‘Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara’ review: A true crime doc about toxic fandom

Catfishing is probably the one place the work of Tegan and Sara and Erin Lee Carr might collide. In spite of everything, the previous are a Canadian indie pop duo and the latter is a real crime documentarian. Whereas the titular twin singer/songwriters ship stunning and achingly catchy songs about break-ups and sapphic craving, the latter filmmaker has explored the darkish depths of stunning 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 analyze a case that is much less violent, however nonetheless haunting. Looking for 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 a bit nearer

This intriguing documentary takes audiences again to the late 2000s, when Tegan and Sara Quin have 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 offer autographs and selfies, they might now work together on message boards, Tumblr, LastFM, and Fb. However over 16 years, many followers have found that the Tegan they thought they have been speaking to was an impostor, masquerading because the pop star for causes all their very own. 

Lee steps out from behind the digicam right here, partaking onscreen with Tegan (and to a lesser diploma Sara) in addition to victims who’ve come forth to share their tales. Shared amongst these girls is a superb emotional intelligence, as they reveal their damage whereas recognizing the painful experiences of others. As Lee has for tabloid-favorite killers and victims, she extends a profound empathy to her topics that provides a supportive area for folks admitting they’d fallen for the con. A few of them thought they’d made a cool new good friend — who was a pop star! Others believed they have been in a secret romance with one. All have 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 after 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 associates and self. Because the catfisher(s) had accessed non-public pictures, unreleased demo tracks, and even private household information, she started to fret if somebody she liked 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 associates. 

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 possibly sufferer/possibly 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 standard assumption about celebrities and what they need to give up for fame. Lately, queer pop princess Chappell Roan confronted on-line backlash after going to social media to inform followers to offer her area and depart her household out of their efforts to achieve her. Some instructed she “signed up for” this intrusive lack of privateness by being well-known, as if fame have been acquired by signing a sketchy contract with the satan himself. 

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

Fanatical confronts stan tradition 

To create context for the digital waters through which this catfish swims, Lee presents a broad abstract of how fan tradition has advanced during the last 130 years. This sequence begins with the backlash from followers of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s unique model, not the extreme Johnlock fandom of the 2010s). From there, an knowledgeable tries to contextualize how fandom overreach has grown from 1893 to Eminem’s seminal track “Stan,” which detailed an obsessive fan who turns to violence, to the present re-contextualizing of the time period to mainly 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 item 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 introduced as a slippery slope, the place on-line threats of violence would possibly result in harmful real-life reactions. Right here, Lee 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 embody threats to out the previous as a “horrible individual,” sharing their private paperwork with others, and creating disturbing, sexually express fanfiction. 

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

Maybe, Lee 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 matter.) However regardless of this wobble, Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is an interesting movie due to the stability in empathy between the celebrities and their followers. When fandom goes poisonous, each side of that equation undergo. Lee reveals that by means of considerate interviews and likewise interactions between the actual Tegan and Fegan’s victims, introduced collectively to select 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, Lee exposes the “unnatural” setup of such interactions by permitting digicam gear and lightweight reflectors in body. It is to not expose the artifice of the interview, however to bolster why a selected topic — who was a Fegan suspect — would possibly really feel insecure at this second. There is a literal highlight on them, and so they really feel it. However from this place of discomfort, exhausting 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. Via Fanatical, Tegan and Sara attempt to reclaim the enjoyment of neighborhood by means of sharing and shaking off the embarrassment of the entire scenario. In that, they not solely warn their followers about this curious hacker, but in addition urge the viewing viewers to contemplate how shady on-line habits can have real-world impression. 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 Pageant. The documentary will later debut on Hulu.