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Ryan Busk Professor Deitel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric October 11 2013 Success The Social Network, directed by David Fincher is the story of how Facebook was created. It follows the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, though his time at Harvard and how he came about creating and founding Facebook. The movie starts with Zuckerberg breaking up with his girlfriend, getting intoxicated, and creating an online website that compares pictures of girls. Really what Zuckerberg is trying to do is to get attention. He wants to be recognized by people in the final clubs, so he has to do something big, something important to prove that he is worth their time. Even by doing all these antics, he still does not get selected, or punched, by any of these clubs. The movie then goes to explain what actions Mark took to build Facebook, and who he met on his way. David Fincher is a very well-known director in Hollywood. All of his movies have a lot of rhetorical context. Herrick says the art of rhetoric is the systematic study and intentional practice of effective symbolic expressions (Herrick 7). In other words, rhetoric is supposed to provide meaning, the meaning being the authors intent, behind the symbolism that the author is using. The author is using rhetoric when he/she is using the art of rhetoric in their discourse (Herrick 7). Rhetoric can be used in a movie to strongly convey the authors intent through symbols and images instead of words on a paper. The aspects of rhetoric that can be used in a film are very numerous. Every film has the rhetorical uses of a picture, but also has the

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availability to use dialogue, camera angle, costume change, set change, and background noise in their productions. David Fincher wants the viewer, though his use of film rhetoric, to realize what is really worth pursuing in the world. He especially wants us to consider all the different views of success there are in the world. He wants us to see these different views of success, and consider their pitfalls and greatnesss. He may not want the viewer to pick a side, but more to have a deeper understanding of the each side and maybe realize that some things about one particular side is better. He shows multiple different types of success in this film. He shows these not only through dialogue in the movie but also through different aspects of film. Some aspects of film are, in general, camera shots/angles, music, scenery, lighting, and dialogue. He uses all of these to convey each idea of success. Three of the most important ideas about success are Mark Zuckerbergs, the Winklevoss twins, and Sean Parkers. David Fincher uses music and scene to really amplify Sean Parkers view of success. He uses dialogue and costume to amplify the Winklevoss idea of success. Lastly he uses camera angle and lighting and some dialogue to really amplify Mark Zuckerbergss idea of success. In almost every scene with Sean Parker, the viewer sees some sort of party/crazy event going on. The first time the viewer sees Sean is in a high end restaurant, he has woman at his side, and everybody knows who he is. The next time we see him he is near Stanford living in student housing with some woman. He gives his large monologue about success inside a club, Lights and loud music going off everywhere, he delivers this speech to Mark about how he cant let a huge opportunity go to waste like this, or you will regret every moment of it for the rest of your life. This sounds good, but when he means big opportunity, he means money, fame, and women. That is Sean Parkers idea of success. This idea of success is amplified by the scene he

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is always in. He is in the big scenes. The women are there to accent Sean, the music to almost put a stress on what he is saying, and the scenery itself with Sean is important. David Fincher set it up that Sean and his ideals get this boost from these films technics and the rhetorical symbolism behind it all. The Winklevoss twins are men of Harvard. They command respect and honor, at least that is how they are portrayed in the film, or how they think of themselves in the film. They cannot stoop low to affiliate with people lesser than them. When they are talking about suing Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea, thy almost decide not to, and actually dont for a while, because they thought it would ruin their reputation as men of Harvard. Men of Harvard do not sue people. Men of Harvard would just let people go while they continued to let themselves be challenged elsewhere. The Winklevoss twins take this respect as a sign of success. Nothing is more important to them than respect, and therefore, their own idea of success. David Fincher amplifies this sign of respect in their dialogue and in their dress. They speak so highly and respectfully that when they are complaining to the President of Harvard it seems strange to hear some of the words come out of their mouths. The outfits they wear are also very important. The viewer almost always sees them in Harvard gear (athletic and formal) or in a suit and tie. The clothes that David Fincher decided for them to wear reflect on how they feel about themselves and about how other people want to view them. Unlike Mark Zuckerberg, they always look tidy and well groomed, even during a race. These aspects, their dialogue and their dress are rhetorical symbols for how they feel about respect and success. Mark Zuckerberg, in the beginning of the movie, has an obsession with being recognized. He doesnt care about being liked; all he wants is to be recognized. He would almost

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say and do anything to be recognized by what he thought was the right group. He has no real social graces throughout the movie. He treats Erica Albright cruelly and he treats Eduardo cruelly. The two people who really cared for him, he pushed aside. He wanted his recognition. That was his idea of success. It was not respect like the Winklevoss twins had, but it wasnt the wealth that Sean Parker wanted either. He wanted to be acknowledged, he wanted to be cool. This is really amplified by how he is actually put on camera. Camera shots on him always are angled in such a way that makes him look a little pathetic to say the least. His dialogue is also very important as well. When he is talking to Erica, he actually says that he would do a lot of different things to get into a finals club. The dialogue for Mark and how is portrayed by the camera are very letting of his idea of success. Bitzer said, rhetorical discourse is called into existence by situation: the situation which the rhetor perceives amounts to an invitation to create and present discourse (Bitzer 9). A counterargument to this whole portrayal of the ideas of success would be the fact that maybe one of them is right; maybe one of them has it all. In the last scene of the movie, the last thing we see on the scene is the camera being zoomed in on Mark Zuckerberg. He is refreshing Erica Albrights page to see if she has accepted his friend request. Then at the bottom of the screen we see it say that Mark is now the youngest billionaire in the world. It says this while it is zoomed in on a sad face of Mark. This leaves us as viewers questioning, what really is important in life, why does he seem so sad when face value, he has it all. These ideas of success can be dangerous but also not very fulfilling in our lives. That is what the director, David Fincher, is trying to portray.

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Works Cited Bitzer, Llyod F. "The Rhetorical Situation." Penn State University Press (9/24/11): n. pag. Print. Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction. Boston: Allyn and Beacon, 2005. Print. The Social Network. Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield. Sony, 2010.