In the trailer for David Fincher’s Golden Globe-nominated film The Social Network the words PUNK GENIUS PROPHET TRAITOR BILLIONAIRE filled the screen interspersed with scenes of Jesse Eisenberg’s quickshot deadpan riffing, which made it pretty obvious the movie was not going to be about the Facebook, it’s about the dude who was responsible for creating it. And there’s no doubt about it, Mark Zuckerberg is a fascinating character – he is this freakish computer whiz, a scholarship student with a massive chip on his shoulder, maverick rule breaker, social retard on the Asperger’s borderline (if the movie’s portrayal is accurate) and yeah a punk, genius, prophet, traitor, the world’s youngest billionaire constantly dealing with media scrutiny and the tribulations and pitfalls of relentlessly pursuing the American dream.
Mark Zuckerberg has been named TIME Magazine’s Person Of The Year, a poll for which the selection criteria is the person who made the most significant impact on our historical and cultural footprint in 2010. With the film being released this year to universal critical acclaim and box office success (so far it’s made over $180million in under two months of screening) he definitely had the cultural market cornered and our intrigue about the guy has never been greater. Facebook also reached its 500 millionth member this year making it the biggest social network on the internet and probably off the internet too (correct me if I’m wrong though, Freemasons you clandestine party animals you).
Yesterday we told you about Wikileak’s founder Julian Assange taking out the readers’ choice on Time’s Person Of The Year poll. Assange was also among the runners up on the publisher’s list (with The Tea Party, Hamid Karzai and the Chilean Miners). These guys have a lot in common when you think about it. Anti-authoritarian media revolutionaries with a disregard for rules and sick hacking skills. They both use technology to connect people and share information. I like that the publishers and the people are on the same wavelength this year.
What do you think of Time’s choice?
Via time
