The Social Network (2010), directed by David Fincher, visualizes the journey that Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin took to create the original Facebook. Their journey begins as undergraduates at Harvard when Zuckerberg creates a website called FaceMash where students can rank girls against one another based on attractiveness. The website manages to crash the entire Harvard computer network, and Zuckerberg becomes known as a computer wiz around campus (and an egotistical pig to women).
The attention surrounding FashMash results in Zuckerberg being approached by the Winklevoss twins, who ask Zuckerberg to create a website for their social media platform idea. Zuckerberg essentially steals the idea, which creates a long line of similar events where Zuckerberg sacrifices his relationships with friends and colleagues for the success of Facebook. As a result, Zuckerberg must make massive settlements with the Winklevoss’ and Eduardo, and face the fact that even after all the money and fame of Facebook, he is essentially alone. The movie paints a dramatic story of Facebook’s backstory and the bloody fight that took place to get on top of the company– now valued at roughly 377 billion dollars.
It is unsettling to consider the pattern of personality types seen in some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs of our time. Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk for example all share personalities that one would consider as narcissistic, selfish, and callous. In other words, most of their personalities would be labeled as textbook sociopaths. Zuckerberg, for example, screwed over Eduardo multiple times throughout the movie for social and financial gain. This series of events is similar to how Jobs, Bezos, and Musk rose to power themselves.
This is not to say that these men are not incredibly driven, creative, and visionary. Our society today would be entirely different and arguably less successful without the existence of people like Mark Zuckerberg. So, what does this say about the necessary qualities to be a successful disrupter in the tech industry? Would Zuckerberg have gotten Facebook to where it was now if he collaborated fairly with Eduardo rather than cutting him out of the company entirely? Had he taken the fair and just routes all along, Facebook may not be the tech giant that it is today.
As someone who has never seen The Social Network, your summary and analysis were super helpful! I agree with you, it’s scary to think about the common traits that all of these tech moguls seem to have in common. And the fact of the matter is, regardless of how horribly they treated people along the way, they ended up successful in their fields. These big whigs’ success stories promote the idea that you have to be able to do whatever it takes to succeed, which is a scary message to be sharing with young, up-and-coming entrepreneurs. It’s also frightening to apply this mentality to female business professionals. As we’ve discussed in class, society sets different expectations women. While a “dominant” man is often thought of as being strong powerful, a woman exhibiting the same traits will likely be viewed as being “too much.” I am curious if Mark Zuckerburg’s tactics would have been as successful had he been a women.
This movie has been on my list to watch for awhile now, and it’s looking like I have to get to it – ha! I cannot believe that the true origins of Facebook revolve around men objectifying women but I can say that its probably only the first of many red flags. It’s such an interesting point that you make how Zuckerberg valued his creation above all else, ruining his friendship and rearranging his priorities. The fact that Jobs, Bezos, Musk, and more can all be lumped into this category of tech white men who’ve got some specific values. I think I definitely need to watch this film to get my own idea of the bigger picture and backstory of Facebook but I think that this is a conversation we can definitely continue.
I think your question applies to all “successful people” and “famous people in history”. But for this film, we can’t use the so-called traditional labels to define the nature of a person, there is no so-called good person, there is no so-called bad person. Traditional social views, morals, and so forth were shattered here, with a single, unrelenting blow. And this is the age we live in, the Internet age.
As someone who has never watched the Social Network, even though I know what happens, I feel compelled to watch it. I never knew Zuckerberg’s beginnings. It is really disheartening to hear the multiple negative ways in which Facebook, arguably the top social media platform company ever created, began. Even though Zuckerberg had to face the consequences of his wrongdoing and end up alone in the end, as you say, I can’t imagine he’s that sad to be swimming in his fortune. He still won in the end, and this is the unfortunate truth of the situation. You make a great connection between those top technology names that virtually everyone knows about, but I don’t want you to be right! It’s frustrating to know that those who have been the most successful have not taken high roads or have qualities that many believe to be sociopathic. Having morals should always make one move higher, not the opposite.