Over the past six months, Row Three has been home to one of the webs most extensive and quite frankly astounding discussions about the authenticity of the film Catfish. Since Mike Rot posted his article in October entitled “Catfish: Why the Hoax is Probably Fake”, the debate has gone back and forth between Row Three writers and a group of dedicated readers, racking up nearly seventy thousand words worth of research and discussion in the comments section (the equivalent, according to one reader, of about four to five hours worth of reading material). With that in mind, I thought the following piece of news would be of particular interest.
According to Variety:
“MTV and RelativityReal are developing a reality show based on the docu “Catfish”…[the] pilot is still in its early stages, but would likely focus on social network users who purposely misidentify themselves and the repercussions that occur. The creative team from “Catfish” would be involved in the project.”
For those of you who don’t know, Catfish follows a New York photographer named Nev Schulman who enters into an online relationship with a girl from Michigan, only to find out that the girl has been less than truthful about certain elements of her life. The film was sold as a documentary, but since its release has faced consistent questions as to its authenticity (despite the fact the filmmakers have maintained that the events the film depicts are all true). In addition to provoking one of Row Three’s longest ongoing comment threads, the movie appeared on several of our end of year top ten lists (it would have made mine too, had I seen it before those lists were published).
As for this reality show; I’m not a fan of reality TV at the best of times, so I was never going to look on this news in a particularly positive light. Given how much I liked the film, and considering that the above quote makes it seem like the similarities between the two projects are tangential at best, I sort of wish they weren’t associating Catfish with the program at all. With that said, I’ll throw any further commentary over to the real expects.
Well Aquaman? Ms Curious? How do you feel about this latest development? Are you looking forward to the opportunity for additional debate, or do you find yourself wishing this news was just a hoax?
I heard this news on April 1st and thought it was a joke. I guess its a topic that could bring up some interesting stories, but I don’t like the idea of marketing it as a spinoff. It sort if cheapens the film for me.
From my perspective the film makers are riding this one all the way to the bank, with little concern as to how a reality show of this nature will impact on any credibility the film might have or on their credibility as film makers. David you wrote: ‘I don’t like the idea of marketing it as a spinoff. It sort if cheapens the film for me’.
I agree with you.
When they were in Australia, Nev was interviewed on a show called ‘Sunrise’ and mention was made then of the planned reality show. From what I recall Nev pitched this at that point as a show about bringing people together (something about seeing if the romance on line measures up when the two parties are brought together in real life). However, now it seems via the ‘Variety’ snippet, that it’s going to be something akin to a show in the USA called ‘Cheaters’. The host/s attempt to catch the party out ‘cheating’. In this case presumably, catch out the ‘social networker’ who’s ‘misidentified themselves’.
Mmmm..if this be the case, then things could get quite ugly. How many other sad, lonely individuals will be brought out into the spotlight? I’m not condoning deliberately misrepresenting oneself via social networking, however I’m not very keen to see the results of a deliberate attempt to trap people and for what purpose? Entertainment and money…mmm….a bit ugly.
Angela’s actions were forgivable because there did not appear to be any malice in her contact with Nev. It transpired that her life was very difficult and she’d chosen this contact/deception as a form of escape.
‘Catfish’ slips under the moral radar to a degree because ‘initially’ it doesn’t appear that the film makers set out to ‘trap’ anyone, though I still believe they eventually deliberately led Angela on for the sake of making a film. On a positive note the film did expose Angela’s talent as an artist.
The real irony is that they’ve got plans for a ‘reality’ show, when there’s so much debate about the ‘reality’ of the film. As you point out David, ‘the film was sold as a documentary’ and the debate surrounding this claim has brought forward numerous aspects which challenge the legitimacy of this claim. I so would have preferred some kind of ‘proper’ response from the film makers in respect to the numerous inconsistencies that have been detected.
Despite everything, the film remains quite beautiful to me. Angela emerges looking heroic, genuine and her talents are revealed. I hope those who appear in the reality show aren’t left with deep scars for the sake of trite commercialism and profit.
Finally, it’s a bit of a shame that as film makers they’ve taken the road of reality show and haven’t embarked on a new film project. Mmmm…one can only speculate as to why…
Oh….BTW….my source tells me one of the main interviewers/hosts for the realtiy show is in fact ‘at this stage’ someone from the film (and I’m not referring to any of the film makers or Angela)! mmmmm….?
Guess, we’ll have to wait and see. Based on what I’ve found out today, I think we’re all in for a real surprise!
I sttill hold firm to my earlier post, and do not think that this whole ‘reality show’ trail was the ‘right’ way to go….
mmmmm……money it would seem, comprimises not only people, but also art. Is nothing untouchable?
Mmmm….the irony…’Paranormal Activity 3′ …with the same guys as ‘Catifsh’. Talk about sell outs! If anyone needed to produce or direct something with real kudos it was these guys…but no instead they’re involved with ‘Paranormal ..3′ a mockumentary…
I see this as so IRONIC it’s not funny!
Yep, I’ve got it. Fakery is their main style. No wonder Angela doesn’t keep in touch with them anymore. What sell outs these dudes are!!! Credibilitly at zero…now.
I can’t believe anyone thinks any part of this film is real. While minor and major online fakery happens regularly the chances of such a perfect example of it colliding with 3 US film makers who specialise in mocumentaries and a neat fishing anecdote in time for a film festival is unlikely to say the least.
The reason some of the acting seems contrived is because it is. The reason there are editing and continuity mistakes is because it’s a low-budget film. The reason they seem to know the dancers and song writers and locations is because they do. The reason Angela hasn’t done many interviews is because she’s an actress who was hoping for a break, but now has to lay low until the franchise has been fully milked. The reason there’s no wheelchair ramp on the porch, no adapted vehicle in the drive and nobody in her home town knows her is because she doesn’t live there. The reason we can hear Abbie on the phone while Nev says he can’t is because there’s a sound engineer.
The reason the film’s producers protest their innocence while scratching their noses and rubbing the backs of their necks in an anxious way is because they’re pretending, aren’t particularly nice guys and didn’t realise it was going to be so popular and it would get quite this awkward, the reason journalists don’t press the issue is because they don’t want to spoil the mythology – yet. The reason the director is moving onto Paranormal Activity is because Catfish was his audition for it.
Obviously, controversy about the veracity of the film was the intention and is a plot framing device for the central question of reality vs fantasy in the film and beyond the film.