The Social Network: Because We Love to Watch Nerds Love Themselves All Over.

Sorry y’all, but I think this film deserves way more criticism than it’s getting. So I’m posting on “The Social Network” even though it’s already been covered – bear with me.

There’s nothing like having a movie come out and seeing it hailed as the film that captures the essence of a generation. And then there’s nothing like watching Baby Boomers and Gen Xers stumble over themselves to show how much they “get it.” Well, they don’t get it. Because, according to “The Social Network,” success is a function of one’s assholeness times the amount one drinks times one’s net worth. Oh and it also appears that, as a woman, I need to strip down and gyrate cause that’s the only role I have in the intellectual/technological/business world.

Spoiler alert. But not too much —  this film has no plot to begin with.

Not more than 10 minutes into this travesty of a film (camerawork was good, as was some of the acting & parts of the dialogue; that is all) we’re thrust into this hyper-imaginary world where the hottest girls are delivered to the nerdiest guys and strip down and dance and drop e and make out with each other, all for the entertainment of said super nerdy guys. (Of course they’re all super hot nerdy guys, cause that’s totally the way reality is.)

And that’s about it for the role of women in the film. Either we’re Hot Bitches who drive our unlikeable protagonist to create Facebook OR we’re Hot Golddiggers who just want to marry a guy from Harvard OR we’re Hot Asian psychos OR we’re just plain Hot and Dumb. Oh did I mention that all these girls supposedly go to Ivy League schools? Must have been a diversity move on the part of the universities.

Facemash, the first of Zuckerberg’s brilliant ideas we see in the film, involves pitting female undergrads against each other via ID picture in a mad hotness competition (of some sort? The point of the whole endeavor is lost on me). Of course this isn’t problematized one bit –  I guess we should just be thankful Zuckerberg didn’t go with his initial idea, to pit female undergrads against farm animals. Besides, all the chicks who don’t like Facemash are just Hot Bitches. Yes, this includes you.

Technology is but one aspect of society. Not the whole thing. I work at a tech startup, and this film only reiterates the message I get every day at work, that technology is everything and nerds own the world. It’s too bad all these nerds are male and can’t – apparently – find it in themselves to own the world without diminishing the dignity of women. At least according to “The Social Network.”

So apart from being straight up fuxing sexist, this film pisses me off for three reasons: 1) it makes high-tech entrepreneurship look like it’s really cool and filled with drugs and alcohol and sex when it really all takes place in front of a computer; 2) though it’s supposed to capture Gen Y it’s written by someone who’s about to turn 50 who clearly has issues with women; 3) it is set to appeal to every a$$hole guy I knew in college who thought he was super badass but who was actually just shy and covered it up with douchebaggery.

Newsflash. You wanna get girls, don’t be an asshole. You wanna write a good screenplay, don’t be a misogynist. You wanna understand my generation, don’t watch this movie. Cause women aren’t just props anymore.

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

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