The Product Placement Beneath the Product Placement

             

               The Social Network takes a look at one of the most important Brands of our generation and potential the 21^st century, Facebook. The movie looks right into the eyes of this multi-Billion dollar company and doesn’t flinch as it creatively tells the story of Mark Zuckerbergs time developing TheFacebook. What is amazing about this movie is that the creators never try and shape the name of Facebook into anything beyond what it is a way to meetand engage with people. Although it may leave the name- or honor- of Facebook out of the movie (just look at the title) It drags Zukerberg through the mud, but it's hidden behind laughable amounts of other product placement.

                The “Best Part of the Social Network” is probably every scene where Zuckerberg makes a snide comment or sends a cold look to the attorneys that are questioning him in the not one, but two lawsuits concurrent in the film. The one specific scene though that truly drives this point home comes half way through the movie where Zuckerberg, who has up to this point been avoiding any interaction with the layers, finally says something. When Zuckerberg opens his mouth though it is to belittle the attorneys, talk about how smart he is, and express his complete disinterest in everything going on. At one point Zuckerberg randomly points out that it has started to rain, in order to show his disinterest and avoid any sort of communication. This scene is one of many instances where Zuckerberg is painted as “an assshole.” The opening scene in the bar ends with this phrase and then then entire film backs it up. The scene also portrays Zuckerberg as ambitious as he looks for ways to get into final clubs, uncaring, aloof, and almost psychopathic in his insincerity and unfeeling behavior and responces to his soon to be ex-girlfriend. It is astounding the lengths this movie goes to portraying Zuckerberg as an unfeelingrobot especially since this movie is about him! However, if you look close enough into the movies, past the surface facts of simulacrum recreations of Zuckerberg’s wardrobe and past the fictitious sordid events of the site you begin to see why the movie does this.

                Mark Zuckerberg is a nerd. He is not very social, has a hard time interacting with people and knows far more about coding than probably anything else. He’s not a bad guy and yet The Social Network paints him as this awful person. So, if the protagonist of our story, Zuckerberg, is really the antagonist, who is the hero, and why? Eduardo Saverin is painted as the sympathetic victim. Any time something bad happens to him the audience gets a hit of sympathy from the music or tone of the film, but its subtle. While I was unable to find a truthful article about this (lets assume online threads are all liars and fakes) there has been some mumblings that real like Eduardo Saverin tipped some money into The Social Network cookie jar and the jar tipped back. Even if this is not true (which lets be real it probably is) the story the movie is based on was written by a man who talked directly to Eduardo. So the likely hood that Eduardo was peadleing his own brand, himself, and putting down Mark as the villain is probably the most over looked aspect of branding in the film. If Saverin didn’t give money to the film, he gave something far more important- the story. THe Social Network is a great movie, Mark Zuckerberg is a great guy, but Eduardo is worth $1 Billion, because he invested 15,000 in college, and yet the branding of the movie pants him as the victim.

                If I had to rate this movie based on effectiveness of product placement I would give it five stars, because it litterally sent myself and the entire internet into a frenzy trying to get to the bottom of Facebook, its history, and whether or not Mark Zuckerberg is really that shitty. He's not. Seriously, watch this video.