Analysis Of The Episode ' Catfish ' The Tv Show '

1132 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Suicide and depression caused by cyberbullying

As I was watching MTV’s popular show “Catfish: The TV Show” one afternoon, a particular episode caught my eye. The episode was about a young girl named Tracey Armah who made a fake Facebook profile to attack other users virtually in an aggressive manor. The profile was under the name Jaqueline Linkwood and Tracey the creator has used another girls’, Falesha’s, profile. “Jaqueline” eventually changed her fake profile to Felisha’s name and started to pose as her. “Jaqueline” would friend request Falesha’s friends on Facebook and would post numerous hurtful comments making Falesha’s life a living nightmare. I was curious and thought to myself about the psychology behind the insensitivity of Tracey’s behavior. Why would she pose as another girl to purposely bully people online? What was her purpose to write spiteful comments to other people? I have explored through research what the psychological concepts behind Tracey’s behavior could be and found some very interesting answers.
In the episode Tracey had confessed that her father had died right before she made the fake account (Catfish: The TV Show). The death obviously played a role in Tracey’s behavior towards others. She would degrade others using explicit language in her writing and comments. The article “Dying, Death, and Grief” describe that aggressive behavior and peer relationship problems are all normal signs of displaying a person’s anger towards a death (Dying, Death, and Grief). Tracey was hurt, however, she did not show it. Depression is linked to anger and vice, versa. “Anger can be useful, but when turned inward, is more likely referred to as depression” as the article “Hello Grief” described (Hello Grief). There are stages to grieving over a dealth and anger and depres...

... middle of paper ...

... online, but also herself. The people she bullied did not know the background of Tracey and the explanations for her actions. There is a lot of phycology that comes from Tracey’s depression and her unwillingness to cope in a different manor. Knowing her father died and knowing she was bullied helps narrow down the explanation of her actions and thinking. The episode ended with Tracey’s whereabouts after a few months from shooting the show. Tracey’s update was about how she felt immensely better about herself and no longer bullied people online or needed to, to feel better. She also mentioned that facing her problems and talking about them helped her realize what she was doing to herself and others (Catfish: The TV Show). Tracey coming to a realization about her actions is a huge learning tool that will help her in the future with any problem that presents itself.

Show More
Related

  • Whirligig by Paul Fleischman

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many of Brent’s careless and violent actions have caused negative consequences. Brent starts the ball of bad consequences rolling when he goes to a party with his friend Jake. The night starts off bad and gets worse from there. Brent begins to drink, clouding his mind and affecting his judgement. He goes up to his crush Brianna while under the influence and starts to chafe her, causing her to get mad and begin yelling at him. Brent becomes severely depressed and suicidal, and he decides to try and kill himself while supposedly driving home. This is the first of many corollaries that Brent experiences. After his unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide, Brent is informed that he has killed Lea Zamora, an 18 year old girl who is a “...senior at Niles North High School, an honor student, ...volunteer at Resurrection Hospital. Why did he have to kill someone like that?”(35) When he hears this, Brent begins to feel a strong g...

    Read More

  • Internet Harassment: The Flip Side of Internet Fame

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article The Flip Side of Internet Fame by Jessica Bennett, Internet harassment is thoroughly made aware to inform active social network users of its solemnity. Real life scenarios of people who suffered from public humiliation or social desecration are presented. Bennett makes her argument conclusive by addressing her audiences' pathos and ethos appeal, sourcing credible individuals throughout the article and stressing the agony and ignominy that the listed individuals perceived. Furthermore, the author demonstrates how critical it is to be conscious about the possibility of not recovering from a fatal encounter on a social network and also raises the question: “What's to stop a person from posting whatever he wants about you, if he can do so anonymously and suffer no repercussions?”(115). Bennett tries to enlighten the reader of “the dark side of Internet fame”(113), showing how publicity may not always be marvelous.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie Bullitt

    752 Words  | 2 Pages

    IMDb describes the movie Bullitt as: “An all guts, no glory San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection.” The Nicholas Watts painting “Bullitt In Pursuit” uses colors, lines, and sizes to convey the message: The Dodge Charger scene from the “Bullitt” car chase produced excitement.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie Showboat

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Showboat is a 1936 musical film inspired by the musical play by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. The film mostly focuses on two of the main characters, Magnolia Hawks and Julie LaVerne. Julie and Magnolia are traveling on Magnolia’s parents’ showboat, the Cotton Palace, which travels the Mississippi River performing shows. Julie and her husband are the leading acts in the shows. During the film, there are two parallel plots happening between Magnolia and Julie. Magnolia falls in love with a gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, who she eventually marries. However, after giving birth to her daughter, Gaylord leaves Magnolia under the pretense that he has ruined her life due to his losses in gambling. Nevertheless, their plot ends in a happy ending

    Read More

  • Analysis of Televsion Show I Dream of Jeannie

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1960’s was a decade filled with revolution across America, in the forms of both counterculture and pop culture. The second wave of feminism ran rampant, powered by Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. The role of the housewife began to be placed under the microscope and women started to wonder aloud whether they were truly happen being second-rate to their husbands. The television sitcoms of the 1960’s displayed this change in thinking, one sitcom specifically being I Dream of Jeannie. The plot of I Dream of Jeannie centered on an astronaut named Major Tony Nelson and his incidental discovery of a genie in a bottle. This genie, named Jeannie, saves Nelson from the island he is stranded on and she stows away in his luggage to follow him home. The rest of the storyline is devoted to Jeannie fulfilling Nelson’s wishes as he struggles to keep her existence secret from the rest of the world. The key conflict in every episode usually entails Jeannie making a wish against Nelson’s orders and working to fix the consequences of what she’s done, commonly saving Nelson from various predicaments. However, due to the feminist relevance of the time period, the show’s plotline should be analyzed for an underlying meaning. This second meaning focuses on Jeannie’s role as a woman in a country with rising feminist values. Despite the fact that Jeannie is subservient to Tony Nelson, she is still ultimately an independent and capable woman, thus representing the feminist movement of the 1960’s.

    Read More

  • Big Fish Movie Analysis

    456 Words  | 1 Pages

    Big Fish, a movie by Tim Burton is a story about a father's relationship with his son. The movie sounds simple but it has an unusual way of revealing the plot by skipping back and forth between the current plot and the father's past. All together, Big Fish has a great meaning behind the storyline and tells the story so graphically and beautifully.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Essay 'Walk To Morning' By Joseph Boyden

    473 Words  | 1 Pages

    For Boyden, his girlfriend was all this. Boyden’s decision to put so much trust into her despite “...some of my friends said she didn’t deserve me” should've caused him to rethink doing so. When one is in love, they often overlook the flaws of their partners. While Boyden was oblivious to them, his friends could easily see those flaws. If Boyden had made the decision to listen to the advice of his friends, this entire incident could of been avoided. Nevertheless, the break up was sudden and came as a huge shock to Boyden who never expected it. To see someone whom he regarded as his reason for living suddenly abandon him caused a sudden spiral into depression. It is also during this time where we see Boyden jump in front of an oncoming car to attempt to end his life. This decision is the most impacting one which would have lifelong effects. Although Boyden could of seeked the support of family and friends, his choice to instead end his life shows how he had became “...too scared to live”. One can infer from this that Boyden no longer trusted people as of what happened with his girlfriend. Still reveling in the shock, his delusional mind probably thought that everyone would abandon him

    Read More

  • Social Psychology Theory

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    The internet has been very instrumental in how society is engaging in many forms of social connections. Because of social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter, and video portals such as YouTube, the internet is among the most common activity of young people. Not only are children gaining access to other forms of communication, they can become devastated by it as well. Not all sites that children and adolescents have access to on the web are conducive to a healthy environment and therefore they become vulnerable to the perception of others. Because of a limited capacity to self-regulate and heightened susceptibility, children and adolescence allow social media to shape their image of self. The pressure of taking the right pictures, at the right place, at the right time, having hair and makeup flawless, with the right people, are pressures that individuals subject themselves to even more so in recent years. This occurrence is an application of

    Read More

  • Social Media Essay

    1252 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some people use social media to communicate and keep in touch with friends and family. Other uses of social media may be dating, meeting new people, finding jobs, or even keeping up to date with world news. There are also those who use social media for other purposes such as bullying, sometimes unintentional and other times on purpose.Bullying is nothing new because bullying can occur everywhere, you hear about bullying more often nowadays because it is happening in more places than ever.Before social media became popular children were often bullied at school or in the neighborhood at home. Today with the increased use of the internet and social media children are now being bullied anywhere at anytime. The Bullying epidemic has become a global problem all around the world and must be stopped if children are to live a normal life and develop into law abiding citizens. Due to the diverse social media websites people have access to other people 's social life and private life as well, thus allowing them to be targets of comments that can be hurtful. social media opens the door to cyber bulling and teen girls may comment things that are hateful and cause rumours. Females bullies are usually associated with these types behaviors.Females use social media to spread rumours about their victims. Females can use social media to do

    Read More

  • Social Empathy

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    A lack of empathy is found in the growing trend of cyber-bullying. "Jumping off GW bridge sorry." That was the last status update Tyler Clementi ever posted to his Facebook page before leaping to his death off the George Washington Bridge in New York City. About a month before his suicide, Tyler, who was gay, had started his freshman year at Rutgers University and found himself housed with a roommate who was not at ease with those who were open with their homosexuality. Unbeknownst to Tyler, his roommate began to electronically spy on him and eventually recorded him kissing a man. The roommate then posted the video to YouTube and soon Tyler’s fateful and heartbreaking Facebook status would follow (Cloud). The combination of the roommates inability to empathize with Tyler’s lifestyle with the ease of communicating to a broad audience online, proved to be a deadly combination. Unfortunately, stories like Tyler’s have become more common ...

    Read More

  • The Dangers of Social Media Correlating to Privacy

    3108 Words  | 7 Pages

    Vandebosch, Heidi, and Katrien Van Cleemput. "Cyber Bullying Among oungsters." Conference Papers -- International Communication Association (2007): 1.Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

    Read More

  • Narcissism In Social Media

    1942 Words  | 4 Pages

    “I didn't know what Facebook was, and now that I do know what it is, I have to say, it sounds like a huge waste of time –Betty White (“Betty White Quotes,” 2014, para. 1).” This quote can be interpreted to fit with several of the social media avenues that many people spend their time on. Day in and day out people post, tweet, share, and pin countless times throughout the world. These different forms of communication were first created for an easier way for people to connect with others. Yet now, so much time is spent on these social sites that it has warped the interactive part and is causing more damage than good. Many are growing a desire and are living for the amount of “likes” they can receive on a post or how many re-tweets they can generate. Instead of going to these outlets to participate in a partial portion of their social lives, people are filling that time with the technological aspect of communication. As White said, this can become an inordinate amount of wasted time and can ultimately grow into further damaging circumstances. These different social media channels can cause emotional harm through disparaging the relationship between friends, conjuring of a narcissistic personality, and the retrogradation of ones self-esteem.

    Read More

  • Social Media And Identity Essay

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    The television series of this show “Catfish” shows us that there are many individuals out there like Angela, who create completely fabricated identities, for many different reasons. Whether it is malicious or a release for the person; It is an escape from reality in most cases. This alerts us to the dangers of social media, and makes us wary of meeting new people online, as all may not be what it seems.

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Social Media And Social Life

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dr Sigman, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, a Master of Science degree in The Neurophysiological Basis of Behavior, and a Ph.D, said in the journal of the Institute of Biology that, “A lack of “real” social networking, involving personal interaction, may increase the risk of health problems as serious as cancer, strokes, heart disease, and dementia.” He also added that, “It is not that I am old fashioned in terms of new technology, but the purpose of any new technology should be to provide a tool that enhances our lives.” Before reading his opinion, I had to ask myself if I am using my social media profiles to try to improve my social life, and yes, I occasionally use it with that purpose. Often, I even prefer to interact with people through social networks rather than personally. I am isolating myself from my loved ones and friends. I do not consider myself a social media addict, on the other hand, adolescents are becoming increasingly depended to share most of their personal lives and problems online, and as a result of it, cyberbullying is also evolving into a very common and negative attitude between them. Richard J. Hazler, a professor of counseling education at Penn State University, said that, “Teens can act this way because, brain-development

    Read More

  • Public Opinion Meets the Internet

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    Public opinion is often emotional rather than rational, so it is extremely easy to be incited and would possibly cause cyber bullying, which means to attack one person or a small group of persons by using offensive language. The damage caused by cyber bullying to a person is not virtual but real. An article from PR Newswire called “Cyber Hunting and Cyber Bullying” tells a st...

    Read More

More about Analysis Of The Episode ' Catfish ' The Tv Show '

Open Document