The
internet world resembles a cave like in “The Allegory of The Cave” by Plato.
The prisoners in the cave resemble everyone on the internet. The shadows that the
prisoners are seeing and perceiving as reality are like the world we perceive
on the internet. We believe that the world we are seeing on the internet is
reality until we experience it in real life. When the prisoner escapes from the
cave and learns the reality of the world, he is very confused and it takes time
to readjust to the world as fact. In “Catfish: the Movie,” it takes time for
Nev to understand that the internet reality he has been experiencing is not the
true reality.
The
internet is a fast world of false realities that many people fall into. It connects
almost everyone in the world to each other and information is limitless. However,
with this access to information and to other people, you will find those people
who are not honest and abuse the information available. Nev experienced this
first hand and his brother Rel filmed it in “Catfish: the Movie.” Nev began a
relationship with a woman he met online. This woman, Angela, used the
information on the internet to make a fake profile to connect with Nev. She
used photos, videos, music, and art that she found online to make her profile
as believable as possible. Nev believed her. The profile that Nev saw was like
the shadows in the cave; he believed what he was seeing and experiencing. Nev
slowly began to discover the truth. Like the freed prisoner, it took time for
him to understanding the true reality of the “Facebook Family.” He now helps
other through “Catfish: the TV Show.” In this show, he helps people who are experiencing
the same thing he did. When he tries to tell other that the online reality is
not a real reality, they do not believe him. This situation is like the freed
prisoner returning to the cave and attempting to explain to the other prisoners
what the real world is like and that the shadows they see are not actually true
reality.
The
internet acts as a vale for people to hide behind and the movie shows the truth
behind those who use it. Herzog addresses the differences in ecstatic truth and
absolute truth in his essay, “On the Absolute, the Sublime, and the Ecstatic
Truth.” Ecstatic truth is defined as the experience of truth that brings people
out of themselves. Absolute truth is the truth that is always true. The movie
shows the ecstatic truth of the internet. Herzog does not agree with Plato’s
idea of simple reality being the absolute truth. Herzog’s idea is strengthened
with the internet and the ways it can be used that are shown in “Catfish: the
Movie.”
I definitely think Catfish is great for experiencing the truth of the internet. It really shows you how much you have to pay attention while surfing online, you know? It takes all our preconceived ideas and twists them around. In person it is fairly hard to lie about your life. You can say you work for some huge company, but all it takes is one person seeing you, and suddenly your lie is exposed. When the internet became a thing, people had that similar notion. Who in the world would lie about simple things like their looks or their backstory? Yet, as Nev found out, it's fairly common. There are even people that claim to be in terrible situations (e.g., having cancer or brain tumors) that turn out to be lying about their predicament.
ReplyDeleteWe all want to believe no one will lie, but that's because we refuse to look at the truth. Not all humans are nice and that's just the truth. They're not going to take the moral high ground and refuse to lie, especially online. Being online gives you a platform where you are no longer required to be yourself. The internet is definitely a scary place as much as it is beautiful. Maybe that's the point of it, though. We need Catfish to show us the ecstatic truth rather than hiding behind the bubble we all love to camp out in.
This was an excellent connection to "The Allegory of the Cave". The notion of these people like Nev being trapped in their own belief and limited perception feels right on the nose. It feels like it is completely natural to believe in what is presented to you, especially if you like the reality that is being presented. We have to trust in order to function in social groups and we typically hope that good things will or are happening to us. Nev most likely would rather have the Angela presented to him that he felt he had established a connection with be real but it is not.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why connecting the movie with the Allegory of the Cave is even more apt. The allegory ultimately allows for the discovery of what is actually real. For better or worse the people in the cave are forced to accept this be cause their perspective has been widened and they can not simply go back no matter what they want. Neither can Nev, once he knows the truth he can not simply ignore it
This post is something that speaks to me because one of my biggest pet peeves is when people believe whatever they see online. Everyone knows not to believe everything they see on TV so the same thing should be applied to social media/internet. Now using the internet can be a viable source of information, but people should be skeptical at first when reading something. This is especially true as time goes on because the world is becoming more and more digital.
ReplyDelete