‘Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara’ evaluate: A real crime doc about poisonous fandom

Catfishing is maybe the one place the work of Tegan and Sara and Erin Lee Carr might collide. In any case, the previous are a Canadian indie pop duo and the latter is a real crime documentarian. Whereas the titular twin singer/songwriters ship lovely and achingly catchy songs about break-ups and sapphic craving, the latter filmmaker has explored the darkish depths of surprising instances just like the Bling Ring thieving spree, the despised “cannibal cop,” the homicide of the infamous DeeDee Blanchard. 

In Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, the musicians and the moviemaker come collectively to research a case that is much less violent, however nonetheless haunting. In search of to catch the hacker/catfish that has been toying with the hearts and minds of the band’s followers for 16 years, what’s uncovered is the place the highs and lows of web fandom collide with the fragile underbelly of celeb.

Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara permits us to come back just a little nearer

This intriguing documentary takes audiences again to the late 2000s, when Tegan and Sara Quin had been on the rise as artists, as was social media. The place the band — and the outgoing Tegan particularly — used to make an look on the merch desk or stroll the road of followers ready to enter the venue to present autographs and selfies, they may now work together on message boards, Tumblr, LastFM, and Fb. However over 16 years, many followers have found that the Tegan they thought they had been speaking to was an impostor, masquerading because the pop star for causes all their very own. 

Carr steps out from behind the digital camera right here, participating onscreen with Tegan (and to a lesser diploma Sara) in addition to victims who’ve come forth to share their tales. Shared amongst these ladies is a superb emotional intelligence, as they reveal their damage whereas recognizing the painful experiences of others. As Carr has for tabloid-favorite killers and victims, she extends a profound empathy to her topics that gives a supportive house for folks admitting they’d fallen for the con. A few of them thought they’d made a cool new pal — who was a pop star! Others believed they had been in a secret romance with one. All had been tricked by Pretend Tegan, or “Fegan” as they’re referred to within the doc, whereas the investigative crew tracks them down.

For the primary time, Tegan herself speaks out on the catfishing, and the way it’s impacted her personally. And that is the movie’s strongest revelation. 

In Fanatical, Tegan Quin shares the ache of poisonous fandom

Tegan is fast to level out that a lot of her fanbase is fantastic, supporting her music and one another. Nevertheless, she additionally makes clear there is a horrid darkish aspect for public figures, maybe particularly once they’re queer. Followers tackle a way of possession over a star that may flip judgemental and even scary. 

For Tegan, the information of the catfishing was a penetrating betrayal, making her doubt her mates and self. Because the catfisher(s) had accessed personal images, unreleased demo tracks, and even private household information, she started to fret if somebody she beloved had turned on her — or if giving a lot consideration to her followers had enabled this catfish to abuse the belief of her followers and mates. 

Followers tackle a way of possession over a star that may flip judgemental and even scary. 

Essentially the most jolting second in Fanatical  is a tense cellphone dialog between Tegan, Lee, and a perhaps sufferer/perhaps suspect, who denies their risky on-line habits towards the artist was dangerous. “You weren’t affected in any capability,” they angrily declare to Tegan. It is a remark that feels reflective of a typical assumption about celebrities and what they have to give up for fame. Not too long ago, queer pop princess Chappell Roan confronted on-line backlash after going to social media to inform followers to present her house and depart her household out of their efforts to succeed in her. Some recommended she “signed up for” this intrusive lack of privateness by being well-known, as if fame had been acquired by signing a sketchy contract with the satan himself. 

Being well-known would not make you impenetrable, and Tegan reveals that by sharing her story — and even her doubts about doing so within the doc for worry it will simply make issues worse. Whereas she consists for a lot of her interviews, there is no denying the emotional burden she’s carried for ever and ever. That, in all this time, Tegan has continued to not solely put out music but additionally a memoir together with her sister and a subsequent TV adaptation referred to as Excessive College is a testomony to the pair’s resilience. They refuse to let these violations outline them or upend their artistic drive. 

Fanatical confronts stan tradition 

To create context for the digital waters wherein this catfish swims, Carr presents a broad abstract of how fan tradition has developed over the past 130 years. This sequence begins with the backlash from followers of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s authentic model, not the extraordinary Johnlock fandom of the 2010s). From there, an professional tries to contextualize how fandom overreach has grown from 1893 to Eminem’s seminal tune “Stan,” which detailed an obsessive fan who turns to violence, to the present re-contextualizing of the time period to principally imply “superfan.” 

Fanatical suggests this transformation of “stan” dangers muddling the excellence between followers who say they’re going to do “something” for his or her idol and followers who truly dox so-called “haters” or stalk the article of their obsession. In a rush to attach these dots, the documentary loses the nuance of on-line dialog and parasocial relationships, and its love for hyperbole is misplaced. A sequence of reconstructed tweets (with clean avatars and no time stamps) are offered as a slippery slope, the place on-line threats of violence would possibly result in harmful real-life reactions. Right here, Carr cuts to clips of pop stars being grabbed on stage or pelted with objects by the group, then to footage of trials of convicted stalkers. 

Maybe this part is meant as a second for each fan to self-reflect on how they may be casually poisonous. However conflating threats of violence and doxxing with tweets like “In my family we stan Lana Del Rey and whoever disagrees can choke,” would possibly trigger eyerolls. Such a tame tweet feels misplaced amid the small print of the Tegan and Sara assaults, which embrace threats to out the previous as a “horrible particular person,” sharing their private paperwork with others, and creating disturbing, sexually express fanfiction. 

Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is a must-see 

Maybe, Carr takes on an excessive amount of when she tries to use what’s occurred to Tegan and Sara to a broader fandom dialog. (It is easy to think about the movie as a restricted sequence due to the sheer massiveness of that subject.) However regardless of this wobble, Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is an enchanting movie due to the stability in empathy between the celebrities and their followers. When fandom goes poisonous, either side of that equation undergo. Carr reveals that by way of considerate interviews and in addition interactions between the true Tegan and Fegan’s victims, introduced collectively to choose up the items of this weird betrayal of belief. 

Fandom needs to be a spot of neighborhood, not in-fighting and catfishing.

These conferences vary from therapeutic to tense. Shrewdly, Carr exposes the “unnatural” setup of such interactions by permitting digital camera tools and light-weight reflectors in body. It is to not expose the artifice of the interview, however to bolster why a specific topic — who was a Fegan suspect — would possibly really feel insecure at this second. There is a literal highlight on them, they usually really feel it. However from this place of discomfort, onerous truths and damage emotions lastly are aired so solace can comply with.

Fandom needs to be a spot of neighborhood, not in-fighting and catfishing. By means of Fanatical, Tegan and Sara try to reclaim the enjoyment of neighborhood by way of sharing and shaking off the embarrassment of the entire scenario. In that, they not solely warn their followers about this curious hacker, but additionally urge the viewing viewers to contemplate how shady on-line habits can have real-world affect. Sure, even to the well-known. 

Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara was reviewed out of its World Premiere on the 2024 Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition. The documentary will later debut on Hulu.