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Justin Castonguay Dr. Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric, Section 11 October 10th, 2013 The Social Network: Character Development In the Social Network, directed by David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin, it shows how the social network Facebook was invented. It shows how Mark Zuckerberg was able to create a website that was able to connect college students throughout the country and eventually the entire world. However, Mark Zuckerbergs quest to become a worldrenowned programmer and entrepreneur was far from easy. The director used several rhetorical strategies to capture the attention of the viewer. The producers use specific songs that correspond with the personality of each character. They also use the camera to reveal the personality of each major character in the film. Lastly, the use of pathos (appeal to emotion) is frequently used to persuade the view to feel a certain way towards each character. As James A. Herrick says in An Overview of Rhetoric the directors of movies must be able to make an educated guess about the audience she is addressing (8). These three rhetorical strategies are used throughout the movie and influence the audience to identify the protagonists and antagonists and also to feel sympathy for protagonists like Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin and to feel dislike towards antagonists like Sean Parker and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Through the use of

2 Castonguay these rhetorical strategies, Mark is depicted by the director either as a victim who was controlled by Sean Parker or as a villain who abandoned his friendships in order to be successful in the programming world. The importance of the focus of the camera on specific characters and the lighting on them at any given point is emphasized immediately in the first scene when Mark Zuckerberg and Erica Albright are together at The Thirsty Scholar Pub. The way the camera focuses on Erica Albright and Mark Zuckerberg is by the way of immediacy which Bolter and Grusin described as immersive, which means that it is a medium whose purpose is to disappear. (21) We see the camera rapidly change its focus on Mark to Erica, and the way Mark speaks condescendingly and rudely to Erica and is completely oblivious to his horrible behavior, which gives the viewer an initial opinion that Mark is a pretentious jerk. The camera focuses on Mark Zuckerbergs face with half in the light and half in the dark reveals this dark side of Mark. This is symbolic of the fact that Mark at times genuinely cares about people, however has a side to him that explains why he is unable to establish a relationship with anyone around him. For example, Mark, besides Eduardo, had no friends. Just colleagues who he was never was able to connect with on a personal basis due to the fact that Mark is very unapproachable and is very impersonal to anyone he does become in contact with. That is why Mark is all alone at the end of the movie without even Eduardo. The camera shows the Winklevoss twins in a way that makes the viewer resent them as they take on the status of the typical Harvard student. They have a surplus of wealth and are from a well-established old money family. The camera masterly contrasts the wealth of the Winklevoss twins with the wealth of Eduardo Saverin. Eduardo Saverin is depicted as a noble and loyal friend to Mark

3 Castonguay Zuckerberg. Eduardo is a friend who genuinely cares for Mark and helped him to the best of his ability until Sean Parker intervened. Sharply contrasted, the camera shows the Winklevoss twins as men who always win and always have things go in their favor. The camera emphasizes on the over-confident Winklevoss Twins and depicts them as sore losers when Mark Zuckerberg was able to create a website that surpassed the ingenuity and potential of Harvard.edu. Lastly, the camera focuses on Sean Parker as an antagonist by focusing on how Sean is tearing apart Mark and Eduardo so he can take advantage of Mark. During the scene where Sean Parker woke up next to a Stanford girl, the camera focuses on his face and once again we see a shadow symbolizing the evil that Sean Parker is ready to inflict upon Mark and Eduardo. When he says, I need to find you Mark Zuckerberg the look of desire to take advantage of Mark Zuckerberg was visibly present. The camera also focuses on Sean Parkers face when Mark Zuckerberg tells him that Eduardo Saverin didnt come to Palo Alto, California with Mark. It revealed a face that saw his chance to take advantage of Mark and make a lot of money from it now that Eduardo Saverin, who saw through him from the very beginning, was out of the picture. At that moment, Sean Parker made his move to brainwash Mark Zuckerberg. The use of music is used prolifically throughout the movie. The most significant use of music was when the White Stripes Ball and Biscuit was used at the beginning of the movie. Ball and Biscuit is a song about a man who is gifted with special powers and abilities which is a biblical allusion to belief that the seventh son of a seventh son is born with super powers. This music is used to foreshadow the fact that Mark Zuckerberg is one of the most intelligent humans to ever live. His brilliance is his super power and he was gifted with this ability in order to change the world like he has. The isolation of

4 Castonguay Mark Zuckerberg was also made very visible to the viewer throughout the entire movie. After the breakup of Mark Zuckerberg and Erica Albright, the song playing while Mark is running back to Harvard to avoid being alone, has a solemn and depressing tone to it. This song corresponds perfectly with the mood of Mark Zuckerberg at that moment. The music is used to convey the feeling of isolation because of the depressing and downbeat tone, which symbolizes Marks depressed tone. We witness a change in the music when Mark starts to vent out his frustration via blog and then his Face Smash rampage. The speed of the music increases to go along with the speed at which Mark is doing his programming to blog and create Face Smash simultaneously and also the fact that his mood shifts from a depressed one to one that is occupied by his brilliant invention of Face Smash. Finally, the music at the end of the movie has a slightly upbeat rhythm, which corresponds with the evolution of Mark Zuckerberg as he attempts to become Facebook friends with Erica Albright, which is the culmination of Marks evolution from stubborn and arrogant nature to one that is more apologetic and sincere.

While initially the viewer may understand Mark as a villain who thinks of himself as superior because of intelligence, as is evident by the way Mark becomes jealous of Eduardos admission in the Phoenix Final Club, the way Mark Zuckerberg is ultimately depicted by the movie draws sympathy from the viewer. Mark is depicted as lonely and slightly depressed who becomes overwhelmed by the success that Facebook was able to generate. We even feel sympathetic for Mark while he is being rude and condescending to Erica Albright because he is completely oblivious to his rudeness. His inability to establish relationships is made very well known by the directors and the viewer feels

5 Castonguay even more sympathetic for the Mark Zuckerberg when at the end of the movie, despite him accomplishing so much with Facebook and generating billions in revenue, he is even more alone than he was at the beginning of the movie since he destroyed his relationship with his former best friend and Facebook CFO, Eduardo Saverin. At the end of the movie, the camera focuses on Mark all alone constantly hitting refresh in hopes that Erica Albright would accept his Facebook friend request. This shows how desperate Mark is to make any type of connection with anyone even if its a weak connection made via the Internet. The director makes Mark Zuckerberg out to be a man who was taken advantage of and brainwashed by Sean Parker. The director also focuses on the evolution of Mark from a guy who was insensitive and didnt dress well to a guy who realized that he made mistakes and genuinely regrets them and also dresses like a man who cares about other peoples opinions about him. However, despite the success financially that Mark experienced through Facebook the camera focuses on him as still being unsuccessful in life because he has large sums of money, but has no friends at the same time. The Social Network emphasizes the use of the medium to focus on specific details such as lighting and how it foreshadows the personality of each character, the effects that the selection of the soundtrack have on the depiction of the emotions of Mark Zuckerberg throughout movie, and finally how the viewer feels sympathetic as they watch the evolution of Mark Zuckerberg who is desperately attempting to fix himself for the better to establish more relationships in his life and to rid himself of his constant loneliness and isolation.

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Work Cited

Bolter, Jay D., and Richard Grusin. "Immediacy, Hypermediacy, Remediation." N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print. Herrick, John A. "Overview of Rhetoric." N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print. Social Network. Director. David Fincher. Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin. 2010. DVD