This movie is SO good, I want you to drop what you’re doing and run to the theatre IMMEDIATELY to see it!
Forget the issue of accuracy. The reason I loved this film wasn’t the story, but the essence, the inherent kernel, that one person with a great idea can change the world!
Well, maybe it wasn’t Mark Zuckerberg’s idea. But you can credit him with great execution. And navigating the gauntlet of friends and hangers-on to ultimately triumph. Mark may be an asshole, but if you don’t think you have to sacrifice friendships, do what’s expedient in order to make it, you don’t know the history of Madonna.
And isn’t that just the point.
In the twentieth century, the way you gave the middle finger to the establishment was being an entertainer. You achieved notoriety, made a ton of dough from your fans and went your own way. Now, entertainers are the most sold-out, whored-out people on the planet. Tell me what to do, oh great record company President! I need to tie in with corporations to get my message out. It’s not good enough to stand on its own. I need help in order to make it. Use me, abuse me, because my only goal is to become famous. Sure, I’d like to make some coin along the way, but never enough where I can throw my weight around, where I can truly mess with the fat cats that run this country.
That’s what rock stars used to do. Beholden to no one, they spoke their inner truths and moved generations. Now, that’s left to techies. The public enters the information, but the techies create a game, a framework that enriches lives and themselves at the same time. Hell, isn’t that the way ROCK STARS used to do it?
So Zuckerberg went to Harvard. Watching this movie, you can see why Sarah Palin and Christine O’Donnell have traction. Because the dumb and uneducated are powerless in comparison to the highly educated. Yup, the best and the brightest at Harvard. You don’t have to go there to make it, it’s just that your odds are much better if you do. It’s not only the raw intelligence and the Crimson imprimatur, it’s the sense of entitlement. There’s no doubt, I can succeed, look, I made it this far.
Then again, Zuckerberg wouldn’t make it into a final club. And ain’t that the point. At what time are you gonna give up the rat race and go your own way. Get good grades to get into a good college to go to a good graduate school to slave like a dog to make partner and then… Did you see that Goldman Sachs TERMINATES PARTNERSHIPS? Once you were a partner, now you’re not, tough noogies, we’ve got to make way for the young ‘uns.
Or the rich and established, like the music industry infrastructure. They don’t want to shepherd you to greatness and a career, they just want to make sure they keep their jobs and get RICH! The laugh’s on you if you’re playing with the usual suspects. Jimmy Iovine doesn’t need YOU to be successful, he just needs SOMEONE to be successful! And if your career stalls in the process, so be it.
Everybody’s so willing to sell out in music.
Mark Zuckerberg didn’t want to sell out.
He makes this clear in both the movie and real life.
THE SITE CAN’T CRASH! NO ONE CAN SIGN OFF! WE CAN’T MONETIZE TOO SOON! How come Zuckerberg knows that it’s about having credibility and keeping the customer satisfied and no one in the music industry does?
Tom Freston famously lost MySpace to Rupert Murdoch. Who’s got the last laugh now? MySpace is a disaster, always was. Each page is a unique melange that stalls your computer and makes you think you got lost in the mind of a twelve year old. Whereas Facebook is clean and functional. Always was, still is.
Despite the gargantuan privacy issues in the Facebook world, at least you can control who’s your friend and what they see better than on MySpace.
And no one can believe Zuckerberg hasn’t sold out. Sure, Microsoft owns a bit of Facebook, but aren’t you supposed to make a deal, take the money and run? Not if you believe in yourself, not if you believe that money is secondary to satiation. What are you gonna do with all that cash, lie on the beach? Gets pretty damn boring, I’ll tell you.
When I went to college, we were intrigued by the rock stars, we wanted to know everything about them, we needed to buy the records and go to the shows.
Now we’re intrigued with the techies. We want to log on, whether it be on our desktops or our mobile devices. We want to know what’s happening, we want to plug in, we want to PARTICIPATE! Where’s the participation in music?
The best and the brightest don’t go into music. Hell, Sean Parker puts down the music business so briefly and so eloquently in this movie. Makes you laugh at Paul McGuinness and Jim Urie trying to save the record industry, which really means saving the old way. Hell, that’s like Verizon dropping FIOS and saying we’ve got to go back to landlines, bitching that everybody wants to go mobile and they want to text instead of talk. You follow the people, you don’t yell and tell them to come back.
Sure, we want money, but even more we want power. Not to exercise willy-nilly, but to impact and change the world.
One man with a laptop can do that.
We used to say one song could change the world. Maybe that was true, once upon a time, but today the mainstream is infatuated with Katy Perry when their supposed customers know who the big-breasted singer is, but would much rather update their Facebook page, read their wall than stop and go to one of her shows. What exactly is Katy’s message?
Watching this movie makes you want to run from the theatre, grab your laptop and build your own empire. You’ve got the ability. If you’re not starting, it’s sour grapes, you just don’t believe in yourself enough, you’re just not motivated enough.
I went to see this movie because Jim Guerinot left me a message about it. And I could hear the excitement in his voice. I didn’t even bother to read the reviews, I don’t know those people, I don’t trust them, what’s their agenda?
And Jim’s client, Trent Reznor, did the soundtrack. I read about it, but didn’t expect it to be SO GOOD! So ominous, setting the tone so well. Trent may be the new Danny Elfman.
And everyone in the old media world bitching about accuracy… They just don’t get it, they’ve become irrelevant. This one dude trumped them. Sure, he may have sociability issues. Sure, he may hide behind his hoodie. Sure, he may have no friends. But he built Facebook, which works as well as an Apple product when Microsoft and Nokia and RIM, established companies, can’t seem to accomplish this. He changed the world and he’s still in control.
Screw the tentpole movies. "The Social Network" is not a franchise, but a film that captures the zeitgeist. Go see it. RIGHT NOW! YOUR JAW WILL DROP!
