The Social Networking Blockbuster?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnamMtQs1fI

The latest groundbreaking news to come to light is that there is to be a movie dedicated to the widely popular social networking site Facebook. The film will look to take audiences on a journey through the creation and overnight success of the website, which was created in 2004 on the campus of Harvard University. ‘The Social Network’ is due for release late this year, with Jesse Eisenberg (best known for his roles in Zombieland and The Squid and the Whale) playing Facebook’s chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, and Justin Timberlake appearing as Sean Parker, Facebook’s founding president. When I first heard the idea for the film a flash of words came to mind, none of which were positive, however after seeing the trailer and the way in which the story is portrayed as one of passion, deceit, loss, fame, and all the other typical concoctions of emotions to make the perfect movie, I loosened up about the whole idea. Yes, when you hear ‘a film about Facebook’ it initially seems bizarre, yet when you actually look into the idea and find out that it does dig a little deeper than that, it seems that it could turn out to be a fairly successful blockbuster

Exam time...

So today is the day of the Journo exam, and I thought I'd just blog all my revision notes/key words down here this morning for a bit of extra cramming before writing it all down in the test:

1. WAS NIETZSCHE A NAZI?

- Considering the Nazi movements didn't start until 30 years after Nietzsche had died, you couldn't really say he was a Nazi, but these claimed stemmed from his ANTI-SEMITISM which was already widespread over Europe in Germany, Poland, Russia...
- But, Nietzsche did not like ANY RELIGION; he wanted people to eradicate religion from their lives to become FREE.
- His famous statement 'God is Dead' led, Christians and Jews especially, to think he was a Nazi, but he had no specific racial hatred towards the Jews.
- Nietzsche's main philosophy was EXTREME INDIVIDUALISM; promoting self reliance and independence. In his book 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' he writes about the idea of the 'superman' or 'overman' (Ubermensch)..."I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?"
- Also the tightrope walker in 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', a fairly obvious metaphor of humanity in the process of transformation from the current stage of consciousness to a more advanced stage.
- Nietzsche referred to Da Vinci, Beethoven and Wagner as 'supermen'

2. WAS MEURSAULT A BAD MAN?

- Existentialism is a key theme cited in Camus' book 'L'Etranger' (The Stranger), written in 1942, however Camus claimed not to be an existentialist, as the content explores other philosophical schools of though, such as ABSURDISM, STOICISM, DETERMINISM, NIHILISM and NATURALISM.
- Existentialism is the idea that we live right now, not yesterday, but here and now, and we are unsure of the future therefore it may not even happen; it's not there.
- "Existence proceeds essence" - Jean Paul Sartre
- Existentialists say there is no purpose in life, and that it has no value because we are all going to die anyway. You could even go as far as to say that they would commit suicide, but that requires effort, and in a pointless world it wouldn't be worth taking your own life. This is referred to as an EXISTENTIAL VOID
- In the book, Meursault kills another person, and previously his mother has died, both of these actions unaffecting Meursault or his feelings, and he ends up in jail

3. TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE NEW JOURNALISM (TOM WOLFE) REFLECT CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL TRENDS SUCH AS PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE POLITICS OF THE 'ME GENERATION'?

- New Journalism was introduced as a style of news writing and journalism in the 60s/70s, and used literary techniques which were deemed unconvetional at the time
- Wolfe published a collection of journalism articles in 1973 which codified the current meaning.
- Gonzo Journalism, which branched off of the New Journalism term, is a style of journalism written subjectively, and writes news as though it is fiction. The reporter is included in the story using a first person narrative, and often uses sarcasm, humour, exaggeration and profanity.
- The use of Gonzo journalism can be truthful without striving for objectivity
- The New Journalism was seen as a move from DIEGETIC to MIMETIC (telling/seeing), and nothing is judged, but everything is 'strange' - adopted from EXISTENTIALISM
- Gonzo Journalism is now seen as the normal way of writing, for example The Beatles are the norm when speaking of pop music
- DA Pennebaker 'Don't Look Back'
- Fly on the wall documentary - New Journalism
- Psychoanalysis (The Century of the Self) became popular in this era, and was about listening to people/following them around (gonzo) and analysing them
- Reich and the 'me generation' - INDIVIDUALISM - everyone should be happy, sexual freedom, self fulfilment (Nike - Just Do It) you will become PHYSICALLY ILL if you do not have enough sex

4. WHY MIGHT JOURNALISTS FIND THE LOGICAL POSITIVIST SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY TO BE USEFUL OR APPEALING? WHAT FAULTS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED IN THE APPROACH OF LOGICAL POSITIVISTS?

- Firstly, logical positivism is a theory which combines empiricism and rationalism
- Grew from a group called the 'First Vienna Circle' and rejects all theories UNLESS they are scientific ones (Moritz Schlick)
- They assert the VERIFICATION PRINCIPLE - if a statement cannot be verified then it is not true, take for example, 'God is Dead', it cannot be verified, therefore it may or may not be true, and is just not discussed by logical positivists
- Appealing to journalists as it is to do with separating COMMENT and FACT (like Journo today, you need to be able to prove what you are writing is true, otherwise it is merely COMMENT)
- FAULTS: Karl Popper introduced the FALSIFICATION THEORY which completely destroyed the verification theory, by him claiming that the theory itself could not be verified. He said that things were only true if their opposites were
- This theory destroys the works of Freud, Hegel and Marx as you cannot verify their findings

5. KEYNES HAS BEEN HAILED AS BOTH THE SAVIOUR AND DESTROYER OF THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM. WHY?

- Keynes rejected all economic theory of the 30s such as the free market. STEINBECK claimed that unemployment was impossible in a free market system
- Today the government give unemployed people benefits, which encourages them to stay unemployed because they are essentially getting FREE MONEY. Instead, the idea is to get them working for money, even if it is digging holes and refilling them, so that they will get salary and spend their money and join this circle of economy
- "Capitalism produces nothing except destruction for themselves"
- Cut wages + remove government spending = cures unemployment
- Even if wages are cut people have to keep spending, because the company will in turn be able to keep their employers, and within time be able to employ even more people, eventually allowing wages to increase. But, if you start cutting spendings then employees are at risk of being fired as there is not enough money in the circulation to pay them.
- Hayek 'Road to Serfdom'

This is an age dominated by visual images amid declining literacy...

D.A. Pennebaker is an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of Direct Cinema. In the early 1960s he founded Drew Associates, along with Richard Leacock and Robert Drew who later left to found their own production firm. Pennebaker continued and worked with his wife, and founded a new company Pennebaker Hegedus Films, and made a number of influential documentaries. These films were typically shot with an obviously hand-held camera and the use of voice over narration and interviews. Pennebaker went about his documentaries with a simple portrayal of events typical of the cinema ‘verite’ style, which combines naturalistic techniques with stylised cinematic devices of editing and camerawork to provoke subjects.

Pennebaker is quoted as saying “It's possible to go to a situation and simply film what you see there, what happens there, what goes on, and let everybody decide whether it tells them about any of these things. But you don't have to label them, you don't have to have the narration to instruct you so you can be sure and understand that it's good for you to learn.” His documentary ‘Don’t Look Back’ - which celebrates Bob Dylan’s tour of England in 1965 – he claimed was “not a documentary at all by my standards.” Pennebaker claims he does not actually make documentaries, but “records of moments”, “half soap operas”, and “semi-musical reality things.”

"Drop the mask of cultivation"

Wilhelm Reich was a sexual radical thinker, and believed in the unparallel significance of sex; he stated that sexual pleasure is the ultimate measure of human happiness. He came up with the theory of the ‘id’; instinctive drives and impulses which meant people were obsessed with sex. He also used the term ‘super ego’, which relates to the subconscious; you could be talking to someone or sitting in a lecture, but are you really listening/engaging? Who knows the thoughts that are really going on inside of your head?

Reich believed that the unconscious forces inside the mind were good, and it was their suppression by society that distorted them and made people dangerous. He believed that the underlying energy was sexuality and if this was released then human beings would flourish. Freud, on the other hand, wanted to keep these kinds of sexual feelings in; he believed that they had negative effects on human beings, whereas Reich embraced them and wanted them to be set free. Reich linked sexuality and politics by speaking of sexual repression as a principal weapon of political domination; he attempted to synthesise Marx and Freud into one. He was fixed upon a single idea of the orgasm, and elevated it to a universal principle which explained everything. Reich used terms such as orgone energy; a repression visible in the body (an orgasm is not possible if a person is depressed) which he believed permeated all living things, and orgiastic potency; the ability to surrender to the flow without any inhibition.

Reich also claimed there were three layers of the human mind:

1. Surface level – polite, compassionate, responsible
2. Second layer – cruel, sadistic, rapacious – the “unconscious”
3. Third layer – biological core – honest, loving

I guess Reich believed that we all have a ‘mean streak’ somewhere within us, with or without realising it, and that it can override our ‘surface level’ of politeness and compassion; perhaps he linked this second layer to a lack of orgasms or sexual thoughts due to suppression by society.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche and the 'superman'


Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None

I’m about halfway through this book by Nietzsche, and I must say I’m finding it a rather difficult read so far. A lot of preaching going on by Zarathustra and most of what he says is fairly tricky to grasp. Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, was an ancient Iranian prophet, philosopher, and religious poet. The religion Zoroastrianism was based upon his teachings, and it is the worship of their God Ahura Mazda; the Wise God and the Lord of Wisdom. Nietzsche’s fictionalised take on Zarathustra presents ideas dealing in the death of God and the “eternal recurrence of the same”. Centrally ironic to the text is the idea that Nietzsche mimics the style of the Bible to present ideas which actually oppose the morals and traditions of Christianity and Judaism.

One of my favourite parts of the book so far is the scene in which Zarathustra comes across a tightrope walker in the marketplace. The crowd believe that Zarathustra is the ringleader, and is there to introduce the tightrope walker, and so gather around to listen as he speaks to them. Zarathustra poses the question “What have you done to overcome mankind?” and says “I teach you the Overman!” which in German is ‘Ubermensch’; translating to ‘beyond man’, or ‘superman’.

“The Overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beg of you my brothers, remain true to the earth, and believe not those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes!”

I have found with the book so far is that each statement or moral taught by Zarathustra holds a whole new lesson of its own, making the text very difficult to grasp, and also making it a slow read in order to take everything in, with there being various metaphors, puns, translations etc. Nietzsche is trying to reach out to the select people that will understand what he is trying to say, as a lot of people will not be able to grasp the morals being taught here. The very first page of the book explains how Zarathustra left his home to go and live in solitude in the mountains, and did not weary of this way of living for ten years. This way of life suggests he is a 'superman'; he defies the typical norms of life and enjoys being able to do as he pleases. By placing Zarathustra in the mountains, it puts him at a higher position to everyone else, suggesting his higher power and knowledge compared with others. Even the very last line of the text "Thus spoke Zarathustra, and left his cave, glowing and strong, like a morning sun emerging from behind dark mountains." suggests that he is the light, the knowledge, the power, the 'superman'.

Orwellian Newspeak

"They can torture you, make you say anything. But they can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you. They can't get to your heart."

"It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words."

"Freedom is the freedom to say two plus two equals four. If that is granted all else will follow."

"Power is tearing human minds apart and putting them back together in new shapes of your own choosing."

"If you want a vision of the future, Winston, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever."

‘1984’ is a British film released, a little too coincidentally, in 1984, which is based upon George Orwell’s novel of the same name. The story follows Winston Smith living in Oceania; a country run by a totalitarian government. Citizens are under constant surveillance by the ‘thought police’, who’s job it is to uncover and punish ‘thoughtcrime’; any disapproved thoughts of members. Winston is an antihero who keeps a secret diary of his thoughts, thus committing ‘thoughtcrime’, contrary to the aims of the Party which rules Oceania and their supreme figurehead, Big Brother. Winston lives for a few months in happiness and relative freedom when he meets Julia; a sensual, free spirited woman. Winston rents an apartment for them to stay together in the apparently proletarian area, however they are caught by the thought police, and it is revealed that the proprietor of the apartment was in fact a member of the police. The couple are separated and Winston is taken to the Ministry of Love, where he is tortured and brainwashed by O’Brien, a high ranking member of the Inner Party. Finally, he is taken to Room 101, where he is subjected to the “worst thing in the world”, this being a cage full of rats, something that has haunted his thoughts previously. He is then restored back to physical health and released, where he sees Julia who has also been brainwashed by the Party. They exchange a few unemotional words about how they have betrayed each other, and then a video of Winston confessing his crimes is played with him saying “I love you” to Big Brother, thought earlier to be aimed at Julia.

I have not yet read the novel but I would like to as to compare similarities and observe differences within the film. Orwell has created this dystopian world which would have been highly disturbing to read at the time, and in ways still is today. I think the most powerful and shocking scene was the torture of Winston and how they succeed in brainwashing him, implying just how powerful this Party is. The story mirrors the idea and reality of corrupt governments and dictatorships in various countries but not to as great an extent.



The Party in the novel/film imposes ‘antisexualism’ amongst citizens in order to eliminate personal sexual attachments that diminish political loyalty. Julia describes the Party’s idea as “sex gone sour”. During her and Winston’s love affair, Winston suffers recurring ankle inflammation, an Oedipal allusion to sexual repression. Also, O’Brien tells Winston that neurologists plan to extinguish the orgasm entirely; the mental energy required for prolonged worship requires authoritarian suppression of the libido. In partnership with this ‘antisexualism’, censorship is heavily displayed in the film/novel, especially within the Ministry of Truth, where photographs are doctored and public archives rewritten to rid them of ‘unpersons’ and in according to the Party’s rules.

Julia and Winston's encounter after they have been brainwashed and 'restored' back to physical health:

"I betrayed you," she said baldly.
"I betrayed you," he said.
She gave him another quick look of dislike.
"Sometimes," she said, "they threaten you with something — something you can't stand up to, can't even think about. And then you say, 'Don't do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so.' And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn't really mean it. But that isn't true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there's no other way of saving yourself and you're quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don't give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself."
"All you care about is yourself," he echoed.
"And after that, you don't feel the same toward the other person any longer."
"No," he said, "you don't feel the same."