A Creative Dive into Dissecting “The Social Network” through Stuart’s lens

Reviewing the movie 15 years later

To start this review, I want you to understand that “The Social Network isn’t just a film about Mark Zuckerberg but one that explain deeper on different concepts. It ranges from Friendship (00:25:00), betrayal of friendship (01:32:00), ambition (01:00:00), Power, abuse of power, the downfall of the abuser of power (01:52:00), the rise of social networking and the downside of innovation and so on. The movie was directed by David Fincher in 2010 and it wasn’t a surprise because looking at his past works, he seems like the type to be into psychologically complex movies. The film encompasses the complicated life of Mark or should I say conflicted because he’s brilliant but socially awkward as we see in the first five minutes of the movie where he was having an argument with Erica. Even though he turned an idea into one of the biggest tech companies in the world, underneath all that is his emotionally isolated life. In this blog post, I would be dissecting the movie using Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding theory that is the message David Fincher communicates in the film, how viewers will interpret this message and how the editing and performance influence these messages.

First, we’ll explore how David Fincher used mise en scene to help the viewers understand the power, gender, class and ambition portrayed in the movie. On the subject of power, it was encoded in the scene where Eduardo found out he was set up and was betrayed by his own friend Mark (01:32:00). That moment showed what power can be abused when one is intoxicated by it. The documents laying around and the office space are all in reference to Mark’s cold control using legal means to dominate his friend. On the subject of gender, we’ll notice that throughout the movie, the women were always side characters for example at 00:54:20 the girls asked if there was anything they could do and Mark answered bluntly, No. Also, women were mostly shown party dressed, dancing and drinking while the guys were the ones in control, behind the laptop doing the serious tech work, it further emphasized how the female gender is objectified while the male gender dominates the tech world.

Furthermore, when it comes to class we can see the vast difference between Mark and the Winklevoss twins. we see Mark’s costume is mostly flipflops, hoodies and T-shirts indicating Mark’s supposedly middle-class background and his low status among other Harvard elite students while the twins are always dressed in formal blazers and fancy suits representing their wealthy and posh background and how they fit perfectly into Harvard’s polished culture. Mark’s ambition is shown at the beginning (00:08:00) where he was coding furiously, hacking into university systems while drunk-blogging angrily after his breakup. The fact that he could do all these and launch face smash that same night shows how his intense drive to succeed in a mission to expand his idea makes him do bold, ruthless things. It shows he becomes unstoppable when he is ambitious willing to block out all distractions like sleep or friends to achieve his goal that night.

Moving forward, I’ll discuss how I as a critic, decode and interpret the messages in the movie. I asked myself whether my reading on the Fincher’s encoded messages is dominant, negotiated or oppositional? Based on my focus on gender roles, toxic ambitions and power abuse, I’d say I’m on the negotiated stance because even though I agree with somethings, I can’t help but question the value it represents. For example, the scene where Mark was assigning roles to Eduardo and his colleagues and when the girls asked if they could do anything, he told them no in a curt way (00:54:20) didn’t sit right with me, I mean he just insinuated the girls were completely useless to be a part of his big plan, this just shows how the movies portrays women as the background character in the tech space which is totally not right.

Additionally, the scene where Mark shows himself after betraying his friend (01:43:00) made me pause. This is because from the beginning of the movie, he was portrayed as a harmless genius in flipflops who felt wronged and wanted to prove himself but as he grew in power, he became colder and his true colors started to show, the movie showed his punishment but still seemed to admired him at the end. I get it, he’s a genius but he gets off too easy on how he treats others.

Finally, Let’s not forget the evaluation of the editing and the performance in the movie “The Social Network”. The editing in the opening scene for example depicts tension in their conversation (00:02:00–00:06:00) using quick cuts and close up shots. The performance by Jesse Eisenberg, the one who acted as Mark also shows his real-life awkwardness and pride. It helps us understand his lack of emotional awareness clearly with how uncomfortable he made Erica feel with his words and actions. These editing choices and performances help us connect with the characters and follow the story closely. In all, I don’t fully oppose the encoded message nor do I blindly accept it. That’s why my reading is negotiated and you, my lovely readers are free to decode it however you wish to, that’s why Stuart Hall’s model exists.

In conclusion, “The Social Network” has had a great impact today despite the fact that it was produced in 2010. It thought us that not everything that glitters is gold that is behind most of these successful people is a story that is not so pretty. It shows how even though success is a good thing, it always comes at a cost. Using Stuart’s model, I was able to reflect on how power can easily change one’s relationship and perspective of life. Also, the editing and performance allowed me feel the emotions of the characters and understand them better. It made me ask myself this question “ In chasing our goals and ambition like Mark, are we losing the people who matter most? How do we prevent these from happening? Dear readers, let me know your answers, share your thoughts.