"Catfish" is the Millennial Answer to Whodunits
MTV
Agatha Christie has been my newfound obsession for the past year. I’ve now read four of her books and bought two more, because the woman was a master of the whodunit genre. Whodunits are stories about a murder in which the identity of the murderer is not revealed until the end. Modern day mystery fiction is marred by intense character development for the main sleuth at the expense of the mystery, but Christie only cared about the who, what, where, and how. Increasingly the millennial generation craves a good mystery, and almost in direct response a show was started in 2012 that would change views on Internet dating and what constitutes a shocking reveal.
Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman started filming Nev Schulman (Ariel’s brother) sometime in 2008 or 2009, after an eight year old in Michigan sent a painting representing one of the Nev’s online photos. He then developed a friendship with her, her parents, and her older sister, Megan Faccio, all of which took place online. Nev and Megan fell in love, but when Nev found Megan’s pictures under a different name the filmmakers became suspicious, even driving to Michigan to confront the person behind the profile. They soon learned that an older woman is behind all the family accounts and that she has lied to Nev about almost everything. The subsequent documentary was named Catfish, nomenclature that would have a life of its own in the years to come. The doc was released in 2010, which spawned Catfish: The TV Show (2012-present) on MTV.
Catfishing is defined as a type of deceptive activity involving a person creating a fake social networking presence for nefarious purposes. While the original film is very dark and delves into the psychological and monetary reasons for catfishing someone, the show is a fair balance between light banter between all involved, and a redemptive and therapeutic experience for both victim and culprit. Every episode features a solid mystery as to who is the catfish behind the mask, and what their purposes are in the already established relationship. Often these relationships are romantic, and lend to a lot of heartache. The stakes are always high, and it’s up to Nev and Max to solve these mysteries, generally by using Google
Whodunits' main purpose is finding out the true identity of the murderer at the end. Without that reveal the story is not a whodunit. Catfish operates in the exact same way. Even when there are insurmountable odds, Nev and Max always find the true identity of the catfish, whether that means setting up a meeting, or chasing them down through an Alaskan fishing town (which really happened in one episode). Generally their main job is to investigate and facilitate a meeting between the two parties, and finally mediate the tensions that so often arise. For the most part I think both do a great job at each of these tasks. Most of the investigation is pretty straightforward: Googling phone numbers, image searching the pictures used, and crawling through Facebook friends to find out if the mask is just that. Creating a dialogue during the final reveal is Catfish’s greatest accomplishment, and is the bane of its existence.
This is also a great show because many of the catfish that are unmasked are dealing with trauma, issues with identity politics, being closeted, having poor body image, or have a lack of opportunities in their life. Many of the people who contact the show aren’t able to meet their special someone because they are working poor or single moms, or have a disability and are unable to make a meeting happen. These victims are often vulnerable to heartbreak, making them perfect targets for catfish who either use them for a joke, to gain their friendship, or for a fantasy romance steeped in lies
Honestly, Nev Schulman and Max Joseph are two strangely wholesome presences and without them the show wouldn’t work as well as it does. They have changed throughout the show’s seasons, based on their experiences. While they are naively optimistic in the earlier seasons, now in season six Max is completely skeptical of anyone who doesn’t use their phone or camera, and often tries to tamp down expectations for many of the people he helps. The two have a lot of fun creating these investigations together and often help the victims through mediation, some forms of counseling, and having an open dialogue, which remains an important asset.
Sometimes the duo tackle such immensely crazy reveals that they aren’t prepared for the outcomes afterwards. The first season featured a woman catfishing her ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend for multiple years and was completely unapologetic about it. Another episode they became convinced that a guy from a Podunk town really was talking to Miss. America, only to find it was one of his female friends. Sometimes they themselves get tricked by the victim. One episode even tackled whether a medium was really talking to a stranger's dead father, who she had never met in real life.
The reveal is everything. It’s the capper that changes the narrative instantly. We go from a possible first meeting for two people with a deep connection, to an in-depth look at the motivations of the culprit. The show ends there for mystery fans, and continues for those who want to further understand the human machinations of the fabricated accounts, to understand why people pretend to be somebody else. Millennials especially care, because we’re all trying to hide ourselves in one way or another. A lot of us simply hide the bad, while others create completely false narratives.
Authenticity matters. Millennials value it as its own commodity, which is why Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express has been adapted for the screen once more, and why Nev and Max will probably be on planes crossing the country every week for several years to come. We want to know that something is real, that the person we know is the person we know. Whodunits strive for authenticity, for authorship in our lives, and Catfish strives to let us do it from behind a computer screen.
