As mentioned by Grigorly Malyutin in a previous blog post, the Social Network is not a true documentary[1]. “Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, stated that ‘They [the film's creators] just can't wrap their head around the idea that someone might build something because they like building things.’”[1] [2]. The film was inspired by a fictional novel entitled The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal[3]. The title of the novel certainly shows the books intentions. The Books first line says “The Accidental Billionaires is a dramatic, narrative account based on dozens of interviews, hundreds of sources, and thousands of pages of documents, including records from several court proceedings.”[3]. However, it is not a true story, it is loosely based on events that have been documented. They dramatize the aspects of the story that will seem sexy to the mainstream. The girl that supposedly inspired it all, does not exist, but sex sells, and everyone can related to being dumped. This generation especially understands the mistakes we make on the Internet when we are angry and heartbroken. The things we angrily post on the Internet about our ex can come back to haunt us. How the relationship status came about was dramatized in the movie, because this is something else that intrigues everyone about Facebook. If there is a relationship status change in my newsfeed, it is always a big deal. Who got together, what couple broke up, and who is available all feeds into our fascination with relationships. I actually picked up the book The Accidental Billionares at the airport, which says something about its content. It is meant to be a quick read that keeps you riveted all the way through, and it forgoes the truth to do so. The film follows a similar vein adding a lot of material that didn’t really happen just to get viewers to buy tickets. This is less a film about the development of a phenomena that has taken over our generation, than a tale of sex and money, which are usually indicators of a box office hit.
[1] Malyutin, Grigorly. "The Biggest Mistake." Globalmedianarratives. Blogspot, 5/15/2011. Web. 15 May 2011.
[2] Child, Ben. Mark Zuckerberg rejects his portrayal in The Social Network. Guardian.co.uk. Published October 20, 2010.
[3] Allen, Nick. "'The Accidental BIllionares' vs "The Social Network." TSR BLog. The Score Card Review, 10/1/2010. Web. 15 May 2011.
Irene,
ReplyDeleteI like how you emphasize the power of sex and money. I agree that these are the two very true components of information value in the context of "The Social Network." I think the film's ability to capture the aspects of life that college students hold to be the most relevant and crucial as well as to capture the tendency towards a selfish state of mind at that age is what made the film so successful.