The Social Network
Content
Main 1 Sophie Main Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric 10 October 2013 Anti-social Networking The film The Social Network, directed by David Fincher, follows the story of Harvard undergraduate student Mark Zuckerberg. After a bad breakup with his girlfriend, Mark is inspired to create an exclusive online site for Harvard students that rates girls based on attractiveness. One thing leads to another, and pretty soon Mark is the CEO of one of the largest networking sites in the world: Facebook. Although Mark creates Facebook for the purpose of being popular and connecting with people on a deeper level, he seems depressed and lonely throughout the course of the movie. Several scenes in the film evoke an emotional response in viewers through the use of rhetoric. The story is told not only through the characters’ actions, but through the way they are presented with the use of rhetorical strategies. Even the character’s clothes say something about their personalities. The film The Social Network draws the audience in through the use of immediacy, and effectively conveys Mark’s isolation by employing various framing and sound techniques. The effective use of transparent immediacy in the film draws in the audience. The first scene of the movie opens with Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica Albright having a conversation in a dimly lit restaurant. It’s a setting that could be seen in everyday life, so viewers immediately feel a connection with the scene and characters. This is an example of immediacy; the audience forgets they are watching a movie, and as a result, they feel more attached to the characters. In their book Remediation: Understanding New Media, Jay David Bolter and Richard
Main 2 Grusin discus their definition of immediacy when they say, “In order to create a sense of presence, virtual reality should come as close as possible to our daily visual experience. Its graphic space should be continuous and full of objects and should fill the viewer’s field of vision without rupture” (22). This definition fits this scene in the movie because there are no special effects, distractions, or sound tracks playing in this scene. The lighting is dim, creating a somber and relaxed mood. Everything is as you would expect it to be in a restaurant, and therefore you feel like you are right there with the characters. While Mark and Erica are speaking, the camera angle switches back and forth on their faces. While some may believe this back-and-forth filming technique draws attention to the medium, thereby contradicting the idea of immediacy, these changes in camera angle are not actively perceived by viewers. Instead, the individual close-ups add to the intensity of the conversation between Mark and his girlfriend. As the argument intensifies, the shots get closer and closer to the subjects’ faces, capturing the viewers’ attention. Mark’s isolation is displayed effectively through the use of camera angles and filming techniques. After Mark’s bitter exchange with Erica, he heads back to his dorm in the dark, rainy night. We follow Mark from an aerial perspective, watching him weave in and out of groups of people who are laughing, partying, and having fun. Mark is running, which shows how upset he is from breaking up with his girlfriend. He is alone the entire way, keeping his head down and not exchanging a word with anyone he passes by. In The Rhetoric of the Frame, Judith Lancioni discusses the power of slow panning on a viewer’s perception when she states, “The slow camera movement also gives viewers time to contemplate the image and to question its significance. The more time viewers spend moving through the illusionary depths of the image, the more significance that image takes on” (110). The filmmakers purposely draw out this scene to stress
Main 3 Mark’s loneliness. Another instance where the camera angle is used as a rhetorical strategy is in the very last scene of the movie. Mark is talking with law student Marylin Delpy about his case with the Winklevoss twins and his former best friend Eduardo Saverin. He tries to connect with Marylin by asking to get food together, but just like in the case of his ex girlfriend, he is rejected. In the scene, Mark is sitting down and hunched over and Marylin is standing up at the head of the table. The camera is positioned so she looks taller and more menacing than Mark. This shows the audience how little Mark has changed from the start of the film. Despite his great success and wealth, he is still unable to connect with other people, especially women. Another contribution to the power of the film’s rhetoric is the use of sound. In the first scene, where Mark is running back to his dorm, we flash briefly to another location where the exclusive group, The Phoenix, is having a raging party. The producers use the rhetorical strategy of contrast to emphasize Mark’s isolation. At the party music is blasting, people are dancing and laughing, and everyone seems to be popular and beautiful. The camera switches back to Mark making his long trek across campus; the disparity in moods between the two scenes is drastic. He is utterly and completely alone. When Mark gets back to his room and begins working on the algorithm for his website, he is blogging at the same time about his hatred for Erica. All we hear during the scenes of Mark are his typing away at his keyboard, talking rapidly to himself about the constituents of the site, and bashing Erica. This gives the audience a good comparison of what life is like for a social reject like Mark to the average college students who are enjoying their weekends. Mark’s clothes and attitude reflect how little he cares of the formalities of business. Filmmakers relay this message to viewers in one of Mark’s business meetings by showing a close up of his feet next to a well dressed man’s feet. It is only for a brief moment, but it says a
Main 4 lot about his attitude towards being successful in the business world. This again is a display of Mark’s isolation from the social world. He clearly creates Facebook for the purpose of having lots of friends, being famous, and most importantly, getting his girlfriend Erica back. He couldn’t care less about the millions of dollars he is making. The fact that he wants Erica back is especially evident at the end of the movie when we see him refreshing her profile page to see if she has accepted his friend request or not. The camera slowly pans in on Mark’s face and we see his expression of pure depression. This is another example of framing being used as a rhetorical strategy. As the frame zooms in very slowly, Mark’s unhappiness is made especially apparent to viewers. This scene effectively appeals to viewers’ emotions, inspiring a sense of pity in them for the main character despite the fact that he is portrayed as the “bad guy” for the majority of the film. It’s fascinating how such simple things like camera angle, sound, and apparel can have such a huge effect on the audience’s perception of the film. These rhetorical elements are things we do not actively pay attention to while watching a movie, but they nevertheless have a great effect on our subconscious thought. Without the use of these rhetorical strategies, the film wouldn’t have had as much of an effect on the audience. Viewers would have understood the general message, but it wouldn’t connect with them as much on an emotional level. Rhetoric has the power to draw the audience into the medium itself, making them feel as if they know the characters personally. This was a prevalent theme in the The Social Network; by the end of the movie, we felt great sympathy for Mark even though he was the one at fault.
Main 5 Bibliography
Bolter, J. David, and Richard A. Grusin. "Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remmediation." Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999. 22. Web. Lancioni, Judith. "The Rhetoric of the Frame." 110. Print.
Main 2 Grusin discus their definition of immediacy when they say, “In order to create a sense of presence, virtual reality should come as close as possible to our daily visual experience. Its graphic space should be continuous and full of objects and should fill the viewer’s field of vision without rupture” (22). This definition fits this scene in the movie because there are no special effects, distractions, or sound tracks playing in this scene. The lighting is dim, creating a somber and relaxed mood. Everything is as you would expect it to be in a restaurant, and therefore you feel like you are right there with the characters. While Mark and Erica are speaking, the camera angle switches back and forth on their faces. While some may believe this back-and-forth filming technique draws attention to the medium, thereby contradicting the idea of immediacy, these changes in camera angle are not actively perceived by viewers. Instead, the individual close-ups add to the intensity of the conversation between Mark and his girlfriend. As the argument intensifies, the shots get closer and closer to the subjects’ faces, capturing the viewers’ attention. Mark’s isolation is displayed effectively through the use of camera angles and filming techniques. After Mark’s bitter exchange with Erica, he heads back to his dorm in the dark, rainy night. We follow Mark from an aerial perspective, watching him weave in and out of groups of people who are laughing, partying, and having fun. Mark is running, which shows how upset he is from breaking up with his girlfriend. He is alone the entire way, keeping his head down and not exchanging a word with anyone he passes by. In The Rhetoric of the Frame, Judith Lancioni discusses the power of slow panning on a viewer’s perception when she states, “The slow camera movement also gives viewers time to contemplate the image and to question its significance. The more time viewers spend moving through the illusionary depths of the image, the more significance that image takes on” (110). The filmmakers purposely draw out this scene to stress
Main 3 Mark’s loneliness. Another instance where the camera angle is used as a rhetorical strategy is in the very last scene of the movie. Mark is talking with law student Marylin Delpy about his case with the Winklevoss twins and his former best friend Eduardo Saverin. He tries to connect with Marylin by asking to get food together, but just like in the case of his ex girlfriend, he is rejected. In the scene, Mark is sitting down and hunched over and Marylin is standing up at the head of the table. The camera is positioned so she looks taller and more menacing than Mark. This shows the audience how little Mark has changed from the start of the film. Despite his great success and wealth, he is still unable to connect with other people, especially women. Another contribution to the power of the film’s rhetoric is the use of sound. In the first scene, where Mark is running back to his dorm, we flash briefly to another location where the exclusive group, The Phoenix, is having a raging party. The producers use the rhetorical strategy of contrast to emphasize Mark’s isolation. At the party music is blasting, people are dancing and laughing, and everyone seems to be popular and beautiful. The camera switches back to Mark making his long trek across campus; the disparity in moods between the two scenes is drastic. He is utterly and completely alone. When Mark gets back to his room and begins working on the algorithm for his website, he is blogging at the same time about his hatred for Erica. All we hear during the scenes of Mark are his typing away at his keyboard, talking rapidly to himself about the constituents of the site, and bashing Erica. This gives the audience a good comparison of what life is like for a social reject like Mark to the average college students who are enjoying their weekends. Mark’s clothes and attitude reflect how little he cares of the formalities of business. Filmmakers relay this message to viewers in one of Mark’s business meetings by showing a close up of his feet next to a well dressed man’s feet. It is only for a brief moment, but it says a
Main 4 lot about his attitude towards being successful in the business world. This again is a display of Mark’s isolation from the social world. He clearly creates Facebook for the purpose of having lots of friends, being famous, and most importantly, getting his girlfriend Erica back. He couldn’t care less about the millions of dollars he is making. The fact that he wants Erica back is especially evident at the end of the movie when we see him refreshing her profile page to see if she has accepted his friend request or not. The camera slowly pans in on Mark’s face and we see his expression of pure depression. This is another example of framing being used as a rhetorical strategy. As the frame zooms in very slowly, Mark’s unhappiness is made especially apparent to viewers. This scene effectively appeals to viewers’ emotions, inspiring a sense of pity in them for the main character despite the fact that he is portrayed as the “bad guy” for the majority of the film. It’s fascinating how such simple things like camera angle, sound, and apparel can have such a huge effect on the audience’s perception of the film. These rhetorical elements are things we do not actively pay attention to while watching a movie, but they nevertheless have a great effect on our subconscious thought. Without the use of these rhetorical strategies, the film wouldn’t have had as much of an effect on the audience. Viewers would have understood the general message, but it wouldn’t connect with them as much on an emotional level. Rhetoric has the power to draw the audience into the medium itself, making them feel as if they know the characters personally. This was a prevalent theme in the The Social Network; by the end of the movie, we felt great sympathy for Mark even though he was the one at fault.
Main 5 Bibliography
Bolter, J. David, and Richard A. Grusin. "Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remmediation." Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999. 22. Web. Lancioni, Judith. "The Rhetoric of the Frame." 110. Print.
