Portrait Of A Programmer....

Allow me to be the first person to tell you "The Social Network" is an excellent movie.

I mean really good.

I mean, we'll be hearing a lot from it on Oscar night.

So I won't join the pile of critics telling you how great the movie is, no need.

Instead, I want to analyze the portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg (not pictured--- but impeccably played).
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In this culture, we're often told the benefits of a balanced life.

Work hard, play hard.

Treat your body well.

Work to live, don't live to work.

That's all well and good.

But the truth is, to reach TRUE elite status, you have to be insane.

From all accounts of Mark Zuckerberg, he's a programming lunatic.
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I watched the film and read Ben Mezrich's "The Accidental Billionaires" (which was a fun read).

The book and movie make it seem like Mark Zuckerberg was motivated by a myriad of interests.

The primary objective, was the same thing many college guys want, girls. Who among us didn't want to achieve greatness to attract a little attention?

Secondly, the film makes him seem seduced by the constant party offered by Sean Parker (portrayed by Justin Timberlake who has really developed into a fine actor---though he needs to make more music).

With his medusa-like hair and baller-lifestyle, we see Zuckerberg fall in love with the idea of programming by day, hitting on Stanford/BU co-eds by night.
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I think that's one way to look at it.

But I don't think the character is quite as complex.

I think there's only one thing that obsesses Mark Zuckerberg, programming.

That's it.

The dude was a hacker when his buddy spotted him $1,000 to build thefacebook; he was a hacker when he had a BILLION dollars from facebook.

It didn't matter to him.
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There's a legendary story about Bill Gates being in school, and searching the garbage cans of the computer lab for extra code to play with.

That's the nature of this rare beast.

You can't fake it.

You can't seduce it.

You can't tempt it.
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There is an inherent irony in a kid founding the most popular social network, who lacks all social skills.

But he's not just your run-of-the-mill geek.

I think the reason that we see Zuckerberg throw away his only relationships and his fundamental ability to relate to others is based on the fact that he doesn't live in this world.

His mind is in the programming world.

Throughout the movie and book, he's portrayed as obnoxious, flippant, defiant, and disinterested in big lawsuits against him.

One of his attorneys tells him "you're not an ***hole, you just try really hard to be one."
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I beg to differ.

I don't think he tries hard to be anything.

I think he's truly an eccentric.

They say Albert Einstein used to wear the same suit every day, because he didn't want to think about his wardrobe.

I put Zuckerberg in that same class (of obsession--- not necessarily genius).
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Money is a means to an end.

I don't know how Zuckerberg spends his (other than making large donations on the Oprah show).

But I think if he didn't invent facebook, he would've invented another amazing website.

Whether he stole the idea or not is immaterial.

You can give musical notes to a schlub or you can give them to John Coltrane.

I know my life has been vastly improved by facebook.

I'm glad to have lived in a time of such a quirky innovator.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm writing a screenplay about the founding of twitter.