Sinko 1

Alyssa Sinko
Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric
Dr. McLaughlin
10/10/14
Too Smart For His Own Good: The Character of Mark Zuckerberg
Throughout the movie, The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed as an
intellectual elitist who does not care for anyone but himself. This side of Mark is shown
through the testimony of his former best friend Eduardo Saverin and through his own
condescending behavior. However, towards the end of the movie, Marks true character
is revealed through the interactions with his friend, Sean Parker. In the Social Network,
Mark Zuckerbergs intellect and determination are his fundamental downfall, despite his
good intentions.
In order to analyze the character of Mark Zuckerberg, an analysis of the rhetoric
of the film must first occur. Rhetoric, as Herrick puts it, is the study of how we organize
and employ language effectively (2), or as he simply states, the study of persuasion
(3). The film uses certain rhetorical techniques to persuade the viewers into feeling
certain emotions and also, in this case, to form opinions on characters.
The portrayal of Mark Zuckerbergs character within the first few minutes of the
film is extremely unfavorable. The first scene begins with Mark sitting at a table in a bar
with his girlfriend at the time, Erica Albright. The director chooses to shoot this
encounter between Mark and Erica with a transparent interface. As David Bolter and
Richard Grusin states in his chapter, Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remedation, A
transparent interface would be one that erases itself, so that the user is no longer aware of

Sinko 2
confronting a medium, but instead stands in an immediate relationship to the contents of
that medium, (23). The low camera angles of this scene create a feeling of intimacy
throughout the conversation because they give a view of the characters from an angle of a
seating position. This feeling of intimacy guides the reader to feel a part of the
conversation between the characters, which thus increases the emotional attachment to
the scene. The couple is shown having an intense and extremely quick conversation about
the concept of final clubs, which are clubs at Harvard that provide connections and
high stature. Mark wants to be a part of final clubs because he wishes to be this idealized
version of cool. This is the first perspective the viewer has on Mark. Before it is even
revealed that the character is in fact Mark Zuckerberg, the pace of the conversation
clearly shows his high intellect through the rapidness of his thoughts. This positive
outlook is quickly repealed as he insults his girlfriend by stating that he will be taking
[her] to the events and the gatherings and [she]ll be meeting a lot of people [she]
wouldnt normally get to meet. This insult implies that she does not have the intellect or
connections to meet people of such high importance. Immediately she is taken aback by
this and says, Youre going to go through life thinking girls dont like you because
youre a nerd but I want to let you know from the bottom of my heart that this isnt true.
It will be because youre an asshole. The use of strong words in the form of profanity in
this quote paint a negative picture of Mark within the first five minutes of the film, and
once again because of the increase of emotional attachment due to the rhetoric of the
camera angles, the viewer immediately abhors his character.

However, Mark responds to these insults with genuine shock. He doesnt

understand why she is firstly, reacting so vehemently, and secondly, why she wants to

Sinko 3
break up with him. He continuously asks, What do you mean?, along with other forms
of this same question. This sincere confusion displayed through his repetition of
questions shows the effect of his extreme intellect on his communication skills. He does
not realize the effect of his words and actions on the feelings of others.
Another way Mark Zuckerbergs personality is shown is by foiling. The definition
of a foil according to Websters Dictionary is, someone or something that serves as a
contrast to another,(Merriam-Webster). Foiling can be a persuasive form of rhetoric
because the juxtaposition of opposite characters emphasizes the differences, which
therefore exacerbates the personality in a form of exaggeration. The Social Network
displays this concept of foiling because Mark is both positively and negatively juxtaposed
to his friends Eduardo Saverin and Sean Parker.
Sean Parker is used as a positive foil of Mark. The first impression of Seans wild,
rock star behavior stemmed from background information about Sean paired with the
rhetoric of the background music used while he was in the camera frame. During the first
meeting between Eduardo Saverin, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sean Parker, the two founders
of Facebook waited patiently as Sean showed up 25 minutes late. Eduardo is annoyed
about the tardiness of Sean but Mark says, He founded Napster when he was 19, he can
be late. As they were waiting they spoke of Seans history with his previous companies.
To Mark, Seans intellect and cool exterior was a model he looked up to. Sean was the
epitome of what Mark idolized, as shown through this quote. Sean Parker founded a
company as a teenager, a feat Mark wanted to achieve. Since he was Marks idol, he
could be as late as he wanted. However, Eduardo viewed him more practically as
someone who crashed out of two Internet companies spectacularly and has a history

Sinko 4
with drugs. As Sean walked into the restaurant, music began playing and this music
continued for the entire duration of the meeting until the second he walked out of the
frame. The purpose of this rhetorical strategy was to show his wild party side as he
supplied the underage college students with more and more alcohol. Sean is also seen
later in the film surrounded by scantily clad women at clubs with blasting, party music,
which reiterates this first opinion of him. This party side of Sean sharply contrasts with
the personality of Mark, who is seen in the beginning of the movie drinking in his room
while computer programming with his roommates while the rest of Harvard seems to be
partying.

Eduardo was also much different than Mark and is used as a negative foil.
Eduardo is the good guy of the film, and through foiling, makes Mark look like an
awful person. An example of this is at the end of the movie when Eduardo is kicked out
of the Facebook Company. After Eduardo realizes that he was no longer CFO, he
confronts Mark by saying, You set me up. Mark then replies, Youre gonna blame me
because you were the business head of the company and you made a bad business deal
with your own company? Our opinions of these characters are affected using the
rhetorical strategies of the appeals ethos and pathos. Appeals are, strategic strategies that
aim either to elicit and emotion or to engage the audiences loyalties or commitments
(Herrick 13). Ethos and pathos are used as persuasive rhetorical strategies because these
appeals establish a personal connection between the film, and the viewer, which therefore
increases the emotional response of the viewer to particular situations. This emotional
response exacerbates aspects of the situations presented in the film, and persuades
viewers to feel certain emotions. Ethos is, proofs (or evidence) of character, or

Sinko 5
credibility; what Aristotle called the controlling factor in persuasion, (University
Writing Program) and Pathos is, proofs of emotion; appeals to the values of the
audience, (University Writing Program). Mark loses his credibility, or ethos, through the
ejection of Eduardo from their company. Instead of tastefully conversing with Eduardo
and politely firing him, Mark ousted Eduardo behind his back. The lack of respect Mark
displays through these mannerisms appeal to ethos and decrease his credibility. The
viewers pathos is appealed to in this example in a similar way. Eduardo was Marks best
friend throughout the film, and the betrayal of this friendship appeals to the emotions of
the viewer. These reactions of both characters, along with ethos and pathos, create a
pedestal for Eduardo and create distaste for Mark.
However, Mark is not to blame for Eduardos oust from the company. Throughout
the film Eduardo repeatedly risked the success of the company through his irrational
behavior. During the start of Facebook, Eduardo fed a chicken, cooked chicken in public.
This was considered animal cruelty and although it is an honest mistake, it threatened
the popularity of the company. After the article of the animal abuse was printed, Mark
addresses Eduardo by saying, They identify you as one of the founders of Facebook
Junior Eduardo Saverin;-- Im not the expert but being connected to torturing animals is
probably bad for business. This response made by Mark reinstates his credibility
through the rhetorical appeal of ethos. As stated in the quote, Eduardo was referred in the
article as one of the founders of Facebook. This directly connects the company with the
scandal and thus hurts Facebook in its infancy. It confirms Marks decision to replace
Eduardo in his company. Eduardo also had other moments in the film where his lack of
attention could have potentially hurt the company. Mark was therefore not a bad friend

Sinko 6
for writing Eduardo out of Facebook, he was solely looking out for the company. Mark
also later took Sean Parker out of the company of Facebook due to his lack of attention,
which further proves Marks outlooks. Mark is only concerned with the outcome of the
company. He is not ousting a friend out of a fortune due to petty factors. After Eduardo
left, Mark said to Sean, You were kinda rough on him. [] You know you didnt have
to be that rough on him. [] Sean? You didnt have to be that rough on him. This
rhetorical strategy of repetition of the same phrase shows Marks care for Eduardo. He
not only told Sean once, but three times that the way Sean treated Eduardo was not all
right with him.

In these scenes, language is used as a tool of rhetoric to persuade the reader to

come to a conclusion. In the above examples of quotations repetition and other aesthetic
devices were used to enhance the impact of his discourse and to make it more vivid and
memorable (Herrick 15). By making these discourses more vivid and memorable,
conclusions can be more easily drawn, which therefore persuades readers to react in a
certain way. This conclusion meant to be drawn is that Mark knew that in order for the
company to continue to increase its standing, Eduardo was not the right man to be the
CFO of Facebook. Mark had no intention to maliciously eject his friend from the
company, Eduardos actions prompted it.

Mark Zuckerberg is exclusively interested in the advancement of his company.

This goal drives his thoughts and actions and consumes all his attention and intelligence.
Mark thus does not have the attention to attend to others and does not realize the
repercussions of his harsh words and actions. These conclusions are drawn from the

Sinko 7
rhetoric of the speech and film techniques, which show the strong impact of rhetorical
strategies on character development. Upon analysis of the rhetorical strategies used in
The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg is not the awful person he is portrayed as.

Work Cited
Bolter, Jay David and Richard Grusin. Chapter 1: Immediacy, Hypermediacy,

Sinko 8
and Remediation. Remediation: Understanding New Media. 21-50.
Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999. Print.
"Foil." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
Herrick, James A. "An Overview of Rhetoric." The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An
Introduction. Boston: Allyn and Beacon, 2005. N. pag. Print.
The Social Network. Dir. David Fincher. Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin.
Columbia Pictures, 2010. DVD.
"What We Teach." University Writing Program. University of Notre Dame,
Web. 10 Oct. 2014.