The Social Network movie, based on the creation of Facebook, was released on October 1 and quickly rose to the #1 movie at the Box Office. The movie follows the story of Mark Zuckerberg from just before he was approached to design a social networking site called harvard.edu and decided to use a similar idea (different algorythyms though) to create his own social networking site called The Facebook(later changed to Facebook).
One quick thought:
-I think it is crazy how similar Mark Zuckerberg and the actor who plays him, Jesse Eisenberg look.
I think Mark Zuckerberg was portrayed in a mostly negative light. But I didn't find this negative light to be one that completely de-humanized or ostracized him. What I mean by this is that while Zuckerberg treated his (ex)girlfriend horrible pre and post breakup, didn't treat his friends with a proper level of respect, prioritized success above all other things, I still feel like I saw glimmers of a real human being beneath his cold exterior. And I didn't leave the movie hating his guts. Examples of real human behaviour: when he went to apologize to Erica about the website and moments when he was in mediation or building the website with his (ex)best friend/business partner, Eduardo Saverin. Perhaps this is my own personal necessity in finding something good/redeemable about everyone or maybe others felt the same, but at the end of the movie I felt bad for him. Yes, he only had to pay off a few people and the billion dollar corporation that is Facebook is still his. But it seems like he paid his prices in a different way, which at the end of the movie seemed to affect him as he sat alone with just his computer for companionship. Zuckerberg did treat many people in his life like garbage and that did portray him as a cold individual and I believe that to be the goal of those who made the movie.
If I were Zuckerberg, I wouldn't really expect this movie to hurt or help the website too much. Facebook is already used by so many people who are already so attached to "creeping" on others and staying in touch with old friends/family that they wouldn't delete their account. I don't think it would help too much because I believe those who are interested in seeing the movie are already Facebook users, like most of the population, so it won't cause those people to join. Ultimately, I think that too many people are already members for this movie to have done any damage or good.
I don't think that the donation made by Zuckerberg to the Newark school division was poorly timed with the movie release date, however honesty about the timing would have been nice. But maybe that's just my amateur public relations perspective on the subject. It's likely that Zuckerberg knew the movie was going to shine a poor light on him and was trying to do a bit of damage control. For someone whose personality was portrayed in the movie as being all about results and doing things as soon as possible, I can't picture Zuckerberg being the type of person to wait around. He seemed like the kind of person that was all about timing. I can understand how another's persons response may be negative though, especially one who is more knowledgable in the public relations field than myself. I don't know if Zuckerberg's response will have much of an impact on those who use the website, as I think too many people use the website for it to be damaged in any way until the next trend comes along. As for an impact on himself, I think the movie will have portrayed him in the way people will remember him-cold. His dishonesty about the timing probably confirmed my suspected idea that he believes he can outsmart everyone else, which doesn't necessarily further my warmth for him. If I were Zuckerberg, I think I would seek some type of therapy to try to suppress those feelings of supreme superiority. And I mean that in the nicest way possible.
It was hilarious when Zuckerberg stood up at his school hearing about his hacking into the security systems and asked for recognition.
DISCLAIMER*** I sincerely apologize is this blog post is rambly and nonsensical as I am working on three hours of sleep and feel a bit rambly and nonsensical. Don't judge me for my overly emotional take on Zuckerberg's character either.***
The ending was kind of sad, wasn't it? That's the way I felt too. He was kind of a genius and worked his ass off to create something spectacular. But he was left without any true friends. In the end he sat at a table refreshing the Facebook profile of his ex-girlfriend, waiting for her to accept his friend request. So sad!
ReplyDeleteI'll start my comment with a disclaimer. I'm responding to your excellent post with residue of Paul's blog post in my head, more specifically that the movie is "a representation of the representation of self creation" (which I agree with). It could be said that facebook is to my representation of self creation what Jesse Eisenberg's depiction of Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network."
ReplyDeleteSara,
ReplyDeleteYour blog was written with heart and insight while sounding so professional, an excellent critique on the movie and an unnecessary one on your self in the disclaimer.
You have such a wonderful perception of things and as always I adore reading your thoughts.
I must also agree with Albertine on how sad the ending was, the loss of the ones who at one time were his true friends.
Sitting solemnly, refreshing the facebook page, pining of the girl that he can't get off his mind, while he waits to get on her friend list.
Sad indeed. :)
It's like the old saying, "Where there's a hit, there's a writ." You're not successful until you've been sued!
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