By Gray M. Kramer–
The queer musical twins Tegan and Sara have developed an intense and loyal fanbase since they started performing as teenagers in the mid-1990s. They even had a 2022 TV series, High School, based on their memoir. But the new documentary, Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, out October 18 on Hulu, tells of a long, dark episode from their lives.
Directed by Erin Lee Carr, this compelling film recounts the “super terrifying” discovery, in 2011, that someone has been posing as “Fake Tegan”—or “Fegan,” as they come to call the impersonator—and interacting with the band’s fans. Not only that, Fegan has hacked Tegan’s accounts and has been posting and sharing professional content, including unreleased demos, as well as personal information about the twins’ mother’s breast cancer diagnosis, and even uploading the twins’ passports.
This development is all very concerning and extremely confounding. Who is Fegan, and how did they get access to this sensitive content? And why are they doing this?
Fanatical aims at answering these questions by systematically investigating the information and considering all of the possible suspects. First Carr establishes how Tegan and Sara’s accessibility to their fans may have made them vulnerable. The band was very influential for queer women who formed a strong community in an era when there were too few out musicians. Tegan and Sara received fan letters from closeted youth who shared their stories and Tegan would spend hours greeting fans at shows. And the nascent days of social media allowed fans and the band to connect with each other.
But the interactions with superfans like Julie had become concerning. Apparently, Fegan started chatting with Julie online, asking her about her day, sending her music before it was released, and sharing personal information including sensitive identity theft content. Julie contacted Tegan and Sara’s management team, who became worried by this breach, only to discover that the situation was far more damaging and widespread than they initially expected. Several individuals had been targeted by Fegan, who violated their trust by creating an “intimate” relationship with fans. Julie recounts being so hurt by the catfishing she could not listen to Tegan and Sara’s music and stopped attending shows.
Fanatical is emotionally powerful when it conveys the impact of these actions, illustrating the shame and harm it had caused these innocent victims. One queer woman, JT, describes having to shut down any reference to Tegan and Sara, and admits to getting sick when hearing one of their songs while in a supermarket. JT’s story is more complicated than Julia’s, as JT spoke out against Tegan because she believed that the sexual messages that she received from Fegan were real. Her actions generated a backlash that prompted her to withdraw from queer spaces and the Vancouver music scene.
As things escalate, it becomes more difficult for Tegan’s investigative team to find the culprit. There is a suggestion it may be a young woman named Jo in the U.K., while another source indicates it is Mark in Maine. Pursuing these possibilities leads the film down various rabbit holes. Fanatical shows how the catfishing gets even more insidious when Tegan is breaking up with her girlfriend, Lindsey, and Fegan preys on that.
While it is disturbing that Tegan and Sara and their fans are susceptible and have been victimized—and for so long—the film asks: What is appropriate celebrity/fan interaction, and how insatiable is fan culture? If Fanatical doesn’t quite answer these questions it raises, it also provides limited satisfaction regarding how catching Fegan plays out in real life. In what is the best sequence in the film, Tegan and Carr have a phone call with a suspect they think is Fegan and the exchange is gripping.
Much of the film consists of interviews with Tegan, Sara, their investigative team, and the victims, and Carr leans arguably too much on typing out the copious messages exchanged online between Fegan and the victims. To its credit, Fanatical makes the text content zippy and easy to follow, but there are some narrative curlicues in this convoluted story that feel like loose threads.
Early in the film, Tegan questions wanting to make the documentary. The difficulty of reliving and reexamining the events that unfolded is obviously painful and frustrating, but Tegan comes off well. It is unfortunate that a queer musical group and its fans were targeted given the sensitivity of the community.
The film does break away from its story periodically to showcase some of Tegan and Sara’s music, emphasizing the joy the performers have given to so many for so long. That there has been deceit and manipulation is troubling. That there is more confusion than answers is doubly disturbing.
Fanatical is a compelling cautionary tale about the perils of fame in the digital age.
© 2024 Gary M. Kramer
Gary M. Kramer is the author of “Independent Queer Cinema: Reviews and Interviews,” and the co-editor of “Directory of World Cinema: Argentina.” He teaches Short Attention Span Cinema at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and is the moderator for Cinema Salon, a weekly film discussion group. Follow him on Twitter @garymkramer
Film
Published on October 17, 2024
Recent Comments