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The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

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Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#11

Post by byrneseyeview »

This Slate article claims that Facemash had pictures of men and women:

http://www.slate.com/id/2269250/

It seems that most of the specific evidence Sorkin cites is fictional. If Slate is correct, the site was egalitarian. If the transcripts of Zuckerberg's blog are believable (Google them if you want; they're not hard to find), then Sorkin wrote most of the inflammatory material.

It is interesting that people who don't know the story very well still zero in on the fictional details Sorking added as the most upsetting. In a way, it must vindicate Zuckerberg. Unfortunate that those readily-identifiable details are so memorable.

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#13

Post by kmavm »

mlinsey wrote: post #8
lionhearted wrote: post #2

> Facebook was born during a night of incredibly misogyny. The idea of comparing women to farm animals, and then to each other, based on their looks and then publicly ranking them. It was a revenge stunt, aimed first at the woman who'd most recently broke his heart (who should get some kind of medal for not breaking his head) and then at the entire female population of Harvard. What a bunch of pretentious self import…

I was one of the people who downvoted you (though it looks like the crowd is back on your side again), so here's an explanation: First and mostly unrelated to your post: I have big issues with the Social Network's accuracy in its storytelling. Besides all the things that were completely made up, it's very telling that Sorkin in the OP states that the voiceover from the Facemash sequence was completely factual, with o…

Another important inaccuracy to add to the catalog of accidental-on-purpose mistakes in the Facemash sequence: the actual Facemash was gender-blind. I'm sure in practice a lot of its appeal was for men looking at women, but male students' looks were rated and compared on an equal footing.

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#14

Post by skorgu »

lionhearted wrote: post #2

> Facebook was born during a night of incredibly misogyny. The idea of comparing women to farm animals, and then to each other, based on their looks and then publicly ranking them. It was a revenge stunt, aimed first at the woman who'd most recently broke his heart (who should get some kind of medal for not breaking his head) and then at the entire female population of Harvard. What a bunch of pretentious self import…

Sorkin explicitly agrees with you:

> (It's only fair to note that the women--bussed in from other schools for the "hot" parties, wait on line to get on that bus without anyone pointing guns at their heads.)

You seem to be pretty riled up over this subject but it doesn't seem directly relevant to the article in question.

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#15

Post by etm117 »

DannoHung wrote: post #12

Hasn't the Zuck been dating the same girl since just before or just after he started building the whole thing?

Yes, I believe they are engaged now (can't find a confirmation link though).

Also, I think a lot of people need to remember the movie only goes through 2005-ish when they got their 1,000,000th member and Sean Parker was forced out after the cocaine bust (which I gotta believe did not happen in the same day like the movie portrayed). This movie does not touch anything about current day Facebook and all the recent privacy issues or anything. It focuses on the ramp up and all the hurdles Zuck crossed to get there (regardless of whether he created those hurdles for himself or not).

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#16

Post by luigi »

"More generally, I was writing about a very angry and deeply misogynistic group of people. These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback instead of the men (boys) who are running the universe right now."

This is a gross overgeneralization, and also the biggest fault of the movie. That Zuck's drive to build Facebook is nothing more that petty revenge against women (Erica) and jocks (the Winklevoss twins) is completely unrealistic.

All people who create things, whether it's a website or a screenplay, do it for the love of creating that thing. Creation is its own motivator. Sure, there may be scores to settle in the process -- that's human nature -- but it's never the driver. It's puzzling that Sorkin never made the connection that Zuckerberg is a creative just like him.

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#17

Post by garret »

luigi wrote: post #16

"More generally, I was writing about a very angry and deeply misogynistic group of people. These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback instead of the men (boys) who are running the universe right now." This is a gross overgeneralization, and also the biggest fault of the movie. That Zuck's drive to build Facebook is…

Did you create this comment exclusively for the love of creating a comment?

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#18

Post by luigi »

garret wrote: post #17
luigi wrote: post #16

"More generally, I was writing about a very angry and deeply misogynistic group of people. These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback instead of the men (boys) who are running the universe right now." This is a gross overgeneralization, and also the biggest fault of the movie. That Zuck's drive to build Facebook is…

Did you create this comment exclusively for the love of creating a comment?

Comments on a website are quite different from web companies and screenplays.

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#19

Post by matwood »

luigi wrote: post #16

"More generally, I was writing about a very angry and deeply misogynistic group of people. These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback instead of the men (boys) who are running the universe right now." This is a gross overgeneralization, and also the biggest fault of the movie. That Zuck's drive to build Facebook is…

All people who create things, whether it's a website or a screenplay, do it for the love of creating that thing.

How do you know this? Is there some research to back this up or have you talked to everyone who creates things? Motivation (and conversely demotivation) comes from all sorts personal factors. "Love of creating" is just one of many factors that drive people to do what they do.

Re: The Social Network scriptwriter Aaron Sorkin posts about the portrayal of women.

#20

Post by sethg »

lsc wrote: post #7
amvp wrote: post #4

>These aren't the cuddly nerds we made movies about in the 80's. They're very angry that the cheerleader still wants to go out with the quarterback instead of the men (boys) who are running the universe right now. I'm finding Aaron Sorkin incredibly irritating lately. Jeff Jarvis called it 'revenge on the revenge of the nerds' and this absolutely is. The movie hasn't been released where I live yet, but I've read seve…

>There is no us and them, no global jocks vs geeks battle being waged here. And you think the Engineers vs. sales is really all that different? I mean, being as we are adults now we can largely avoid oneanother, but as far as I can tell, the style vs. substance battle continues apace.

Engineers and salespeople generally have different personalities, don’t enjoy hanging out with one another, and look down on one another’s interests, but that doesn’t make it a versus thing. As adults we are no longer competing directly with one another for status.
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