Reviewing “The Social Network” through Stuart Hall Lens alongside the narrative structure

 

David Fincher movie: The Social Network which released in 2010 shows us the early life of the Facebook. The movie shows different narratives from the different people that where part of the Facebook Journey. The story however is centered around the Main character which is of course Mark Zuckerberg, how he got the inspiration of one of the fastest growing social media of all times to being the youngest billionaire. The main theme of the movie is what I consider the “Social Network” which shows how digital reliance/connections has reshaped human interactions. Example can be seen in the beginning of the movie where Mark Zuckerberg creates a website called Face Smash whichattracted over 10,000 students in 2 hours before it was later shut down around 4 to 5 o’clock in the morning (08:00-13:00). Another theme to consider would be the cultural network which reflects the systems of class, power, gender and vision especially in the tech world. The film lens shows how societal values influences individual ambition and relationships.

In this review, I will be taking you deeper by using Stuart Hall Encodingand Decoding Method to interpret the film. I will also buttress further on the cultural and Social network used in the movie. After that, I will then take a stance with the negotiated reading to decode the intent of the director while critiquing the ideologies shown in the movie.

The Social Network encodes various themes and meaning through a simple narrative structure, editing style and performances. The opening scene of the movie shows the breakup of Erica and Mark (01:00-07:30) which began the whole plot and how Facebook came to life. It also encodes the idea that his social inclusion of always keeping to himself and hearing just his opinion led to his ground-breaking innovation which aligns to his ambition being built on reaction to the breakup and personal revenge which is often glorified in the tech culture as being the foundation of the social platform.

The cultural network as discussed earlier is evident in many parts of the film. The first focus is the Class (Being Elite) (12:30-17:30): Mark was a Harvard student but was part of any of the Elite clubs that he wanted to join as shown in the movie. An example of this point can be seen with his Close friend, Eduardo being part of the elite club he wanted to join and also the club that theclub the Winklevoss twins were part of till he was later accepted because of Face smash wide spread fame (28:00-35:00). The twins and his friend as depicted in the movie has money and connection while Mark wealth was not mentioned which was encoded to tell that although he was white, a male and also highly educated by going to the most prestigious school in America, he was still considered an outsider in the Elite class. 

Another encoded point to note is Gender which is another theme under the cultural network umbrella; As mentioned earlier, Despite Mark not being part of the Elite he was somewhat considered due to the 3 major factors and one of them is being a Male. The movie in so many instances depicted that in this rapidly growing world, the cultural insights of female being subjugated under Male still stands despite the achievement we have brought to the world. For instance: The females all shown in the movie like Erica, the interns, those 2 girls and the groupies where all sidelined but were put in the frame to boosts or support the male development without having a place in the movie. Another scene to consider was the second time Sean Parker met with Mark (1:00:00-1:06:00)and also The Facebook house where Sean threw a party for reaching a million(1:10:00-01:12:30), the women there did not participate in any business discussion but where there for the Pleasure or sex to be plain. The women were either pole dancing, stripping themselves of their clothes, used as an escort or using their bodies to smoke powder from which has shown that the roles of women are not important, they were more of aesthetically pleasing for the eyes not being intellectual or contributing to the build of Facebook.

Another encoded theme to consider is Power/Vision (Ambition), which is shown in Mark rise but through the betrayal of Eduardo Saverin (1:33:00-1:36:00). The narrative style makes the movie seem quite necessary emphasizing on another belief that loyalty, friends and family are secondary to business success through the use of the film editing style and non-linear structure of storytelling by using jumping around in different timelines which showcases high stakes decision he had to take. In summary, this film encodes a world based on beliefs and cultural power spanned across elitism, masculinity and power which is important even in technological success.

In my Introductory paragraph, I talked about using the negotiated reading to decode the intent of the director through narrative structure while critiquing the ideologies showed in the movie. Let’s begin with the ideologies that were normalized in the film. The first thing I noticed was his alienation which did not begin with him being a genius but I would say started after his break up to the end of the movie. Another one would be his Toxic Ambition, which made me have mixed feelings for Mark. For example: During the legal deposition scene, Mark was calm, collected and bored showing no regret or remorse for how he treated Eduardo despite his betrayal which I do not support. However, this highlights him being powerful but I call this emotional detachment (58:00-1:00:00) which brings us back to the cultural belief of capitalism over relationships. 

The cultural network also influences how I view the class structure in the film. The Winklevoss twins were portrayed to be out of reach (20:00-25:00)which led to Mark understandable resentment of the access given to him from them to use his skill which shows another one of his character traits of being inclusive which did not end despite building a platform that was initially restricted to Harvard students. 

From the gender perspective, I reject and absolutely do not support, the normalized absence of a strong female voice or presence. From the moment Sean Parker introduces girls into the storyline (1:10:00-1:15:00) it illustrates that women were just put into the frame for visual storyline without their voice being heard. 

​So, while the docu-drama portrays Mark as a Social Network hero, I don’t fully agree to it given the points that I have provided above by simply naming him a complicated and an inclusive visionary. From what I have decoded from the movie, I challenge some scene that has to do with Gender Masculinity, Class Elitism, Betrayal over Relationship at the price of innovation. 

​In conclusion, The social network encodes a complex message behind every plot based on vision, power, fame, success, digital transformation and so on. But by using Stuart Hall method, we see that despite the Social network wanting to be the main theme, The cultural network still overpowered it. From a techie point of view, it truly captured tech history in details but also lay emphasis on cultural Network. 

 ​As an audience, One thing you should constantly question after this movie is that: is technology truly disruptive? (instances: Those University students that spent inadequate time on Facebook) Was Facebook truly built on a cultural foundation has depicted in the movie? Who do you think is truly the genius behind Facebook as shown in the film? What type of reading stance would you take on?

​Pour out your answers in the comment section for more discussion

​