The Social Network: Youth Film 2.0 (Cinema and Youth Cultures)

This in-depth study of one of the twenty-first century's most acclaimed films, __The Social Network: Youth Film 2.0__ considers the contribution of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's film to the understanding of 'youth' in a contemporary, digital age. The book starts by situating __The Social Network__ within the contexts of 'youth film', arguing that it challenges and reshapes the boundaries of this genre by rethinking the notion of 'youth' itself in the present century. It goes on to consider in detail the aesthetics at work in the film, arguing for its critical and reflexive use of an 'accelerated' audio-visual style, in order to capture both the new visual regimes of the personal computer era, and the ethical and intellectual ambiguities of Facebook itself as a creation. Finally, it locates the film within the broader visual styles and fashion codes of a late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century consumer culture that incorporates and commodifies rebellion and dissent: qualities that underpinned Facebook's emerging, paradoxical identity as at once the epitome of 'hacker' culture and also a multi-billion-dollar global company. Reframing the meaning of youth cinema, this volume in the Cinema and Youth Culture series is ideal for students, researchers and scholars of cinema studies, youth culture and digital cultures. The Social Network Cover -1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 Figures 7 Series Editors' Introduction 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction: Much Too Young - The Social Network and Twenty-First-Century Youth Film 12 'That's Life in the NFL': Sorting the Men from the Boys, and Vice Versa 15 The 'Adultification' of Youth Film 21 'This Is Off the Record': The Serious Fiction of The Social Network 25 The Chapters 29 Notes 31 1. From Harvard to Palo Alto: The Values of Education in Youth Cinema and The Social Network 32 Seriously Stupid: The Perks of Being an Asshole 37 Animal House Revisited 42 'A Diversity Thing': Jewishness and Social Structure 45 Education 2.0 49 Notes 53 2. Move Fast and Break Things: Ambivalences of Speed and Hacker Aesthetics 54 Freakin' Fast: The Social Network and the Culture of Acceleration 55 Let the Hacking Begin 58 The Sounds of Speed 68 Acting Like a Child 74 The Cultural Moment: Film History and Irony 77 Culture 2.0 82 Notes 84 3. 'I'm CEO, Bitch': The Conundrum of Capital 86 And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth: Capitalism and the Appropriation of Cool 88 And the Weak (Ties) Will Inherit the Earth: The Cool Business of Web 2.0 97 Notes 103 4. You Don't Get to Two Billion Friends Without Making a Few More Enemies: Critical Legacies of The Social Network 105 Whose 'Social Network' Is It Anyway? 111 An Empire without Bounds 115 Notes 119 Epilogue: The Last Word? 121 Note 122 Bibliography 123 Index 129 Facebook;,disruptions;,Aaron,Sorkin;,David,Fincher;,Mark,Zuckerberg;,youth,film;,cinema,and,youth,cultures;,social,networks;,youth,culture; Facebook,disruptions,Aaron Sorkin,David Fincher,Mark Zuckerberg,youth film,cinema and youth cultures,social networks,youth culture "The first book to look in depth at one of the 21st century's most acclaimed films, The Social Network: Youth Film 2.0 considers the contribution of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's film to the understanding of 'youth' in a contemporary, digital age. The book starts by situating The Social Network within the contexts of 'youth film', arguing that it challenges and reshapes the boundaries of this genre by rethinking the notion of 'youth' itself in the present century. It goes on to consider in detail the aesthetics at work in the film, arguing for its critical and reflexive use of an 'accelerated' audio-visual style, in order to capture both the new visual regimes of the personal computer era, and the ethical and intellectual ambiguities of Facebook itself as a creation. Finally, it locates the film within the broader visual styles and fashion codes of a late 20th- and early 21st-century consumer culture that incorporates and commodifies rebellion and dissent: qualities that underpinned Facebook's emerging, paradoxical identity as at once the epitome of 'hacker' culture and also a multi-billion dollar global company"-- Provided by publisher This in-depth study of one of the 21st century’s most acclaimed films, The Social Network: Youth Film 2.0, considers the contribution of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s film to the understanding of ‘youth’ in a contemporary, digital age.