Film Analysis 2

The film Catfish was a very unique film, showing the main character Nev, and the process of him being catfished. He was essentially baited into liking this “young” woman named Megan but found peculiar clues throughout the movie leading towards his discovery that she was in fact being fabricated. In this paper, I will discuss how the actual woman, Angela, manipulated technology, fabricated a fake impression, and pursued a relationship with Nev to fulfill her relational needs.
Nev was originally connected to this family from Angela’s daughter, named Abby. Abby was known for her artwork, which Nev later discovered was not entirely truthful. Throughout the entire exchange between Angela and Nev, Angela used technology to her advantage, while Nev was facing the limitations of technology. In Angela’s case, using a phone or social media technology channel with Nev worked perfectly, because she never had to show her face or anyone else’s face. She could stay behind a screen and use various voices to make Nev believe something that wasn’t real was indeed real. On the other hand, Nev struggled with this, going as far as to actually develop feelings for Megan, who wasn’t actually real.
Going along the same lines as the technology communication channel, Angela was able to form a very strong first impression with Nev. Having already gone back and forth a couple of times with Abby, Nev finally was able to talk to Angela on the phone. After the exchange, he comments on how chill and down to earth Angela seems, which gives him a very strong impression of the family as a whole. In our textbook, we read about the primacy effect, which states that something experienced first is what we remember or what sticks with us over time. In the case of Nev, this first impression certainly did that.
Using the strong first impression Angela formed and her technological communication channels, she was able to pursue a relationship with Nev. This, of course, was her ultimate goal. She was using this entire process as a means to fulfill her relational needs. To get Nev to develop feelings for her, she faked a voice for talking on the phone, created a fake Facebook account, along with fake pictures. Nev was led to believe that he was pursuing a very attractive young female, with an aspiring musical career. However, she began sending Nev “cover songs” which in fact, were actually cover songs, just not hers. All it took was a quick YouTube search to discover they were as well fake. Nev picked up on all of the peculiar lies, and discovered he was being catfished.
All in all, Catfish was a very good film, which documented a unique experience of a woman going to great lengths to pursue a relationship with a young man. Angela manipulated her technological communication channels, fabricated a good first impression, and pursued a relationship with Nev to fulfill her relational needs.