Due to the sporadic amounts of time-not-devoted-to-finals I'm going to have in the next few weeks, I'm going to have to break up this post into parts (fragments, if you will). I'd like to take a moment to talk about the 2010 film Catfish. I'll try not to spoil anything.
The documentary follows Nev Schulman, a photographer who begins an online relationship with a girl from another state. His brother Ariel films Nev's budding romance, as well as suspicions that things are not what they seem.
What interests me the most about this film is the "Is it real?" debate surrounding it. Catfish was entered into Sundance as a documentary, and though some insist that it is a fabricated "mockumentary," the film's creators defend it as a true story. There's an interesting parallel there to the content of the film--doubting the story you are receiving, not knowing how much of what you're hearing is true. In the film, Nev begins to believe he is being lied to; how interesting would it be if he were also lying to us?
This brings to mind the notion of truth and the master narrative, or lack thereof, in the postmodern world. The line between fact and fiction is blurred, both within the film and in discussing the film itself. There are other postmodern concepts within the film as well: Nev and his love interest Megan's interactions are mediated by phone calls and emails, depersonalizing their relationship.
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More to come!
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