The Social Network: "I Believe I Deserve Some Recognition"

In 2010, director David Fincher released the film The Social Network about the creation of the social networking website Facebook. Before it came out many people were skeptical about how the story of the foundation of a website could possibly make for a good movie. When it was released many viewers were surprised by the deeper themes the film discussed like friendship, greed, and, above all, masculinity in the 21^st century.

At the center of the film is Mark Zuckerberg, a brilliant but introverted Harvard student. After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he creates Facebook, which starts out as just a Harvard campus directory. After the website becomes part of the cultural zeitgeist, Zuckerberg becomes a billionaire, but ends up alone at the end of the movie. The film explicitly paints Mark as the epitome of a 21^st century man. He is a person who is not aggressive in person but is instead ruthless when behind a computer. He is a man whose diminutive physical appearance hides a quiet anger resulting from exclusion from “normal” masculinity. Mark’s power does not come from a brute frame or muscle strength like the stereotypical man. His authority stems from his intelligence and the influence it has over people.

He is what men see as power in the 21^st century - not strength or good physical appearance, but intelligence and the ability to change the world with it.

That is another aspect that the film tackles: the changing of the guard from the old type of man to the new. In the movie, two twin brothers sue Zuckerberg because they claim he stole their idea for Facebook. Zuckerberg ultimately settles out of court but in a sense “beats” them. The two brothers are large, athletic, and good-looking prototypical males. The Social Network perfectly encapsulates the first decade of the 21^st century as one where the imposing force of conventional masculinity was outwitted and overcome by the smaller, albeit just as dangerous, intellectual male.