Facebook started out in 2004. As is widely known, Facebook initially started as a method to rank the beauty of Harvard students. I started Facebook in 2011. As of now, Facebook has become a common means both for communication between people from different regions and people in need of a cyber space where they can share ideas and do group work. From personal experience, FB (Facebook)’s distinctive feature are interacting with others that may or may not be new to one and assume identities that may or may not be true. Angela Pierce did just that and became the catfish of Yaniv Schulman (Nev). A wondrous thing that a single program can help people do so much, isn’t it?
Catfish showed the audience that cyberspace has become a place where people can interact with others just as intensely as one would in face-to-face relationships. As in case of Nev and Angela, people can share their ideas and opinions with others through cyberspace. Often this is done by typing words into the computer which will be shown on the counterpart’s screen. This struck me as very similar to a form of written speech I experienced when both I and my mother couldn’t speak due to fever. During that time, we would scribble what we wanted to say on any piece of paper near us at the moment and show it to the other. But, a difference exists in that FB chatters cannot view facial expressions and gestures which I and mother could use to comprehend our intentions. Nonetheless, emoticons and face chats have bridge this gap in the past years. In Catfish, Nev and Angela could share their feelings about each other through the means stated above. But, the couple’s relation did not fully reflect what cyberspace interaction is capable of. If Catfish was a film with the intention of exploring cyberspace interactions with a depth, face chat, which was not dealt with, should have been used. But, as Nev repeatedly emphasize, this was supposed to be simply true, so excuses can be made.
Cyberspace interaction is not the only form of interaction in the film though. After Nev’s failed attempt at visiting Meg’s-Angela‘s decoy identity- farm, Nev moves on to the pierce family’s actual house. Starting from this scene, Nev is in almost constant contact with Angela. During this time, the issue of interaction between people in relationships where they cannot be true to others can be dealt. Angela is met with the task of playing a false identity where she cannot have feelings that she had as the person with a fake identity conjured by her image. Nev grasps hints which lead to the conclusion that none other than Angela herself is Meg. At this realization of the suspicion which had driven him to this long, tiring journey, he is given the task of interacting with a person that has been false to him in such a way that the person will not be hurt while at the same time making the person admit lies. The situation is a common one that can be found in everyday relationships between people such as wife& husband, teacher& student, or roommates.To know that one was cheated and yet having to stabilize such a relationship in a way that both sides of the relationship is not hurt beyond repair and yet correct the wrongs bring many thoughts to one’s mind. Nev came out relatively clean-faced out of it. He announced his realization to Angela without much fuss and still conveyed the essential message, that he will no longer feint for her. In actual life, will you be capable of such? Can you tell your best friend that I knew all along that you were a freakin liar and still manage to embrace that guy as a friend? I had trouble answering this.
But, before anyone interacts with anybody, people must promote their identities. In the case of Angela, a harder task than most, to promote a fake identity for a whole family and its friends was given. Angela succeeded in this at least for some time and could enjoy being the ideal person she always wanted to be. When drenched by the hazards of everyday life, people often wish that they could be born again. They wish for lost and forgotten dreams to come true so that they might escape the hardships that befell them. Angela wished for her dream as an attractive and outgoing dancer to come back. Eventually, she found a way to accomplish this buy making a false identity online at which she was presented the dancer she wanted to become in her youth.
The norm was that identities are shaped by how people act. Even if people wanted to promote an ideal image of them, it wasn’t possible unless people really lived up to the image. Facebook made the norm a bit less normal in the past few years. When people meet new friends at Facebook, they look at the “friend’s” profile; get information on the “friend’s” supposed hobby, political& religious affiliation, workplace, etc. The Profile, along with a few elusive pictures on the picture page can promote a whole new identity. This is even more effective and dangerous than other means of cyberspace identity promotion because Facebook spares such a large portion of their program to profiles and other related activities. Many experienced users of SNS raise caution to Facebook users because of this characteristic, which as in the case of Nev and Angela, can result in unwanted affairs.
Through the whole film, interaction between real life people and identity shaping is dealt. Angela might have wronged Nev in her way of approaching Nev. But, it certainly did provide the public with a thought to consider when going online to meet other people.
