Catfish

I had been hearing alot of good about this documentary about a guy named Nev who made contact with a girl named Abby after she had seen one of his photographs in a newspaper. Three months later this girl sent him a painting of his photograph in the mail. Abby is only nine and lived in Michigan - hundreds of miles from Nev's home in New York City.

Nev is in his twenties but he and the girl strike up a friendship. Nev's brother Ariel and his film making partner Henry decide to document Abby and Nev's friendship.

This topic fascinated me because last year I had a six month relationship with a girl named Lisa. At least I think she was a girl because I never saw a picture of her. To be more honest, the pictures she showed me of her were fake and when another blogger she talked with shared that with me, the friendship quickly died. I should have known something was weird when she wouldn't give me her address so I could mail her a package. Just a P.O. box number.

She was never the easiest person to be friends with but she was one of the most interesting person I had ever talked to. She knew alot of popular culture, cartoons, comic books, and movies. She had a fierce intelligence that challenged me on most occasions. She is one of the few people I have ever met who I couldn't finish her sentences in my head, if you understand what that is like.


I never did have all my questions about her answers but looking back it was a fascinating experience. Maybe that is why I found this documentary to be so interesting. As I watched it, I had the same questions about Abby that I did about Lisa. When you share with someone online, there comes a point when you start to wonder if they are really who they say they are. The anonymous nature of online conversation allows one to be anyone they choose to be. If they totally immerse themselves in the character, you can get fooled.

That is the way it was with Lisa. Tiny things didn't add up and when I was shown the pictures she identified as her, on another site (a porn site no less - but she shared no naked pictures) I had to confront her. That is when everything fell apart.

I have always made sure that I was very honest about who I was when talking to someone online or in my blog postings. I want people to like me for me and not for the fake persona I would make up - and with my imagination I COULD make up a character everyone would fall in love with - but what happens when I meet my online friends? That look of disappointment is something I don't want to see ever again. Too many people in my real life have given me that look.

So you can see how interesting I got in following Nev and Abby's relationship. She sent him packages often containing her drawings and artwork. Nev also talks with Abby's mom on the phone occasionally. He, however, only talks to Abby online. Nev calls them his 'Facebook Family'.

Abby's older sister Megan, who is also an artist, has a crush on Nev. By the pictures she seems the same age as Nev. He likes her too and even creates this photoshopped picture of the two of them.


And the packages keep coming. More new paintings, some of the family. Abby's brother Alex helps Megan write a song for Nev which she sings background on. The whole family seems to be growing quite fond of Nev.

Soon Nev and Megan are talking on the phone and flirtatious texts fly back and forth. Nev says that if they meet each other, and the attraction is there, that they would instantly be a couple.

However, Nev begins to grow suspicious when Megan sends him a song she claims is her singing but is the same recording as another singer. Megan posted it on her mom's Facebook page, claiming that it was her original work. Nev, of course is shocked by this. Quote - "They are complete psychopaths! I could have been talking to a guy all this time."


Soon other inconsistencies start to crop up and a frustrated Nev decides to just show up at Abby's house to get his question's answered. He has to know if he has been played all this time.

Like Nev replied when his brother said that these people 'fooled' him, "They didn't fool me. They just told me things I didn't care to question."

It's a fascinating story from the age of social networking that everyone needs to see, especially young people who often have more intense relationships with people online than they ever will with people they see everyday. That is just the nature of the technology we have access too. It's too bad that sometimes using that technology puts us into a position to get hurt.