DECODING THE SOCIAL NETWORK: WHAT THE SOCIAL NETWORK SAYS

 

The rise of technology has been a fascinating and life-changing experience, leading to an improvement in most of our everyday activities, the sounds once known to be regarded as normal has been replaced with new sounds, the sound of grinding stone used for the crushing and grinding of spices and different ingredient has been replaced with the hum of the blender, the sound of shoes on the ground has been replaced with the roaring and honks of vehicles, letters weren’t left out of the equation, the writing of letters replaced with the pinging of phones. One of the transformative things technology brought about is social media, the ability to connect or even disconnect, you can say, from others, it has helped in building relationships of all kinds and even building connections for success. David Fincher’s The Social Network, released in 2010, shows us how the change in social interaction occurred through the creation of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg, a platform used to connect with anyone across the globe. The film also follows through the legal battles that Mark faced surrounding the creation of Facebook, the personal cost used to building it. In this review, I will analyze The Social Network using Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding theory to explore how meaning is constructed and interpreted. Stuart Hall’s theory tells us that the media encodes a message in any work, which shapes how it can be delivered to the audience.

In The Social Network, David Fincher encodes the message of vision, power, gender and class in the film by using different film techniques like editing, narrative structure and performance. One of the film techniques, the narrative structure and not just any narrative structure, is the Barthes Enigma narrative code, which sets the tone for the film. It seeks to create suspense and curiosity through the questions or mysteries raised through the film. One of the instances where this was used was in the scene where Eduardo and the Winklevoss twins and their partner Divya Narendra sue Mark and legal settlements were happening in the office, there are instances of flashbacks and back to the present moment to create suspense in telling us who is saying the truth between them all. The Enigma code is used again when Eduardo, Mark’s “best friend” finds out his shares have been reduced, leaving us to wonder if this was actually Mark’s plan all along or if he was just manipulated by Sean Parker. Yet another moment was at the end of the movie Mark, now powerful and rich, we all think that’s what he wants but is seen sending a friend request to Erica (his ex-girlfriend who dumps him at the beginning of the movie) and keeps refreshing her page, leaving us to question if all that he did was to get successful or just for like a personal revenge. All these scenes leave us with a question, curious to know what is going on and what the actual truth is. The use of the Barthes Enigma narrative code was to raise questions around the power and ownership in the tech world, in this case Facebook because it was what was the “in thing” then, it asks the question, “who deserves the credit for the creation of Facebook?” showing us the power tussle between Mark and the Winklevoss twin and in terms of idea creation and eventually between Mark and Eduardo in terms of over the company.

In terms of editing, the film can be considered very sharp, fast-paced and seen as very effective as well. There are lots and lots of editing methods used in the film, which caused it to be very effective and even able to pass certain messages or even emotions to the audience. It is well-known how emotions and editing play a very important role in a film. The opening of the movie was shot perfectly, starting with a transition called the L/J cut, that is the audio from the next scene been cut into the current scene( the non-diegetic sound from the bar, the music and their conversation playing before the scene comes in) showing us a little about Zuckerberg’s personality, the cuts between both characters, sharp and fast, this is what we call the short shots; showing the urgency, chaos in their conversation also giving the expression of both characters and how the conversation was gradually turning bitter and giving more of a confrontational dialogue or like an intellectual argument. Close-up shots on Mark begin to cut Erica off more and more much more demonstrating who now has the upper hand in their conversation. Asides the short shots used in the film we also see, cross-cutting editing being used through the whole movie to alternating between two timelines, the present day, where Mark is facing two lawsuit between Eduardo and the Winklevoss twins and also telling the story of the past of Mark’s experience at Harvard, Eduardo’s version of events in his lawsuit and the Winklevoss twins version of events in their lawsuit, this is done to build tension and break down the movie into piece bits by bits revealing connections. The movie shows more of a deeply male-oriented world in entrepreneurship, it encodes gender and class differences through its view of who holds power and who stays invisible, like Erica, who appears for such a short time, showing up as a challenge or rather a motivation for Mark. The editing shows how women are sidelined in the world of tech through the quick cuttings of shots from female characters, the tying of women to only short roles and just social events encoding their roles as just background characters rather than active participants in the tech world.

However, the Social Network can be interpreted in many ways by the audience. This is exactly Stuart Hall’s point: to let the interpretation be decided by the audience. There are three readings or interpretations: the dominant, negotiated and oppositional. For the dominant reading, fully in agreement with the intended message of the movie, they can see the movie as a show of innovative and the creation of a very brilliant idea, Facebook, seeing Mark has a genius who changed the world through his brilliant and he came about to overcome his struggles of creating Facebook, they can see the betrayal of his friend and even lawsuits against him as the price which he has to pay for success, which is inevitably and necessary in a world full of competition especially in a tech world. This audience admires Mark’s hard work, determination and perseverance through the tough times and how he was eventually able to attain success, power and recognition. For the negotiated reading, the audience can interpret the movie as admiring the idea behind the creation of the social media, Facebook, how it has brought about significant change in social interaction round the world and even admire the fact that such idea was developed by a young boy of college age, it is worth emulating but also against Mark’s means of developing such idea through the Winklevoss twins initial idea, his non-chalant and even anti-social attitude towards everyone around him, him going on his blog to speak badly about his girlfriend after they broke up, sacrificing his friendship with his best friend for the growth of his company. The audience might also commend the smooth production of the movie but also question the roles of the female characters in the movie, limited and even sidelined, the movie show a male-dominated world where women are mostly in the background even though it is highly possible they were had the brains and intelligent, like Christy and Alice who are most like Harvard undergraduate who had the talent to be accepted in the school, it also shows how Mark and even the other boys had little regard for women, when Mark creates the website for girls to be graded according to their looks and other boys engage in the “game”. The viewer appreciates the story of innovation and change, but disagrees with Mark’s way of gaining his success and the role the women were subjected to play in the movie. For the oppositional reading, the audience doesn’t agree with the message of the movie, they disagree with Mark’s idea of been the hero but instead a selfish, betrayer, disregard for anyone, manipulator, self-centered person, showing how success is built on stepping on the toes of others with no regard for them, full of masculinity toxicity, gender, class and power structure. This audience sees the movie about the cost of success and the toxic nature of the tech culture rather than a story of innovation worthy of emulation. All these are interpretations from different readings of the movie.

The Social Network remains relevant even after more than a decade since its release, it highlights the rise of technology, the origin of one of the most influential platforms of time, Facebook, presenting a male-driven story of innovation and ambition. Through Mark’s story, we can see how success can often be attributed to control and sacrifice. We explored different techniques used in the movie and even different interpretations by the audience. The story reminds us not to question technology itself but instead the human behaviors and cultural values behind it, as it (technology) didn’t spring up by itself. So it leaves one to ask: Is success really success if it is achieved by stepping on others?