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| Nev Schulmann, Catfish host, and a literal catfish |
But this fall, one reality show caught my eye, and not just for
the shock value. Catfish: The TV Show chronicles young women and men who have
“fallen in love” over the internet, but have never met face to face. And, more
often than not, have fallen for a big fat lie. Out of the ten episodes that
have aired thus far (the season finale is next Monday, Feb. 18), nine of the
lovers have been catfished (that is, misled about someone’s identity). As you
can imagine, these potential romances don’t end happily—especially not when
football-bro Tyler finds out that the “love of his life” Amanda is actually
Aaron. Or when Sunny, a sweet sorority sister expects hunky model Jamison to
propose to her and is instead greeted by Chelsea.
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| Matt & Kim |
Not all the reveals are so dramatic—for example, in episode
three, Matt was afraid to show Kim current pictures of himself because he
currently weighs around 500 pounds. His Facebook featured photos of him from
high school when he was much slimmer. So he wasn’t really lying, right? Or Trina and Scorpio in episode two. Trina
thinks she’s meeting this hot exotic dancer named Scorpio. Really, she meets
Lee, a sweet man who is just way too shy to put himself out there.
The question remains: are these people lying? Sure, they are
using fake photos, sometimes even fake names, but they are still projecting
their personality. (Well, except for “Mike” who was really an evil witch named Mhissy who for some great reason I’m sure, spent two years of her life deceiving Jasmine.) And when the couples
meet, this sentiment shines through—“well I know I look different, but I’m
still me!”
I think most people’s reaction to this would be to say yes absolutely these people are lying. But…
isn’t every Facebook profile in some sense a lie? When you and your best
girlfriend decide it would be funny to be “Facebook married,” aren’t you lying?
My Facebook profile is just a glorified representation of
who I want people to think that I am.
For example, the last place I checked in was Tryon Creek Bar. I’ve only been
there once, and I was only there for maybe an hour, but I still checked
in—because I wanted people to know. I have tons of tagged photos and I’d say
that if you looked through them, you’d get a pretty good idea of what I look
like, but wouldn’t I still look different in person? What if I made my profile
picture a photo of Taylor Swift? To me, it seems obvious that no one would
believe that was me, but can we assume that everyone
would recognize that?
Maybe I’m reaching a bit, but I think people are far too
quick to draw assumptions about these catfishers. When you really think about it, we are all catfishers, standing around some
digital pond fishing for people we want to impress with our Internet presence.
In general, it seems that people are quick to denounce
online dating, stigmatizing it. But how many of you have OkCupid profiles?
Trust me, I know you do, because when I helped my housemate make one last
weekend I saw all of you on there.
Sure you “just have it, don’t use it” but it is still there. And when you
really think about it, haven’t we all “met someone” online? What’s more,
haven’t we all met someone “in real life” that we originally interacted with
online (I’m looking at you, people who took part in the pre-matriculationFacebook groups)?
As someone who has met three of my SO’s on the Internet, I’m
a huge proponent of online dating. I’m too straight up for all this, “does he
like me, will he be at the party?” crap.
Online dating, for me, has allowed me to represent myself in a way that
I can control and I can filter the people that seem to be interested in me. A year
after deleting my OkCupid profile, I am still happily committed to someone I
met on that site. Neither of us lied, but maybe we’re a minority.
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| True life: I met Christian online and he was not a creepy stalker or serial murderer |
Still, I wouldn’t blame the liars. Poor Matt, who wants to
date a 500-pound guy? In our society—no one, not even Kim. Poor Ja’Mari, he
only lied about his name because he was falsely accused of stealing a city bus
and didn’t want Rico to know. Sigh. You’ll find love someday guys.
And Catfishing isn't reserved for socially-unaware dolts who can't seem to utilize Skype. I mean, just look at Notre Dame football player Manti T'eo.
I recommend Catfish:
The TV Show. Even though the hosts can get pretty annoying and sometimes
you just want to yell at the people because how
could you be so dumb, it makes
you think.
Or, just watch this parody… it is pretty spot on:
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