Drew Burnett Gregory is back at TIFF, reporting daily with queer movie reviews from one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals. Follow along for her coverage of the best in LGBTQ+ cinema and beyond.
For nearly a decade, true crime and true crime-adjacent documentaries have been hungry for their Jinx moment. The perpetrator will make a confession while the mics are recording and then the “bad guy” can go to prison and the whole story can be wrapped up in a certain, carceral bow. It’s an ending far more satisfying for most audiences than say the first season of Serial which posited that its subject may or may not have murdered his girlfriend, but the court system incarcerated him without enough evidence.
Erin Lee Carr’s Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara is not about a murder. But it is about the actions of one person — or, possibly, multiple — that derailed and damaged many people’s lives. And throughout the documentary, it’s impossible not to wonder if the film will conclude with Carr and her team solving the mystery. The culprit will be unmasked and be brought to justice. (Whatever that means.)
But as the investigation continues, the film wisely adds context. While our curiosity may continue until the end, the film makes sure it becomes secondary to the larger issues at play. And, in that way, one of the most pivotal moments of the film was an accident of timing, not on-screen at all. I’m talking about Chappell Roan’s instagram stories from a few weeks ago pleading with fans to respect her boundaries and be normal.
This documentary is all about a queer artist and the fan culture that has surrounded her for decades. Someone impersonating Tegan Quin began extended friendships — and even sexual relationships — with people through online messaging. Because Tegan and Sara — Tegan especially — were so open to their fans and committed to providing queer community, it was believable she might message these people. Hacking Tegan’s computer and being able to send demos and intimate pictures made it even more so.
In the beginning of the film, Carr makes sure to emphasize the positive impact of the Tegan and Sara fandom. Queer people found each other at a time where it was far more difficult to do so. That’s the power of art and that’s the power of connecting with other people because of art.
But Tegan and Sara rose to popularity when the internet was still nascent. This combined with their desire to be there for their fans left them vulnerable. It left the fans vulnerable too.
As someone who has had a handful of strange and upsetting experiences due to the very, very minor gay fame of simply writing for this website, I find the experiences of people like Chappell Roan and Tegan Quin daunting. No one should experience dehumanization for simply creating art that has improved people’s lives for the better.
The film makes sure not to pass judgment on any of the victims of the Tegan impersonator, but it does reveal the gaps in some of their expectations of Tegan vs. the real lived experiences of the artist. Celebrities are people and while money can buy a certain amount of support and protection, it cannot remove their humanity.
I will not spoil the end of this film or reveal if it gets its Jinx moment. But I will say the end of the investigation was not the important conclusion to me. The important conclusion was drawn by Tegan herself when she notes that the perpetrator, the victims, herself, and all of us are far more alike than we want to admit. The investigation that most needs to occur is an internal investigation done by all of us about how we think about celebrity and parasocial relationships. True justice comes not from catching one perpetrator, but from the deeper work of changing our culture around fame and fandom.
Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara streams on Hulu on October 18.
