Communicating with people online has become a norm in this day of age, but does it come at a price? The 2010 film Catfish depicts how many online communications are not always what they seem to be. Main character, Nev Schulman begins an online friendship with an eight year old girl named Abby and the rest of her family. Nev soon gets involved with one of Abby’s siblings named Megan and develops feelings for her. Little did he know, but soon found out, Megan wasn’t real and Nev has been talking to Abby’s mom, Angela, the entire time with a few extra lies that were encountered on the way. Throughout the film Catfish, the main character Nev routinely dismissed the results he received by the critical listening tool of skepticism and credibility, yielding to the constructs of image management as intended by the character Angela.
The first communication concept that was used by Nev that influenced him and Angela’s relationship was skepticism. In the Communication Matters textbook on page 144, skepticism is defined as “an attitude that includes raising questions or having doubts— isn't about being cynical or finding fault; it’s abut evaluating the evidence for a stated claim.” The first sign that made Nev begin to become skeptical about Angela was when Abby was never available to talk on the phone. This made Nev a little curious. The next sign was when Nev looked up the building that Abby had bought to showcase her artwork because he wanted to attend one. He found out the building was abandoned and still on the market. Now, Nev’s skepticism was very high. After this sign, he knew he needed to go visit and find out the truth.
The second communication concept that was used by Nev that influenced him and Angela’s relationship was credibility. In the Communication Matters textbook found on page 87, credibility is defined as “the extent to which others perceive us to be competent and trustworthy.” Throughout the film, the credibility Nev gave Angela changed drastically from beginning to end. In the beginning Nev trusted Angela to the fullest about everything she said since Angela was very good at managing her image. Towards the end of the film her credibility dropped after Nev found out the entire truth and the real story. After that, he knew she couldn't be trusted anymore.
The final communication concept that was used by Angela to influence her and Nev’s relationship was image management. In the Communication Matters textbook found on page 71, Image management is defined as “the process of behavioral adjustments to project a desired image.” Angela used exactly that to create an entire imaginative world that was made to be true. She first began her fake story by sending paintings to Nev that were supposedly painted by her daughter, Abby. Next, she created a fake Facebook page for her attractive daughter, Megan, in order to get Nev interested in her. She also created many other fake Facebook pages for each of Megan’s friends as well to make it much more believable. Angela wanted Nev to see her as something she wasn’t. She needed to manage her image in order for this persuasion to work.
In conclusion, throughout the film Catfish, the main character Nev routinely dismissed the results he received by the critical listening tool of skepticism and credibility, yielding to the constructs of image management as intended by the character Angela. Skepticism was used by Nev in order to figure out if Angela’s story was true. Credibility was used by Nev and drastically changed from the beginning of the film to the end. Lastly, image management was used by Angela in order to get Nev to perceive her as the way she wanted to be seen.
