media meditation three: thefacebook vs. harvardconnection

Photo from The Social Network webpage.

Ben and I decided we should go see The Social Network last night. It was great - really really great. The actors were awesome and the movie, though about web script and legal actions, put my limbic brain on a trip. The emotional transfer was really strong, because it dealt with friendship and betrayal. The director didn't dare give Zuckerberg any dialogue in which he admits or denies stealing the idea for the website-nor does the film show his feelings on the matter. That probably would have had to include the programmer in the film process, which definitely would not have happened considering the controversy around facebook's dealings. Zuckerberg had multiple responses to the film, which he said he wasn't planning on seeing, but has now seen. Here are his reactions to seeing the film.


So he just likes to build things? Nothing about girls or status? I suppose Hollywood could have easily just exaggerated this point, because it's...well...Hollywood. Mark says he has had the same girlfriend since before facebook, so I suppose that is entirely fabricated. So what else was fabricated?

The ethics of this "stealing" problem is hard to come to just one opinion on. On one hand, it's clear Mark sort of sniped the Winklevoss' ideas, but on the other hand, his idea for the facebook was a bigger and better one - it could grow. Harvard Connection? Seems like it would die out. It's much too exclusive.

I found a great article on this issue that reveals a lot of information about the real (not the movie) scandal. How Facebook Was Founded, an article from the Business Insider site contains dialogue between Mark and his friends and Mark and the Winklevoss' during that time right before facebook was launched. In the end of the Winklevoss lawsuit, it's summed as "dorm-room chit-chat" and the parties settled on 65 million to the brothers.

I'll end with some photos of the real people the film is based off of....because that's what I looked up right when I got home from the movie.

Zuckerberg (Jill Greenberg's photography always makes me laugh)

Photo from GQ.com

The Winklevoss Brothers


Eduardo Saverin

Photo from Internet Techies