Catfish Review

Catfish shows some interesting themes and moments throughout, however it fails to make a big enough splash to catch a variety of movie goers’ interests. As documentaries seem to be losing popularity in today’s world and mockumentaries seeming to be gaining recognition, Catfish is no exception. In many instances there are unneeded parts included; such as pauses, camera flaws and stuttering that can be easily avoided in a mockumentary. Along with the imperfections in the delivery come a strange plot line and overall a pretty flat ending. In all, the movie showed some promise, but the verdict comes to be a pass because of these imperfections throughout.

            This 2010 film by filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost contains a 24 year old photographer who gets a request from an eight year old girl to paint pictures of his photographs. Accepting her request, Nev, the star of the film begins a trip ending in Northern Michigan where he is determined to discover the truth on who he has not only been trading art with but who he has had a relationship with the last few months. The film continues with multiple twists and turns in relation to these plot points.

            Nev is the main character of the movie; he is a photographer who takes pictures of dance in his hometown of New York. Abby is the eight year old “painter” who asks Nev if she can make paintings of his art. Megan is Nev’s “girlfriend” who he frequently texts, messages and even talks to over the phone. Angela is Megan and Abby’s mom; she is in contact with Nev for the most part and is the messenger between her and Abby.

            The most important idea in the film was the idea of Catfish. The basic idea of Catfish is that some people or things in life are just there to keep you fresh, keep you always thinking and occupied. After watching the film, it becomes clearer who the “Catfish” is. There are multiple perspectives to the film however; it seems that everyone watching it feels something different. This film ties in interesting ideas and plot twists to show how social media can be great but also very deceptive.

            Overall, I would recommend this film to younger technology involved people if at all. I think that some of the lessons in the movie can be very rewarding but it doesn’t have much more than that to offer. It doesn’t have quite enough action to satisfy someone in that category but also lacks the “epiphany” moment of a successful mystery. Overall it was about middle of the road for action and suspense, below average in quality and presentation but did contain an important lesson that should be heard by lots of American youth and teenagers.

movie part 3

Overall I'm not sure who I feel bad for more. The obvious answer is Nev but if you think about it a little more, it might be Angela. She seemed to fail to achieve the things that shes wanted most in life, and seems to be almost completetly unhappy. This gives her no right to do what she did to Nev its just something to consider. I feel bad for Nev as well however I dont think something like this should go on for this long without ever meeting. In all i thought the movie was good, it shows people how meeting online can be bad and how meeting people overall has changed.

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So far, I think the movie is really weird. Its interesting how the people believe someone is someone else and turns out that its someone completetly different. I think the woman has created all of these profiles around Nev.

Catish Response Part 1

The first part of the movie in my opinion was interesting. I thought it really showed how Facebook and the internet can connect people. It was weird how they had a full relationship without ever meeting. At the end of the first part, when they found out the music was fake, and the "gallery" was fake it started to get weird.

Implications of the increasingly widespread use of social media
The affects of widespread social media in the U.S. and in the world in general are a large topic of debate in today’s everyday life. It’s hard to go even one day without hearing something on T.V. or reading an article online on how social media is affecting someone around the world. Many times these are positives, such as how the job market is benefiting from sites such as “LinkedIn”. Other times we hear the negatives of social media like job firings and internet predators. One thing is certain, social media is a massive and growing obsession around the world and I think we can say that it’s mostly for the best.
When we think of the ideal way to get a job, many of us see going around the mall or places of interest and asking for applications. This requires the prospective employee to look for jobs that he/she might be skilled in. With social media today, it’s not uncommon for employers to search for employees that they should hire. This is one way that an employer can find specifically who they want and chose from a larger selection than just those who submit an application. Another way the job market and economics in general are being affected by social media is through profiles such as a “Facebook” or a “Twitter” account. A well known example is how multiple professional athletes have been fined for “Tweeting” (most famously Chad Ochocinco) during their sporting event. The NFL even put in place a rule saying that it is not allowed.
Another hotly debated topic regarding social media in today’s world is privacy. There are many who are against social media in general based of the sole idea of privacy. Myspace and Facebook do have privacy policies but how far do those go? Many if asked will say that they “friend” many people that they do not know very well in person and in many cases have never spoken to. Privacy expert William Malcolm of Pinsent Masons law firm brought up an important concern about personal information when he said: “Who am I sharing this information with?” Many times your information is being shared with many more people than you think. Although there are breaches of privacy in social networking there are some positives. Finding a coworkers or classmates e-mail address for example over facebook could mean the success or failure of an important project. Also providing friends or acquaintances with a bio of yourself can tell them a little about you that they wouldn’t have known otherwise, but that another idea.
Overall we can all agree that social media has taken over the electronic and entertainment world of today. Whether it’s on T.V., in a movie on the radio or in a magazine you cannot go a day in today’s world without social media coming up. Some would argue that it is a breach of privacy and a negative on the economy and people’s lives. I believe that although this is somewhat true, social media is a good thing based off of some of the same points. Although there can be negative breaches of privacy once in a while, much more often your name will get out in a positive way via social media. And although it can get you fired by “Tweeting” something negative, the job market and economy is much better off with all of the advertising on these sites.