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Brent JordanErin Dietel-McLaughlinWR 13300February, 28 2014Eduardo Saverin: The Unsung HeroThe Social Network is a 2010 dramatic film directed by David Fincher. The screenplay for the film was written by Aaron Sorkin and was based off of Ben Mezrichs book The Accidental Billionaires. The film closely follows the relationship between Facebook Co-founders Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, and Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield. After Facebook exploded into the most popular invention of the new millennium, Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, is facing several lawsuits; one of which is issued by Saverin. The film is told through the testimonies of the people involved in the various legal cases. Reading a description of the movie, a viewer will find that the main character is Mark Zuckerberg. That statement is false. Through the use of influential rhetorical strategies, Fincher and Sorkin were able to effectively establish Eduardo Saverin as the real protagonist of the film. A common belief held by society is that rhetoric is just another term for communication. James Herrick strongly disagrees with this claim. He believes rhetoric is a specific type of communication that possesses particular characteristics (7). The first characteristic that Herrick discusses in his book, The History and Theory of Rhetoric, is that rhetoric is always planned (8). When a film is in the planning stages, a filmmaker must decide which methods would be most effective in reaching the desired audience. An important question for filmmakers to ask themselves is, Which arguments will I advance? (Herrick 8). Given the scenes and events that were chosen for the final cut of the movie, the filmmakers of The Social Network were successful in addressing these questions. Almost every aspect of the film works to enhance the argument of the overall claim.One of the ways in which the filmmakers attempted to establish Eduardo as the protagonist of the film was by showing Marks dependence on Eduardo. Throughout the film Mark is seen demanding for Eduardos assistance. When Mark comes up with the idea of Facebook, he turns to Eduardo for start-up money. However, he never asks for the one thousand dollars he needs, he just tells Eduardo thats how much he is going to put forth; as if it were a predetermined thing. The filmmakers most likely have no idea how Mark asked for the money, but they chose to make Mark appear rude for a reason. They want the audience to sympathize with Eduardo, and hold negative feelings toward Mark. A second example of Marks dependence on Eduardo relates to Eduardos connections to the Phoenix, a popular final club at Harvard. Mark wants the email list of all the members of the club in order to send them the link to Facebook. Eduardo does not want to spam the club before he is even accepted, but eventually gives in to Marks demand. This scene takes place in Marks apartment in which Mark and Eduardo are the only two characters in the room. How do the filmmakers even know this situation occurred? From their perspective it does not matter if it is true or not, the events that take place further develop the central claim. The planned nature of the film makes it a true piece of rhetorical discourse. One important aspect of effective rhetoric is immediacy. According to J. David Bolter and Richard Grusin, the goal of immediacy is to create a natural feel when visually engaging a medium (23). This is best achieved through transparency, which occurs when the viewer does not even realize the medium exists (Bolter, Grusin 22-23). As this pertains to film, the director wants the audience to feel like they are physically in the scene with the characters. This can be achieved through extraordinary acting and camera work. In The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield were superb in developing their respective characters and engaging with each other during scenes.In the film, the character of Eduardo represents friendship. The filmmakers were able to successfully explore the theme of friendship through the use of immediacy. Friendship is natural and real, therefore the medium in which friendship is examined must also be natural and real. The conversation during the Caribbean themed party provides a deep insight into the dynamics of Mark and Eduardos friendship. During this scene, the audience receives an over the shoulder perspective of the interactions. It causes the audience to feel like they are eavesdropping on the conversation; which is extremely effective immediacy. While the audience is viewing from over Marks shoulder, it is obvious that Eduardo is looking Mark straight in the eyes and is engaged in the conversation. From over Eduardos shoulder, the audience can see that Mark is gazing in random directions and does not appear to be interested in what Eduardo is telling him. This makes sense because Eduardo is telling Mark about how he was punched by the Phoenix, which makes Mark very jealous. The transparent camera work and the acting in this scene influence the audience to believe Mark is a mediocre friend, while Eduardo is a fantastic friend. The theme of friendship wraps up in a powerful scene inside of a conference room of a law firm. The scene involves Eduardo, Mark, and their lawyers talking about the events that transpired prior to Eduardos removal from Facebook. Right before Eduardo begins to tell the story of the day he was ambushed, he delivers an extremely impactful quote. I was your only friend, you had one friend. The camera work applied during this quote amplifies its significance. At first the audience is looking straight at Eduardo as he faces away from the table, but as he turns to face Mark the perspective jumps to a view from over Marks shoulder. The audience is placed right next to Mark as he experiences Eduardos wrath. Eduardos use of the past tense was effectively ends the friendship motif. The audience is now expected to pick a side, and the clear choice is Eduardo. The final theme that adds to the claim that Eduardo is the true protagonist of the movie is his characterization as a victim. Audiences sympathize with a victim, and the filmmakers want Eduardo to receive all of the sympathy points the audience is willing to dish out. The characterization of Eduardo as a victim was aided by the use of framing. Judith Lancioni describes framing as the use of camera work to encourage viewers to join in the mental exercise of sifting through evidence (400). She continues, Reframing demonstrates that the same photograph can have several different meanings, depending on which aspects of it are foregrounded (404). This statement can easily be applied to a movie scene in which focus is altered, rather than foregrounding; which is exactly what happens in The Social Network. Eduardo had mentioned in a previous scene that he probably was only punched by the Phoenix because of a diversity thing. A couple minutes later, just as Eduardo was walking away from Mark after they created the company of Facebook, Mark yelled out, It probably was a diversity thing. Mark is attempting to discredit Eduardos accomplishment of being invited into an extremely exclusive club, one in which Mark would love to join. The framing during this interaction does a phenomenal job capturing the magnitude of Marks words and how hurtful they were to Eduardo. As Mark makes the comment, his face is focused upon in the foreground and Eduardos is blurred in the background. But immediately after the remark, Eduardos face comes into focus and Marks becomes blurred. This is an extremely effective strategy to force the eyes of the viewer to go directly where the director wants them to. At this moment the audience can feel all of Eduardos pain. From this point forward, most viewers are going to root for Eduardos success over Marks. Another prime example of Eduardo being characterized as a victim occurs when he flies out to California to visit Mark. The framing of the scene in which Eduardo arrives to the house is impeccable. The scene begins with Eduardo standing in the doorway of the house, absolutely drenched in rain. Mark had forgotten to pick him up at the airport and Eduardo was forced to cab to the house. The framing of the scene does an incredible job of capturing the pure pandemonium of the house. One of the first things Eduardo notices are the two girls using a bong on the couch. He immediately asks, How old are those girls? This provides an example of how Eduardos moral compass is far better than most characters in the film. After bickering with Napster founder Sean Parker, Eduardo and Mark have another serious talk. During this conversation Mark tells Eduardo that he is afraid Eduardo is going to be left behind. The general feel of the film at this point is helplessness. It seems as if everyone and everything is fighting against Eduardo. Once again he is represented as the victim and the audience would like nothing more than to see him overcome these seemingly insurmountable obstacles. After this heated conversation with Mark, the very next scene shows Eduardos response to Marks words. The fact that the film follows the character of Eduardo after a fight with Mark is strong evidence that the audience should be more concerned with Eduardos well-being.Eduardos final actions in the film provide substantial evidence to his role as protagonist. Just as Eduardo turns to leave the offices of Facebook after blowing up on Mark for kicking him out of the company, Sean Parker makes a wise comment. Eduardo then turns and fakes a punch in Seans direction, which causes Sean to duck in terror. Eduardo then says, I like standing next to you Sean, it makes me look so tough. The filmmakers are having Eduardo go out on top. After smashing Marks laptop and belittling Sean, Eduardo finally starts to appear to be the hero the audience has been eagerly waiting upon. However, there are alternate interpretations of this scene. Some will argue that Eduardos exit from the story before the film concludes proves he was not the protagonist. They will object with the argument that both the initial and final scene of the film revolve around the character of Mark, therefore he must be the protagonist. However, Marks role in those scenes is to prove that despite everything that had occurred between start to finish, Mark is still unhappy. The final image of the film shows Mark miserably staring at his computer screen as he repeatedly friend requests an ex-girlfriend on his own social network site. It is almost never the goal of a film to leave the audience feeling unhappy, which is why it would not make sense for Mark to be the protagonist. The true protagonist of the film is the character of Eduardo Saverin. Through the use of rhetoric, immediacy, and framing, the filmmakers of The Social Network were able to establish Eduardo Saverin, a supporting character, as the protagonist of the film. Upon first glance it does not seem to make intuitive sense for the main character to not be the protagonist, but The Social Network is not an ordinary film. Despite the goal of the film to promote the image of Eduardo Saverin, it made logical sense to make the main character of the movie Mark Zuckerberg. Mark Zuckerberg is a household name in the United States, whereas nobody had heard the name Eduardo Saverin before the film. Fincher and Sorkin were able to draw large crowds to theaters using the name Zuckerberg, and then were able to send those crowds home with a love of Eduardo Saverin.

Works CitedBolter, J. David, and Richard Grusin. Immediacy, Hypermediacy, and Remediation. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Ann Arbor, MI: MPublishing, University of Michigan Library, 2002. 21-50. Print.Herrick, James. An Overview of Rhetoric. The History and Theory of Rhetoric. Allyn and Bacon, 2001. 1-25. Print.Lancioni, Judith. The Rhetoric of the Frame: Revisioning Archival Photographs in the Civel War. Western Journal of Communication, 60(4). Western States Communication Association, 1996. 397-414. Print.The Social Network. Dir. David Fincher. Perf. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield. Sony Pictures, 2010. Film.