facebook friendship begins with an 8-year-old child prodigy artist , Abby, in rural Michigan, sending Nev a painting of one of his photos that had appeared online. The painting is compelling with a childlike innocence. They become Facebook friends, which expands to include Abby’s mother Angela and beautiful older half-sister Megan, who is becomes the fantasy girl of Nev’s dreams. Through Facebook Nev becomes obsessed by Megan’s charm, talent and beauty. Over the course of their nine-month correspondence, Nev exchanges more than 1,500 messages and a number of phone calls.

Nev and his pal co-directors decide to make an impromptu appearance at Megan’s house. Once there all is revealed. With more than 732 friends Nev is still trolling on Facebook.   A twisted fantasy world of surprises in Internet romance, this is the drama that novels are made of. Watch for my novel-in-progress about the fascination, almost an addiction, with online dating—coming soon!