Catfish

The documentary Catfish was the most enjoyable video we've watched this semester in my opinion. The movie provides an excellent example of fraud over the internet and how who we communicate with over the internet may not be who he or she appears to be. The film follows a man Nev who receives paintings presumably by a young girl. He is impressed with her work and eventually ends up in contact with the girl's mother via phone, as well as an online fling with the girl's older sister who is around Nev's age.

However, as the movie goes on, it becomes increasingly evident to Nev, his brother filming the documentary, and the viewers that something about the family is off. The girl's (Abby) older sister Megan has a crush on Nev and they communicate primarily through Facebook but also through text messaging. He pursues the relationship. She claims to be a musician and sends him songs, but he eventually discovers that none of the songs are her original work. Nev's team goes to Megan's home to investigate, but nobody lives there. They then go to the town that the family supposedly lives in. The art gallery where Abby is supposed to have her work being displayed is clearly empty. They arrive at the house, where Nev finally meets Abby, who is almost entirely disinterested in art, clearly showing that she could not have made the artwork that Nev finds so appealing. It turns out that Abby's mother Angela has fabricated the whole story. She was the one who made all of the paintings and made up Megan's life. Megan is a real person but is in alcohol rehab. Her facebook friends had their pictures taken from Angela is married and her husband's two children are both mentally disabled. It turns out at the end of the film that the truths Angela revealed are even lies themselves, for example, Megan TOTALLY does not exist and her facebook pictures were of a random model halfway across the country. Nev at no point in the movie appeared to be really upset with her (although he was upset at Megan not existing), his view is more sympathetic as opposed to angry (which many people would be, understandably). At the end of the movie, it is stated that Nev continues to be friends with Angela on facebook, suggesting that they may still be in contact. Angela did what she did because she was depressed and unsatisfied with the life she was living, having to sacrifice a lot to keep her medium sized family together.

The movie portrays the themes such as democratization of the web and web 2.0 very well. For democratization of the web, a "common" woman is able to create multiple different people that don't exist in real life and fully convince somebody that a girl exists and wants to be in a relationship with him. If she can do it, why not anyone with access to a computer (or even a smart phone)? This is evident in everyday society on the internet. For example, on Twitter, due to the potential of impersonation accounts, celebrities have to be verified by Twitter in order to gain a seal of approval. This seal is displayed next to their name on their twitter page. If this practice didn't exist, anybody can impersonate a celebrity whether it's Justin Bieber or the president. The check seal can be seen next to Obama's name here. Facebook currently has no such safeguards, leading to some impersonation profiles for famous musicians, actors, etc. One of my favorite singers has at least 10 profiles on Facebook even though he maintains an "official" fan page.

Profiles such as these may cause slight irritation to people who are duped if they believed it was the actual person then find out the truth. However, a more dangerous reality is if someone who is, for example, a sexual predator, pretends to be somebody they're not (like a 14 year old girl) and associates with young children. This is something that has happened way too many times in the past and now police departments have even set up sting operations where undercover cops bait would-be predators to a home to be arrested (as shown on To Catch a Predator).

Ultimately, Catfish proves that one should not always be immediately trusting of what they see online. The variety of web 2.0 tools at our disposal today, whether it's Facebook, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, etc. make it all too easy to create somebody who doesn't exist and use that imaginary person to one's advantage.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The mysterious Banksys' 2010 "documentary" Exit Through the Gift Shop documents the life of one Thierry Guetta as he works to establish himself as a legitimate street artist. Gueretta finds out that his cousin is Invader, an infamous street artist known for making mosaics of characters from the classic game Space Invaders (good game...). Guetta, who already has a habit of filming seemingly his entire daily life, is newly fascinated with street art and eventually comes to meeting the infamous street artist Banksy. After filming some of Banksys exploits, Guetta assembles a horrible 90 minute film deemed as "unwatchable." Guetta takes on the role of being a street artist, adopting the name "Mr. Brainwash." The film ends with Guetta opening an art exhibit and selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of his newly created art. Guetta's credibility as an artist is a topic of dispute considering he has no original style (he rips off of the various street artists he has watched do their work) and had his paid assistants create much of his ideas as well as the gallery he exhibits.

Street art is illegal in nearly every place it exists, and I believe that its illegal status strengthens the meaning of the work. As shown in Exit Through the Gift Shop, a lot of street art shows rebellious cultural or political themes. A lot of street artists are anonymous (such as Banksy) and work in the cover of night, which I think adds a mysterious element to them and their artwork. The fact that street art is mostly illegal, especially works that are politically or socially suggestive (the series of "OBEY" works) give the works a sense of rebellion and any attempts to remove them reinforces the point(s) that they are trying to make. Banksy's Guantanamo Bay prisoner at the amusement park's roller coaster was a very disruptive work that despite posting no obvious safety hazards caused Guetta to be interrogated by security, possibly because prisoner treatment there is a controversial issue. Additionally, street art is a unique form of art; it is more of a low-production value form of art as opposed to a professional sculpter, drawer, or painter. It's something that almost anyone can do (as long as you are willing to deal with the consequences if caught).

Banksy's anonymity I feel adds two certain elements to his work. The anti-war themes he exhibits in his work and his anonymity combine to give a feeling that he is staying anonymous because he is afraid of getting into trouble with the law (metaphorically speaking, as there is nothing wrong with the messages he conveys due to freedom of speech). The fact that he is anonymous also suggests that any one of us can be Banksy. There doesn't need to be any form of art school or professional training or artistic talent inside of us, all we need are some materials, an idea, and a building to put it on for us to be Banksy. He is a powerful voice without an identity.

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