IN THE critically acclaimed 2010 film The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg portrays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as an insensitive loner who initially created the social network as a way to pick up girls.
Now Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has weighed in to lend his support to Zuckerberg. Responding to a question on social media site Quora, Wales revealed his personal connection to the story.
“I know a few of the people who are depicted in the movie including Mark Zuckerberg and [Napster founder] Sean Parker,” he wrote. “I have heard some people comment on the movie in a way that I think is accurate: the worst thing about the movie is that as a movie it is actually pretty good, which means that it tells a compelling story.
“Unfortunately, not much of that story is actually true.”
According to Wales, the suggestion that Zuckerberg created Facebook “because a girl dumped him” was ridiculous. “There’s that silly ‘Rosebud’ (reference to Citizen Kane) moment at the end when he’s shown sadly reloading her profile page,” he said.
“It’s a great story, could come straight out of a dramatic Bollywood movie, but it actually has no resemblance to reality. Mark is still married to the girl he was dating when he started Facebook.”
And far from the money-hungry party animal depicted in the film, Wales paints a much different picture. “If you think Mark is obsessed with money, for example, you’re missing the point there as well,” he wrote.
“I remember once sitting at a table with him, the Google guys, etc., and they were all talking about their jets. As one does, haha. I turned to Mark and said ‘Do you have a jet?’ And he responded with genuine bewilderment: ‘How would I ever have a jet?’
“Facebook was already huge and valued in the billions. For all I know, he may have one by now (and why not?), but it wasn’t of any interest to him and not a goal that he held.”
Similarly, Sean Parker’s character, played by Justin Timberlake in the film, was not a fair portrayal, Wales argued.
“It has some semblance of accuracy in a way,” he said. “Sean does like to throw extravagant parties. But what is missing is his cleverness and basic sense of humanity. Do you know what he likes to talk about privately? Money, babes, power? No, actually, he’s really got strong academic interests in medical research. He’s a geek, and I mean that in the good way.
“So, I would approach the movie as fiction — entertaining fiction — but try not to let it colour your understanding of the people involved.”
In the past, Zuckerberg has described the movie as mostly “drama”, and that he created the site because he enjoys “building things”.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, responding to accusations that the film was “anti-geek and misogynistic”, said: “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 ‘80s. 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.”
Jimmy Wales says it was a “compelling story”, but “not much of that story is true”. Source: AP
Mark Zuckerberg, left, and his wife Priscilla Chan chat with Facebook exec Dan Rose. Source: AFP
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