The Social Network Essay Questions

Why is it significant that Mark is determined to join a "final club" at the beginning of the film?

In the film's first scene, Mark is "obsessed," as Erica says, with getting into a final club because he longs for social acceptance and aspires to be powerful. As a Harvard sophomore, Mark knows that getting into one of the all-male social clubs on campus will ensure him a level of prestige he currently lacks. If he is in a final club, Mark will rub shoulders with people who have important business and social connections while simultaneously meeting the type of women who are attracted to powerful men. Mark's girlfriend, Erica, sees his drive as an obsession because she doesn't have the same need for power and prestige. Ultimately, Mark's aspiration to join a final club is significant because it represents the drive that motivates him to become so successful.

Why is it significant that Mark sends Erica Albright a friend request at the end of the film?

In the film's final scene, Mark learns he will have to settle the lawsuits against him, which have been launched by former allies he betrayed. Alone in the boardroom following one of his several depositions, Mark goes to Erica's Facebook page and hesitates a moment before sending her a friend request. The film ends on the image of Mark looking dispassionately at his laptop screen while hitting the refresh button on the page—an action that reveals his impatience to learn whether she has accepted the request. The decision to send her a friend request is significant because it is a symbol of Mark's desire for social acceptance from the woman who rejected him at the beginning of the film. Despite his material success, he still lacks the spiritual fulfillment that comes with forging genuine human connections with others.

Based on Fincher's depiction, is it accurate to view Mark Zuckerberg as a genius for inventing Facebook?

Through his depiction of Mark, Fincher invites the viewer to question whether Mark's success is the consequence of his genius or the consequence of a lack of ethics. While Mark is shown to be of above-average intelligence early in the film when he easily hacks into the Harvard computer network and solves his professor's equation with barely a glance at the board, Fincher complicates the image of Mark as a solitary genius. After being approached to create the Harvard Connection, Mark immediately takes the Winklevoss twins' idea for an exclusive social networking website and pitches it to Eduardo as though he just came up with it on his own. Mark's genius also comes into question when he reorganizes Facebook's corporate structure to cut Eduardo out of having any authority over business decisions, remove him from the masthead, and make it seem as though Mark was the only founder. In doing so, Mark upholds the illusion that the company was the product of a solitary genius, rather than the product of many different contributing factors. Ultimately, Mark is shown as someone who is undoubtedly of superior intelligence but who is simultaneously insecure about his genius.

Why is it significant that Mark always wears sweatshirts instead of business attire?

The cotton sweatshirts Mark wears in nearly every scene are significant because his casual attire is a symbol for the changing face of American big business. As someone who quickly goes from undergraduate student to billionaire tech CEO, Mark sees no need to dress according to the conventions of corporate America. Instead, he dresses casually, signaling to others that he has become successful not through adherence to usual career paths but through the innovation he has introduced to the market through Facebook. In this way, Mark's refusal to dress according to the conventions of corporate America is representative of his defiant attitude toward playing by the same rules as others.

Why is it significant that Sean Parker is busted by police at the end of the film?

To celebrate Facebook adding over one million users, Facebook president Sean Parker goes to a sorority party. After the police catch him doing cocaine with underage Facebook interns in a private room upstairs, Sean phones Mark from the police station to let him know what happened. Mark realizes the newspapers are going to report on the incident, thereby tarnishing Facebook's reputation. The moment is significant because Mark finally understands why Eduardo had resisted Sean's involvement in the company. Too late to undo his allegiance with Sean, Mark knows he will have to live with the professional consequences of having been seduced by Sean's cocky, fun-loving way of being.