Blog Post #7 The Social Network

Both of the Marxist and Psychological lenses can be used to look deeper at The Social Network. It is an interesting movie by itself, but when you look at all of the different aspects of it, it becomes even more enticing.

Using the Marxist/Economic lens we can look at how money and resources are used by the characters in The Social Network. Mark uses his smarts and computer to make Facemash. Once he uses his friend’s money to get Facebook started, he moves to California because that’s where he can find good connections.  The two brothers that recruit Mark use their resources the most in the movie. They use their power and status to convince Mark to work for them; they use their Dad’s name to get a meeting with the president of the college, and they use their money to get a very good lawyer. The main point of the movie through the Marxist lens is that in order for Mark to make it big and the brothers to get what they feel they deserve, they need to have money in their pockets and important people on their speed dial.

            When looking at it through the Psychological approach we can look closer at why Mark needs Facebook to work so badly. When we take a look at his life we can see why. First he loses his girlfriend and he doesn’t have a job. After that he gets rejected from the Finals club. He sees a need that people have and he is very confident that he knows how to fill it. Mark needs Facebook to work because he has nothing else. For as smart as he is, so far in life he has nothing to show for it and he knows that people will love the idea.