Lazalde 1 Luis A. Lazalde Dr.

Erin Dietel-McLaughlin WR 13300-11 28 February 2014 The Selfish Network Facebook has risen to prominence over the past decade, driving forth a culture of popularity where the number of one's friends on Facebook describes one's status, and the ability to attain "likes" showcases such status. Recently, Facebook celebrated the tenth anniversary of its existence, and its founding resonates through the film The Social Network. Directed in 2010 by David Fincher, the film traces the drama in the creation of Facebook in the early 2000's by Mark Zuckerberg and some of his compatriots. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as the socially awkward genius Mark Zuckerberg, the film portrays Mark as a backstabbing and popularity driven computer genius who must deal with betraying his best friend and the allegation that he stole the idea of Facebook from a pair of Harvard students. One of the films main themes is greed and how it is that greed takes on different forms through the films characters and their situations. Greed, in both a financial and social dimension, is shown to be a divisive factor for the characters in The Social Network through the films rhetorical concentration on the fledgling company's plagued financial situation and slow deterioration of its characters personal lives. Although Facebook might be one of the most popular networking sites available, the film skews its creation as the consequence of teenage angst and ambition with a dark, resonating past. Greed can take on multiple forms, yet one of the main forms presented in the film is that of financial greed and ambition. Through rhetorical cinematic techniques, the film gives the context for the relative wealth of the characters and their attitudes on acquiring wealth for

Lazalde 2 themselves. According to George Kennedy, rhetoric does not only have to consist of words, but is the energy inherent in emotion and thought, transmitted through a system of signs, including language, to others to influence their decisions or actions (Herrick 5). The film uses the characters as the signs for communicating how it is that their different forms of greed cause the fledgling company problems. Two groups of characters typify an industrious, business professional ethic and viewpoint of wealth, Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield), and the Winklevoss Twins (played by Josh Pence and Armie Hammer). Eduardo is depicted to be business savvy and professional, dressing comparatively nicer than Mark and having a better business background as Mark says in the beginning, My friend Eduardo made $300,000 betting oil futures one summer. Additionally, Eduardo provides the founding capital for Facebook from his pocket and it was at [that] point, the only money that had been put into the company. Eduardos demeanor is one of urgent importance, constantly getting things done to help Mark with his project, getting internships, being involved in the Phoenix Club, etc. As Facebooks first CFO, Eduardo wants for Facebook to not only be a cool social network, but also a vehicle to make money, as he set up meetings with future advertisers in New York. Eduardo tells Mark the value of a business is to make money, to which Mark responds it isnt a business yet. Eduardo is constantly frustrated by the fact that, as CFO, he cant generate revenue despite the fact that he is in that position. This remains one of the central arguments between Mark and Eduardo which eventually leads to strife between the two. An alternative interpretation would suggest that Eduardo is involved in Facebook not only for the monetary aspect, but out of friendship with Mark as well. Although this may be plausible, one interesting part of Eduardos character is revealed at the confrontation between him, Sean, and

Lazalde 3 Mark when he says, you better lawyer up asshole, because Im not coming back for thirty percent, Im coming back for everything. Eduardo is betrayed by Mark not only as a friend, but as a business partner seeking an honest profit. The Winklevoss Twins, known collectively as the Winklevii by Mark, are another group who see the wealth in Facebook yet they seek to exploit and come under control of it. The Winklevii, along with Divya Narendra had told Mark about their idea for the Harvard Connection where people would upload their own photos and bios, be able to see another person was doing, and was governed by the Harvard.edu domain, making it exclusive. They are often portrayed as well dressed, confident, and in powerful or imposing situations, such as at the Porcelian Final Club, a rowing tournament in England, or even in their boardroom scenes, where they are shown in a lavish, traditional-styled room as compared to a bare, modern looking room with Eduardo. However, they are furious that their website and idea becomes less profitable as Facebook grows, as Divya says every minute that Facebook is up Harvard Connection becomes less valuable. They see the value in Facebook and are trying to regain what they believe was stolen from them, as they tell Larry Summers, this isnt petty larceny, this idea is potentially worth millions of dollars! By presenting the scene where the Winklevii talk to Mark about Harvard Connection before the scene where Mark talks to Eduardo about his project, the viewer is made to believe that Mark is, in fact, stealing the idea for Facebook from the Winklevii. In the days of Aristotle, this form of argument was known as an ethymeme, which was an argument built from values, beliefs, or knowledge held in common by a speaker and an audience (Herrick 9). The film doesnt have to outright say that Mark stole Facebook from the Winklevii, but, like Marylin Delpy, only has to ask the right questionsthe audience fills in the rest of the premises and

Lazalde 4 conclusions of the argument. Additionally, according to Lancioni, Viewers construct meaning from shot content and context, from the relationship of shot to shot, and from the rhythm of cutting, thus making the composition and editing of the film a large part of its rhetoric (Lancioni 109). The film makes the argument that the Winklevii have indeed contributed to the creation of Facebook and deserve some share of it, however, they are driven by a desire to have and make this money for themselves. The other form of greed which drives the characters of the film is a form of societal greed, popularity. Two characters which value popularity highly are Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake. The film mainly uses the same presentation of the characters as signs to show the difference between the drive for money and the drive for popularity, as well as rhetoric found in the discourse of the script. Mark is portrayed as more of an antihero than an actual hero in the film. Unlike Eduardo or the Winklevii, he is shown to be irreverent and unprofessional, often wearing sandals or casual to clothing to important meetings or walking about with his hands in his pockets with a passive, nonchalant air. He is constantly shown as being disconnected, especially in dialogues such as the opening scene with his girlfriend Erica or even in boardroom meetings when he is shown as apathetic to the problem at hand. Additionally, Mark thinks of Facebook only as some form of social currency, whereby he is able to garner respect and influence, as he tells Eduardo Eduardo, it's like a Final Club except we're the president. When he Eduardo freezes the account, Mark frantically says If those servers are down for even a day, our entire reputation is irreversibly destroyed!...College kids are online because their friends are online, and if one domino goes, the other dominos go, don't you get that? I am not going back to the Caribbean Night at AEPi! Mark is constantly frustrated

Lazalde 5 with his lot in the social hierarchy and seeks to be more like Sean Parker, who he idolizes and is portrayed as wanting to emulate. Sean Parker is portrayed to be some kind of cool, savvy character who is able to get all the girls and talk smoothly. The film uses a pathological appeal, which, according to Herrick, aim[s]to engage the audiences loyalties or commitments, from the onset, in order to give the audience a negative association with Sean. The audience sides with Eduardo and see that Mark is infatuated with Sean as Eduardo says, From that point on, it was a Sean-athon (Herrick 13). Thus, there is always a negative connotation when presenting Sean, as even from the onset Eduardo observes, I hadnt met him yet but I did some research and asked around andhe struck me as kind of a wildcardHes struck out of two internet companies in spectacular fashion and has a reputation with drugs. From Seans previous scene, it also determined that Sean is also trying to find Mark and attach himself to a rising star, so as to get back at the people that had crossed him originally, as in the scene where he tells Mark find Manningham and say Sean says f*** you. Thus, Sean is greedy for his reputation and vindication, trying to make something out of the mess he was in by using Marks newfound popularity to counter his opponents. By the films editing, it is shown that the characters, by trying to use one another for money or popularity, eventually destroy their relationships with one another. In his pursuit for money, Eduardo uses Mark and Facebook to generate revenue, however, Mark only wants Facebook for the reputation and had used Eduardo for his algorithm and money, causing a rift between the two ideologies. The great divide between the two schools of thought is manifested in Eduardo and Marks confrontation scene when Eduardo says Sorry! My Prada's at the cleaners! Along with my hoodie and my 'f*** you' flip-flops, you pretentious douchebag! Divides

Lazalde 6 between characters, including that between Mark and Eduardo, are shown by literally splitting the character groups apart, presenting them in different frames. In boardroom meetings, Eduardo and Mark are noticeably not in the same frames, but are switched in focus back and forth, unlike earlier scenes when they were in the same frame talking. Likewise, Marks business relationship with the Winklevii is also brought to a halt through his own pursuit for fame and vindication. The Winklevii and Mark are also shown together in a handful of scenes in the beginning, after which they are featured separately only. Finally, Mark and Sean are split at the closing scene, as they are shown in different locations and the film leaves the audience to decide if Mark had called the police on Sean through Marylins discourse to Mark. This negative portrayal of popularity seeking college students did not come simply because the filmmaker had a stroke of genius, but was definitely a coordinated effort to create rhetoric. As Bitzer argues, rhetoric is situationalno utterance is fully intelligible unless meaning-context and utterance are understood (Bitzer 3). Greed has been an especially poignant theme in the past decade, as the gentry of the United States have blamed the greed of the successful and wealthy as the cause of the recent economic downturns. Yet, a question is left as one may not know what to think of the breed of successful and wealthy that Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, or even Bill Gates belong to. The world of early 2000s brought about The Social Network as the answer to how to categorize these admirable entrepreneurs. The film showed that not only are these upstarts are greedy and backstabbing, but they are just the same as all the other big-wigs that are so disdained by the common man. Thus, one can still feel good about themselves after watching the movie, as he sees that, although Mark may be the worlds youngest billionaire, he has lost everything that truly matters, his real friends.

Lazalde 7 Works Cited Bitzer, Lloyd F. "The Rhetorical Situation." Philosophy & Rhetoric 1.1 (1968): 1-14. JSTOR. Web. 24 Sept. 2011. Herrick, James A. "An Overview of Rhetoric." The History and Theory of Rhetoric: an Introduction. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. 1-30. Print. Lancioni, Judith. "The Rhetoric of the Frame: Revisioning Archival Photographs in The Civil War." Visual Rhetoric: A Reader in Communication and American Culture. Los Angeles: Sage, 2008. 105-117. Print. The Social Network. Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2010. Film.