Social Acceptance in Fincher’s The Social Network

One caveat of the social media platform Facebook is the ability to “like” a person and to “unfriend” someone. With a simple mouse click, future social interaction and social approval of another is decided. When the 2010 dramatic film The Social Networkdepicted the founding and ensuing litigation of Facebook, a greater social issue was also circulated: Are there different rules regulating social acceptance depending upon if the relationship is an amiable friendship or a competitive business associate? This circumstance exists with the characters MarkZuckerbergand Eduardo Saverinas they create the company, Facebook. In the film The Social Network, the cinematography helps communicate the complexities within the desire to be socially accepted both in society at large and between friends.

A scene that represents complications in social acceptance comes towards the conclusion of the film and is a major turning point in the storyline. The scene starts with Eduardo walking into the Los Angeles Facebook offices after being in New York for a few months. Eduardo is there to celebrate Facebook’s one-billionth user and is greeted by the company’s lawyer. The lawyer asks Eduardo to sign a few papers. But as he reads them, Edwardo realizes that if he signs those papers, he will lose a significant amount of shares in the company. Being a business major, Eduardo knows right away that his friend and business partner Mark is trying to shut him out of the company. An enraged and desperate Eduardo marches towards Mark’s desk, loudly and angrily yelling Mark’s name. Company advisor Sean Parker notices Eduardo coming with a head of steam towards Mark’s desk and alerts Eduardo that Mark is “wired in”, meaning Mark is coding and cannot hear Eduardo screaming. In a fit of rage, Eduardo smashes Mark’s laptop, yelling at his friend for taking away his shares of the company. Eduardo threatens to sue Mark, stating that he is a cofounder of Facebook and will prove it. Security then escorts a furious Eduardo out of the Facebook office.

Perspective is a very significant element in this scene and throughout the film as well. The use of a shallow depth of field in certain scenes attempts to detach the characters from the others around them. In an interview, the cinematographer of The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth, agrees that the director, David Fincher, consciously tried to isolate the main character in the frame to express the isolation the character felt, with the people in the background visible but not in focus (Feinberg). In the beginning of the scene, Eduardo is looking through the conference room glass doors into the Facebook office. There are people walking by and many people sitting at desks, but because of the small depth of field, our eye goes to Mark who is in focus, sitting at his desk alone. This makes the film audience feel as though Eduardo only sees Mark out of all the people in the office and is ready to go confront him. After the frantic Eduardo smashes Marks computer, we jump forward to the deposition where Eduardo is asked how many shares everyone was diluted down to in comparison to his own. When being asked the questions, the two former friends Mark and Eduardo are the only two in focus. Although he is answering the lawyer’s question, the camera makes it seem that Eduardo is only talking to Mark, to emphasis the betrayal and unfairness of the situation. The rest of the lawyers are blurred out as both Mark and Eduardo stare at each other. Although the audience knows there are onlookers in the law office conference room, it is the intricacy of Mark and Edwardo’s relationship to one another that is made the focal point. Depth of field, in this case, enhances the storytelling to make the conversations and glaring between two combative friends feel more genuine.

Another cinematic element used in this scene is the usage of different camera positions. Many of the shots after Eduardo smashes Mark’s computer are from an angle that would be the point of view perspective of the character watching the others. For example, when Eduardo is yelling at Mark over the diluted shares in the company, the camera position is from the point of view of Mark. Since Mark is sitting down in his chair and looking up, it makes Eduardo seem to be in the position of power, yet at the same time Eduardo is the only one in the shot, making him seem vulnerable and alone. It could be said that because Eduardo is talking down to Mark he is trying to use a level of power to try to sway his friend to reconsider or simply to berate him. When the camera is positioned in the angle of the point of view of Eduardo, the audience sees Mark being looked down on, possibly insinuating a broader social disproval or scolding. Eduardo is looking down at Mark as a friend who is distressed at his friend’s actions, while Mark is not seeing Eduardo as a friend anymore, but instead as an unwanted business partner. The high-low camera positions help establish the imbalance of power occurring in the main characters’ altered relationship. The cameras in this scene are also positioned in a triangular set up where the conversation between Mark, Eduardo, and Sean is rotated to whoever is talking. The triangle represents the three-sided relationship Mark has with Eduardo. Mark has been Eduardo’s friend, business associate and now nemesis because of Mark’s betrayal. Yet Mark is somewhat being manipulated by Sean Parker’s opinions on how to make the business better. “Sean Parker enters the scene, ready to take Facebook to the next level even if it means leaving Eduardo behind as road kill” (Travers). The triangle of shots includes Sean, Mark, and Eduardo as they all not only influence the events unfolding, but also the changing acceptance of each other.

Shot duration is another element that can represent the mood of the characters and the overall message of the scene. When Eduardo is leaving the conference room to confront Mark for betraying his friendship, there is a mobile framing dolly shot of Eduardo storming up to Mark’s desk. The use of the long shot here is needed to show the anger and frustration that Eduardo is feeling at that moment. If the camera were to cut from this action, the audience would have some time to process the situation. Yet, instead the momentum of Eduardo’s strong emotions continues as the events unfold. Although Eduardo knows his fatal error was not wanting to make the company advertising funded, he still feels righteous because of Mark’s disloyalty for cutting him out of a company that he funded from the beginning. “If Saverin had stayed true, had gone to California and worked closely with Zuckerberg, this would be a different story, a story about Facebook’s co-founders, and how together they overcame the odds to launch the most successful enterprise of the 21st century” (Pesce). The reality is that this is not that story. Mark’s rejection of Eduardo is emphasized in the deposition when Eduardo tells the lawyers how much of his shares were given away. These court room shots are very quick cuts of shot-reverse-shot between Mark and Eduardo to show how they both feel while the facts of how many shares Eduardo lost is being told.

The Social Network encapsulates the yearning to be accepted by friends, not only on the social media platform Facebook, but also between the creators Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. Mark rejects Eduardo, his best friend and the company’s financial head, by trying to run him out of the business. This could have resulted because of Mark’s own poor social skills. Discussing Facebook, David Fincher stated, “The ultimate communication tool needed to be devised by someone who doesn’t have the best communication skills” (Knapp). Mark did not know how to tell Eduardo that he was becoming problematic to the company. So instead Mark tried to decrease his friend’s shares of the company to show him how he felt. By the end of the film, the audience is pondering whether or not Mark betrayed a friend or if he was even really friends with Eduardo at all, rather just after his investment money. “With the advertising tag line, “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies,” you have to wonder what the definition of “friends” is in this kind of social networking context” (Pattakos). Mark let down his best friend because he was seeking acceptance by Sean Parker, who had the business ideas that Mark agreed with, while Eduardo wanted Mark to accept his ideas causing him to be forced out of the company. The desire to be liked and accepted is a concept that Mark Zuckerberg knew well, and used in his website that is still incredibly popular today. The cinematography found in The Social Networkelevates the idea that friendships can be broken and manipulated by the desire to be liked and accepted.

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Works Cited

"Interview: Jeff Cronenweth, The Eyes Behind “The Social Network." Interview by Scott Feinberg. Scott Feinberg. N.p., 13 Jan. 2011. Web. 29 July 2014. http://scottfeinberg.com/cronenweth.

Knapp, Laurence F. David Fincher: Interviews. Jackson, MS: U.P. of Mississippi, 2014. Print.

Pattakos, Alex. "The Meaning of Friendship in a Social-Networked World." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Oct. 2010. Web. 09 May 2017.

Pesce, Mark. "The Bromance, the Betrayal, The Social Network." ABC News. N.p., 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 09 May 2017.

Travers, Peter. "The Social Network." Rolling Stone14 Oct. 2010: 1-3. Print.