Reality as we know it (as in secondlife.com; reality TV; virtual-reality) has acquired a mystical quality of late. The last century has shown that history, geography, even physics cannot and should not be absolutized. We take for granted now, most everything can be deconstructed and variously interpreted. Peeling away the layers of reality, we find an unknowable core.
OK that was a pretty grand introduction to what amounts to be a movie preview. The "reality thriller" Catfish tells a stranger-than-fiction story of a photographer's interaction with a Facebook fan. Whether or how much this story is contrived is not as important to us as what it tells us about the world we live in.
You could watch Catfish as a cautionary tale against the dangers of internet; critique it for how much spin can go into a supposed "documentary"; or get more evidence for how messed up people can be. For my money, I intend on enjoying the movie as the latest entry into the genre of un-fiction, telling a story neither for its factual value nor to transport the audience to an altogether alien world, but engaging the viewer by being both fiction and non-fiction.
This makes me think of the whole Joaquin Phoenix retires-from-acting-to-pursue hip-hop hoax. Yes, hoax. You must have seen/heard about this? Casey Affleck made a "documentary" about Joaquin Phoenix's transition to hip hop which turned out to be a 2 year long piece of performance art, basically, in order to make this film. I haven't seen the movie yet but I want to. I think it's brilliant. Joaquin Phoenix never did any interviews for 2 years. He became this "character" of himself for 2 YEARS! Casey Affleck said the whole thing wasn't meant to be a trick but to make something to say something about reality and fiction. People believe anything if it's labeled "reality" on TV. It makes me wonder how much of what we watch is, in reality, a performance or a hoax.
ReplyDeleteHey Juanita!
ReplyDeleteSeems to me Casey is making a even stronger statement than just "careful what you think is true." If Joaquin Phoenix spent two years in a role, wasn't he actually a hiphop artist during that time? especially if he was any good at it...
I don't know how much hip hop he actually did or shows or whatever...but are you saying what is fake but portrayed as real is really real even though it's fake?
ReplyDelete