Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara
Directed by Erin Lee Carr
Featuring Tegan Quin, Sara Quin, and Jenny Eliscu
Runtime: 1 hour and 39 minutes
World Premiere at TIFF
Streaming on Hulu October 18

by Kate Beach, Staff Writer

John Waters said “Without obsession, life is nothing.” He has a point. There’s a thrill in loving something, obsessing over it, being a fan. Erin Lee Carr’s fascinating new documentary Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara comes at a time when fandom and obsession are constantly being discussed, and the word ‘parasocial’ gets tossed around like it’s the new ‘problematic.’ Super fans have always felt a sense of ownership over the object of their adoration, but social media brings to light behaviors that were once hidden. Obsessing over a band or a TV show or a writer can create a community; it can also create a monster. 

Tegan and Sara Quin have been superstars to a particular subset of the queer world for over two decades. Canadian identical twins who are both lesbians, the pair produce heartfelt, vibrant indie pop tracks like “Closer” and “Walking with a Ghost.” They’ve always been a little niche, which only makes their fans love them more. Tegan and Sara feel like theirs. Fans built a community around them, connected and made friends with each other. This connection was only strengthened by the fact that Tegan and Sara are both gay. Their openness and advocacy provided queer fans with a safe space to be fully themselves at a time when those spaces were few and far between. Over time, the lines started to blur: fan, friend, partner, imposter. In Fanatical, Tegan, Sara, and Carr bring together superfans, journalists, internet security experts, and more to wrestle with fandom, safety, vulnerability, and the fifteen year mystery of Fake Tegan.

When social media profiles start to circulate among fan message boards and sites allegedly belonging to Tegan, fans are thrilled. As Tegan and Sara admit themselves, it wasn’t a huge stretch to believe one or both of them would willingly befriend fans. Their music was personal and often autobiographical, and because they were well known but not too famous, they were more able to have personal interactions with fans. Beyond that, the profiles were convincing. Fans who interacted with these “Fegans” (Fake Tegans) said that they always knew what city Tegan and Sara were playing in, the names of their family members and managers and partners, and countless other very specific details about Tegan and Sara’s lives. What really sealed the deal for these fans was access to unreleased music, obtained by “Fegan” hacking the real Tegan’s laptop. After successfully convincing dozens of fans that they were speaking to the real Tegan, they pursued friendships and sexual relationships via email, text, and social media. As fans come forward following an official statement from Tegan and Sara, they produce thousands of emails, text messages, and chat logs from “Fegan.” 

There’s a throughline of compassion running through Fanatical that isn’t always present in other true crime or internet culture documentaries. From the opening moments of the film, Tegan is clear that she’s kept this story quiet for over a decade in large part because of Tegan and Sara’s fans. She doesn’t want to accuse the wrong person, and more than that, she doesn’t want to paint their fans as creepy, obsessive, or even criminal. There’s an understanding from her, Sara, and Carr that the celebrity culture we’ve fostered as a society and the naivete so many of us had in the early days of the internet leaves the door wide open for abuse. As embarrassed and uncomfortable as Tegan feels, she acknowledges the violation of the fans who thought they were engaging in real friendships and even sexual relationships with her.

The mystery at the center of Fanatical is captivating, but it’s not the most crucial element of the film. Carr tracks the ascent of the band, the community they built, and the ways they were forced to start keeping that community at arms’ length as they rose in prominence and their trust and openness was broken again and again. It feels especially timely as the internet debates just how much access fans deserve to the idols of the day, and continues to demand more. As Tegan says herself, “Fan culture is ‘I wanna know more, I wanna know more, I wanna know more.’ It’s insatiable because you won’t ever really know me.”