A catfishing documentary about one of my fave pop duos? If there was ever a show that was aimed at me, this would be it. But this isn’t the heartwarming story of how two people found love or heartbreak online; this documentary has a far more serious and sinister vibe, showing the horrifying ramifications of identity theft and stalking—and how obsessive fans can encourage this behavior. Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara takes us back to 2011, to examine the real-life case of someone pretending to be Tegan Quin for over a decade.
Tegan and Sara have always been very fan-focused: they always take time to meet and interact with their fans; their allyship helps others find their voice and identity within the queer community; their music makes their listeners feel heard. But being so accessible and open when famous comes at a price. Fanatical dives into the heart of their fandom and how Tegan and Sara formed a community built on trust, before digging into how someone violated that trust in terrifying ways.
The catfish, labeled Fegan (aka Fake Tegan), managed to get ahold of intimate details of the Quin family and their friends—passport photos, email and home addresses, even private medical information. The level of personal invasion is scary and dehumanizing and the documentary does an excellent job of portraying how isolating it felt. This person had been pretending to be Tegan for years—years of fans thinking they had close, sometimes sexual relationships with the singer, years of her privacy and identity being used for someone else’s personal gain. What followed the discovery was more years of fallout, where Tegan and Sara and those closest to them didn’t know who to trust; they didn’t know if they could keep going in the public eye.
Fanatical lays out everything T&S and their team thought they knew, but the web of lies just kept getting deeper. It also details the betrayal and paranoia everyone involved felt, interviewing those who got caught up in it; how it still hurts them to this day. The duo weren’t even sure about coming forward until now—they still express regrets and trepidation while being interviewed—but know how important it is to have this conversation, so it doesn’t happen to anyone else. It must have taken a lot of courage to put themselves out there, to openly push back against their fans and fame; especially when, as queer women, society often expects artists to share only gratitude for being “given” a platform (ugh).
The documentary is compelling, fully shining a light on the duo’s world to explore how this could have happened. It’s scary to see this dark side of fame, even while T&S acknowledge how much the fans have given them. It’s also a fascinating insight into parasocial relationships and how the internet can encourage them; how some fans feel entitled to a person’s time or attention. Layered with emails, texts, and communications between the catfish and fans and friends, it’s sometimes hard to watch how deep the obsession goes.
In a time where more and more artists are speaking up about the crossing of boundaries by their fans, this documentary lays out why those boundaries are there in the first place. It’s so easy to forget those people on stage who you idolize are still just people—people who have their own lives and wants and needs that don’t involve their fans. You don’t know them. They don’t owe you anything. And the posessive kind of fan behavior can lead to terrible repercussions.
Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is a haunting documentary that will make you think twice about sharing personal information online. It will also make you think about how you treat others when you’re behind the safety of a screen. This kind of obsession didn’t happen in a bubble; it’s time we talk about how fandom, while wonderful and unifying in many ways, can enable the worst in all of us. It’s time to let Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara be the start of that conversation.
