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The Social Network · 2010 — Chapter 2 of 23 · 5'17" · B2

Mark Builds Facemash, Explained: take my mind off

Dumped and a little drunk, Mark blogs his anger, then decides to build a website that compares students' photos side by side. Hacking into the Harvard house facebooks is easy; the ranking is not. "I need the algorithm," he says, and drags a friend into the plan.

What happens

After his breakup, Mark spends a night coding. He writes a program that pulls photos from Harvard's house directories and lets users vote in head-to-head matchups, then asks his friend for the ranking algorithm from a chess rating system. The result is Facemash.

BreakupsExplainingPersuadingFriendsB2fastamerican
IMDb ↗

Listen for

take my mind offsplit upwe're setWhat a sham

00:00 / 05:17
Space play · ← → lines · R repeat
Now
  17. ❝ MonologueLet the hacking begin4 linesPractice page ↗
  68. ❝ MonologueThe chess formula on the wall4 linesPractice page ↗
Tap a line to replay it

Phrase of the scene

take my mind off

Distract oneself from something

Mark 刚失恋，说 need to do something to take my mind off her，于是打算找点事做。

Cooking takes my mind off the deadline for a while.

Also in this scene

  • split up

    End a relationship or break apart

  • we're set

    Everything is ready

  • What a sham

    Something is a fake or a letdown

  • the key ingredient

    The crucial element

Everything marked in this scene

24 notes across 79 lines

Slang · B1bitchErica Albright's a bitch.
Phrase · B1take one's mind off something

Distract oneself from something

I need to do something to take my mind off her.
Phrase · B1not gonna lieI'm a little intoxicated, I'm not gonna lie.
Soundnot gonna lie

elision

I'm a little intoxicated, I'm not gonna lie.
Phrase · B1good callGood call, Mr. Olson.
SoundGood call

stress

Good call, Mr. Olson.
Phrase · B1it's onYeah, it's on. I'm not gonna do the farm animals, but I like the idea of comparing two people together.
Phrase · B2compare A and B togetherYeah, it's on. I'm not gonna do the farm animals, but I like the idea of comparing two people together.
Grammar · B2since people's ratings of the pictures will be more implicit

since-clause of reason: Here since introduces the reason behind the Turing feel.

It gives the whole thing a very "Turing" feel since people's ratings of the pictures will be more implicit
Phrase · B2all that's necessary is ...So a little Wget magic is all that's necessary to download the entire Kirkland facebook.
Soundall that's necessary

liaison

So a little Wget magic is all that's necessary to download the entire Kirkland facebook.
Slang · B2Kids' stuffKids' stuff.
Phrase · B1moving right alongExcellent. Moving right along.
Phrase · B2have no way of doing somethingso they have no way of detecting an intrusion.
Phrase · B1we're set

Everything is ready

All I need to do is break out the same script I used on Lowell and we're set.
Phrase · B2what a sham

Something is a fake or a letdown

Quincy has no online facebook. What a sham.
Grammar · B2Not only is there no public directory, but there's no directory at all

not only inversion: Fronting Not only triggers inversion and sets up a stronger second clause.

Not only is there no public directory, but there's no directory at all.
Grammar · B2once you do get results

once-clause with emphatic do: Once sets the condition; the auxiliary do adds emphasis.

And once you do get results, they don't link directly to the images.
Phrase · B2something or somethingThey link to a PHP that redirects or something. Weird.
Phrase · B1perfect timingPerfect timing. Eduardo's here and he's going to have the key ingredient.
Phrase · B2the key ingredient

The crucial element

Perfect timing. Eduardo's here and he's going to have the key ingredient.
Phrase · B1split up

End a relationship or break apart

You and Erica split up.
Phrase · B2at any given timeAt any given time Girl A has a rating R-a and Girl B has a rating R-b.
Phrase · B2be matched upWhen any two girls are matched up, there's an expectation of which will win based on their current rating, right?

Mark Builds Facemash, explained

What's really going on

The scene is the origin story the film keeps circling back to: a wounded narcissist turns a rejection into a product. The motivation is petty and personal — "I need to do something to take my mind off her" — and the method is pure engineering swagger. Mark is not building a community; he is building a site where people rank each other's looks, and he says so with a programmer's distance. What makes it ominous is how ordinary the steps sound: download the directories, borrow a chess rating formula, ship it. The last line, "who are they gonna send it to?", already knows the answer will be everyone.

Theme

AmbitionA personal slight becomes a project, and the drive to build something outshines any moral hesitation.
IdentityMark turns his humiliation into a site that judges people by looks, revealing how he sees the world.

Listen for

  • not gonna lie — elision
  • Good call — stress
  • all that's necessary — liaison
Easy enough, except I need an idea.

A restless, almost dismissive note: the technique is easy, but the project still needs a spark.

I'm a little intoxicated, I'm not gonna lie.

A wry, honest aside that frames the whole night's bad decisions as half-confessions.

who are they gonna send it to?

The quiet punchline: the point is not the first users but how fast the thing spreads.

The truth is, she has a nice face.

A small, petty admission under the insults — he is still thinking about her even as he builds revenge.

Questions about this scene

Why does Mark build Facemash?

He is humiliated by the breakup and wants something to distract him. The project starts as a joke and an exercise, but it also reflects how he sees people as data to be ranked.

How does Facemash get all the photos?

Mark exploits the weak security of Harvard's house websites. He downloads each house's facebook, or scrapes the images through searches and scripts, because the houses are open or poorly protected.

What algorithm does Mark need, and where does he get it?

He wants the chess rating system that ranks players from head-to-head results, and he borrows it from his friend Eduardo. It lets the site rank students from simple two-person votes.

What does the last line who are they gonna send it to imply?

It implies the site will spread on its own. Mark stops worrying about the first recipients and starts thinking about virality, which is already the mindset of a network builder.

The Social Network · 23 chapters

All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 3an awful lot ofMark Crashes Harvard's Network
Chapter 1speak in codeErica Dumps Mark at the BarWatching · Chapter 2take my mind offMark Builds FacemashChapter 3an awful lot ofMark Crashes Harvard's NetworkChapter 4make an example out ofZuckerberg Faces the Ad BoardChapter 5a no-brainerWinklevoss Twins Pitch Their SiteChapter 6in a stampedeMark Pitches the Facebook IdeaChapter 7off the recordEduardo's Deposition Turns on EmailsChapter 8bounce aroundFacebook Launches Relationship StatusChapter 9give someone the fingerThe Winklevosses Debate Suing MarkChapter 10Facebook meEduardo Recalls Facebook's LaunchChapter 11monetizeMark and Eduardo Argue About MoneyChapter 12the minimum amountMark Answers with Minimum AttentionChapter 13written in inkErica Confronts Mark Over the InternetChapter 14the shoe's on the other footSean Parker Wakes Up at StanfordChapter 15make that callThe Winklevosses Meet President SummersChapter 16a dog in this fightSean Parker Wins Over MarkChapter 17stir the potEduardo's Chicken Deposition StoryChapter 18once-in-a-generationSean Parker Meets Mark in Palo AltoChapter 19at our disposalThe Winklevosses Decide to Sue MarkChapter 20get left behindEduardo Confronts Mark Over SeanChapter 21let bygones be bygonesEduardo Freezes the Company AccountChapter 22in all honestyEduardo Signs Away His SharesChapter 23lawyer upMark Dismantles Eduardo at Facebook
Chapter 2 of 23 · about 63 min to go