Most people going through life become fans of place, people, and things. It’s an everyday occurrence, from having a favourite team, movie, or pizza place. And being a fan isn’t stagnant, what can begin as passive can become more ardent or vice versa. It’s how fanbases grow and evolve. It’s also a reflection of personal growth and evolution. Currently, several top artists identify as LGBTQ+, and of the newer female artists, you don’t have to think hard as both Chappell Roan and Reneé Rapp identify as lesbian artists, but back in the early 2000s when Tegan and Sara started to break out, they were essentially the only young female artists who everyone knew were gay. Tegan and Sara, as artists, are very conversational, they banter a lot during their sets, creating a sense of intimacy with their fans, and have always been great at doing fan interactions, from zines back in their early days to creating a gardening show called ‘Where Does the Good Grow?’ during Covid. Because many of their fans were young queer women like themselves, many who may have only been out amongst the community of fans of Tegan and Sara in the message boards in those early days, it created a community that was especially vulnerable to catfishing and, unfortunately, that happened as someone got a hold of personal information of Tegan Quin and has been impersonation her to people since 2008.
Erin Lee Carr has made several documentaries that provide deeper dives into stories that have already been in the news (Mommy Dead and Dearest, I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter, and Britney vs Spears), but Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is different because unless you had been on those message boards back when in at began, and very active, you probably are not aware that Tegan Quin’s identity has been used to catfish people for 16 years, because as the documentary begins, Tegan (and Sara) has been careful about bringing attention to it because of fears of what drawing attention to it could mean. Especially as they are maybe only a little closer to figuring out who Fake Tegan (‘Fegan’ as they refer to them in the documentary) is all these years later.
A lot of documentaries attempt to make you understand their subjects. In the case of “Fanatical,” there are three core subject areas: Tegan Quin (also Sara Quin and Tegan’s girlfriend during a period of the most active catfishing), the catfished (a sample of fans/ former acquaintances who agreed to be interviewed either on camera or by phone), and the unknown Fake Tegan ‘Fegan’ who the documentary seeks to uncover. It is interesting to listen to a band that is so open in so many ways (they have a substack and write blog posts) explain this massive thing that has given them huge trust issues because they were unsure if ‘Fegan’ was someone who knew them because they would message fans with details that they had not spoken about publicly. And for the fans, because they had created that friendly ‘open’ relationship with fans, it did not seem out of left field to get messaged by Tegan, especially since the messages began innocuous and ‘Fegan’ seemingly had access to Tegan’s email and thus was able to provide fairly detailed information about things going on her life. As previously mentioned, the targeted community was queer women. One of the women who was catfished described herself as not being out and finding community in Tegan and Sara and how ‘Fegan’ destroyed that and her relationship with their music as well. That is the part that stands out as Erin Lee Carr and Co. make their profile of ‘Fegan,’ because whoever ‘Fegan’ is, they are either also a part of the community or purposely targeted it.
You leave the film feeling more grateful Tegan and Sara did not shut themselves down completely. As a fan of theirs, their ‘Where Does the Good Grow?’ was a personal bright spot as I was locked in my house in 2020. But looking back, I can’t believe they let their fans into their space like that and not have been worried that ‘Fegan’ would try to pinpoint where they lived. Watching the documentary with an audience, I wondered if ‘Fegan’ was there, and that is something they must do every time they get up on the stage to perform, may that not always be the case. This documentary served to open the door to healing, may it be the thing that ends ‘Fegan’ once and for all.
Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is streaming on October 18th on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in Canada.
© 2020-2024. UniversalCinema Mag.