Harvard and "The Social Network"

The initial critical focus about The Social Network involved the film's portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg. The unflattering portrait of Facebook's supreme being, masterfully performed by Jesse Eisenberg, certainly merited the attention.

However, The Social Network's script allowed for sentiment, even compassion, to elbow its way into the picture. No such quarter was given to Harvard University. The school is depicted as an extraordinarily unpleasant arena, in which ego, ambition, wealth, and social status collide rather than mesh. No Harvard student, faculty member, administrator, or alum comes across as even remotely decent. The caustic sketch of former Harvard president (and Obama advisor) Lawrence Summers is especially damning. The school's unsparing atmosphere is positively unnerving. Why would a parent encourage their daughter or son to immerse her or himself in such a troubled institution?

This portrait of America's "best and brightest" is very disturbing, far more so than Zuckerberg callously promoting his algorithmically-based nightmare. Harvard's role in incubating its talent and shaping its pupils in its code of behavior appears malignant rather than salubrious. If this is the best our country can do, then heaven help us all.

The image is a still from plume, a 2006 work by Tessa Johung. The work appeared in Frame by Frame: Animation at Harvard, a show held at the Carpenter Center for the Arts at Harvard University.