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October 21, 2010 | 9:00 am

Who does Aaron Sorkin really hate?

Posted by Danielle Berrin

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Rooney Mara and Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"

I’ve written before about “The Social Network’s” view of Jewish women (you may recognize a few lines below), and how it’s so unflattering it’s no wonder Mark Zuckerberg will probably choose to intermarry, and why writer Aaron Sorkin already has. But then I considered Sorkin’s mysterious Erica Albright character—the one who outright rejects Zuckerberg in the opening scene, whose Jewishness is alluded to but never explicitly stated—and I realized that I liked her; and that Zuckerberg liked her; and that Sorkin was deeply conflicted about her.

The following column appeared in the print version of The Journal and is, I hope, the beginning of a broader investigation into why Hollywood seems to have a special aversion to Jewish women.

In “The Social Network,” writer Aaron Sorkin insinuates that one of the central drives behind Mark Zuckerberg’s development of Facebook was the hot-blooded pursuit of women.

Only, Sorkin’s script presents such a narrow, hackneyed view of women — they are either humiliatingly contemptuous or raving sex objects — critics and commentators have predictably erupted with diatribes against this seemingly misogynist universe.

Sorkin himself has admitted the movie’s portrayal of women is troubling.

“It’s not hard to understand how bright women could be appalled by what they saw in the movie,” Sorkin responded to a comment posted on TV writer Ken Levine’s blog. The commenter had wondered how the same writer who conceived C.J. Cregg in TV’s “The West Wing” could write a movie without a single admirable woman.

“Facebook was born during a night of incredible misogyny,” Sorkin wrote as justification.

While it is true that women in general do not shine in “The Social Network,” the critique is misguided, because Sorkin is quite specific as to which kind of women he is referencing, when he references them at all — and they come in two forms: Asian Americans and Jews. According to a surface reading, neither gets a pretty portrait; Asian women are depicted as attractive and easy, and Jewish women are brawling shrews.

Jewishness, in general, is a characteristic the fictional Zuckerberg and his friends are desperate to escape. At the Caribbean Night party at the Alpha Epsilon Pi house, one of Zuckerberg’s friends wryly remarks: “There’s an algorithm for the connection between Jewish guys and Asian girls: They’re hot, smart, not Jewish and can dance.” Sorkin would have us believe that, in the eyes of some Jewish men — or at least those run-of-the-mill Harvard scholars — one of the best things about an Asian woman is that she isn’t a Jewish woman. And in Sorkin’s story, Asians get bonus points for performing oral sex in public bathrooms.

“That’s not what you’re going to get from an Erica,” said Olivia Cohen-Cutler, referring to the film’s only female Jewish character. Cohen-Cutler, a senior executive at ABC, is the chair of Hadassah’s Morningstar Commission, which devotes attention to images of Jewish women in the media. While most are decrying the film’s treatment of women, Cohen-Cutler sees something different in the character Erica Albright.

In the film’s opening scene, the fictional Zuckerberg is on a date with Erica, who is pretty, sophisticated and exquisitely articulate. While trying to woo her, an arrogant and socially inept Zuckerberg winds up insulting her every which way, which prompts Erica to unequivocally reject him: “You’re going to be successful and rich. But you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a tech geek. I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that won’t be true: It’ll be because you’re an asshole.”

But her assertiveness, while well-founded, is met with a withering take-down. Zuckerberg avenges himself on his blog, her rejection providing the impetus for the creation of “Facemash” — the beginning of Facebook.

In real life, he wrote, “[So and so] is a bitch. I need to think of something to take my mind off her. Easy enough. Now I just need an idea.”

In the movie, the fictional Zuckerberg also insults the size of her breasts — and her last name, with a subtle dig about how her family changed their name from “Albrecht” to “Albright” — the only hint that she is Jewish, though it’s never explicitly confirmed.

“In one way [the Zuckerberg character] was saying, ‘She’s a fraud because her family did this and I’m not because I’m still Zuckerberg,’ “ Cohen-Cutler said in an interview. “What you saw throughout the film was a combination of Zuckerberg’s arrogance and self-loathing related to his otherness, which played into the ‘Jewish men hate Jewish women’ continuum.”

If this were pure fiction, it might sting a little less, but unfortunately it isn’t: Zuckerberg, who might be the most eligible Jewish bachelor in the world, met his real-life girlfriend, the Chinese American medical student Priscilla Chan, on erev Shabbat at an AEPi party during his sophomore year. (According to The New Yorker, friends speculate that they will marry.)

Liel Leibovitz, a writer for the online Jewish magazine Tablet and an assistant professor of communications at New York University, believes this is just more evidence that Hollywood is undeniably and irretrievably hostile to Jewish women.

“Being ‘Jewish’ in Hollywood means adhering to the stereotype, namely the smart and shlubby person who overcomes insecurities and applies wit to get ahead,” Leibovitz wrote via e-mail. “That, of course, is a stereotype that’s great for guys, but not too great for women. While Jewish men can fit right into the ‘Jewish’ niche in Hollywood’s arsenal of preconceived notions and crumbling clichés, Jewish women cannot.”

Indeed, Erica is punished, not for being the object of the male gaze, but for subverting it by being the only character in the movie who is actually smarter than Zuckerberg. Even if her rejection is the proper comeuppance for his immaturity and arrogance, it is Zuckerberg who becomes the hero, while Erica remains the heartless wench who wounded him. 

Where does this animosity toward Jewish women come from?

“I am convinced by the theory that pins the blame largely on Jewish men,” Leibovitz wrote in his e-mail. His much-read 2009 article “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” postulates that both Hollywood’s executives and its leading men prefer shiksas. Period.

In that vein, Sorkin’s script and its obvious aversion to Jewish women can be seen as an indictment of Jewish women nobody likes: the entitled Jewish American Princess and the overbearing Jewish Mother. But Erica Albright-Albrecht doesn’t fit into either of those stereotypes, even if she derives, in some way, from an archetypal Jewish feminine strength.

“I long for the day when a Jewish actress would play a Jewish character that’s just the normal, uncomplicated, unremarkable love interest who also happens to be Jewish,” Leibovitz said.

An uncomplicated Jewish woman? No wonder Sorkin doesn’t deliver. He seems, instead, ambivalent about them. He can’t stand the stereotypical figures (either on screen or from his own life), but he is also trying to imagine something different. So while Erica is reproved for her boldness, it is Zuckerberg who ends up endlessly longing for her, and an ideal that doesn’t really exist.

I suppose it’s asking Hollywood too much for two smart, good-looking Jews to run off into the sunset together. Or at least, in this case, to Silicon Valley.

“It’s too bad that this movie, which is really a testament to the brilliance and single-mindedness of someone, had to flip the bird to being Jewish,” added Cohen-Cutler, who admitted she loved the movie regardless.

Too bad, indeed. The real world is full of Jewish women whose qualities run contrary to Hollywood stereotypes. Which leads me to believe that it isn’t Jewish women that are the problem; it’s that Jewish men like Mark Zuckerberg and Aaron Sorkin are hanging out with the wrong ones.

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““I long for the day when a Jewish actress would play a Jewish character that’s just the normal, uncomplicated, unremarkable love interest who also happens to be Jewish,” Leibovitz said.”

In recent years, there was Kat Dennings in Nick and Norah.

But why does it have to be a Jewish actress playing a Jewish character? Why not a non-Jewish actress playing a Jewish character, or a Jewish actress playing a character of indeterminite ethnicity, as is the case most of the time?

The fact is, most explicitly Jewish characters aren’t played by Jews, and most Jewish actors don’t play explicitly Jewish characters. The Social Network is as good an example as any, with the mostly Irish-a little Italian Rooney Mara playing Erica Albright, and Rashida Jones, a practicing Jew, playing a character who isn’t given any background (and why should she have been? It would be distracting from her character’s purpose).

But of course, Liel Leibovitz has demonstrated repeatedly that he doesn’t actually know which actresses are Jewish or not (and not to mention he wrote that Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia was Jewish, which was a strange mistake even for him), so he is uniquely unqualified to write about this.

What Liebovitz and others like him want aren’t more Natalie Portmans and and Mila Kunises. No, what they want are female versions of Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill - i.e. crude female Jewish stereotypes. And thankfully, they’re just not gonna get that. The male versions are bad enough as is.

Comment by Harley on 10/21/10 at 11:50 am

I just saw The Social Network last night and was struck by the fact that Erica is the only person in the film who does not compromise her integrity. When every other character fights for money or status she alone stands for decency. If that is not a favorable portrayal I don’t know what you’re looking for.

Comment by Elizabeth on 10/21/10 at 12:17 pm

In real life, he wrote, “[So and so] is a bitch. I need to think of something to take my mind off her. Easy enough. Now I just need an idea.”

to me, this sounds like “geek gets dumped, geek gets depresssed, geek writes a million lines of code to get over girl”.  Facemash is the chick he hit on the rebound.  everyone knows a geek’s real girlfriend is his computer.

Comment by Proton Soup on 10/21/10 at 8:08 pm

Some Jewish women are strong: Golda Meier, Ann Frank
Some Jewish women have had movies made about them: Golda Meir, Ann Frank.
Some Jewish women are quite attractive and quite sought after: Rachel Weisz, young Israeli women featured in Israeli tourism brochures, Bar Refaeli
Some Jewish filmmakers portray Jewish women as overbearing: Aaron Sorkin, Woody Allen
Some Jewish women are self-hating: Madeline Albright, Senator George Allen’s mother, others that I won’t mention
Some Jewish women are prominent and powerful: Ellen Weiss at NPR just fired Juan Williams, Vivian Schiller (Jewish? German?) just took back a nasty dig that she made about him, and both are accused of playing favorites with Nina Totenberg.
Art, like reality, is an aggregate.
I for one, do not give a rat’s tuchis about a few passing scenes in Aaron Sorkin’s interpretive movie. It’s a move about the technologically advanced but socially awkward, and reflects nothing more than their tastes, and perhaps the screenwriter’s.
But Straw Men are such fun to write about.
Raphael Abrams
dailyraphirmations.com

Comment by raphael abrams on 10/21/10 at 8:23 pm

What about how hollywood treats Italian American women? Did you ever think of that or do you only think of yourself? Look at the the Jersey Shore. You’d never have a show about Jewish women like that. Why? Because Jews like you would be crying over it. This is why I hate Jews so much. They’re racist hypocrites.

Comment by King Yule on 10/21/10 at 8:27 pm

I appreciate the fact that this is a movie that needs to dramatize reality. I also appreciate that the movie ends with Zuckerberg hoping for redemption in Erica’s eyes, which she might show by “accepting” him as a friend on Facebook.

Comment by Elizabeth on 10/21/10 at 9:38 pm

Let us not forget the final scene (spoiler alert, as they say) shows Mark requesting Erica (electronically, of course)via his own system to be his FBook friend.  He seemed humble at that point.  Jesse Eisenberg was perfect.  Though I think it might have worked dramatically better had he written; “I am sorry for my insults.  Thank you for your inspiration, Erica.  I sincerely mean that”...

Comment by Gary G on 10/22/10 at 11:03 am

I saw this movie when it first came out so my memory might be a little fuzzy but as I started to read this article I was trying to remember what Jewish women characters you were referencing. “Sorkin is quite specific as to which kind of women he is referencing - Asian Americans and Jews”  WHAT? The only Jewish woman (singular) you identify is a character that you yourself state, “is never explicitly confirmed” as being Jewish.  The name Albrecht could just as easily be a non Jewish German name and the character is portrayed by an Irish American actress.  This is your basis for your thesis that Aaron Sorkin Hates Jewish Women or at least portrays them unfairly.  Unbelievable.  You go on to write that in the movie, “Jewish women are brawling shrews”.  Yet, later, you describe Erica(your only vaguely Jewish woman in the movie) as “pretty, sophisticated and exquisitely articulate”. Not exactly a harpy.
I think you have confused the screenwriter for the protagonist.  Zuckerburg treats Erica shabbily because he does not have the capacity to interact in an intimate relationship.  Sorkin makes Erica the most admirable character in the movie. 
The real irony here is that through this article you have done more to reinforce unflattering stereotypes of Jewish women than Aaron Sorkin could have with his movie.  And just to be clear I am not referencing the unfounded stereotypes you drudged up, “heartless wench, entitled Jewish American Princess, overbearing Jewish mother”.  No, I am referencing the American Jewish Woman writer who senses affronts and conspiracies where there are none.

Comment by Big Al on 10/25/10 at 9:53 am

I strongly believe there should be more realistic portrayals of women (Jewish and otherwise) in TV and on film. I would love a strong Jewish heroine to play a central role in a film. But perhaps women characters in the film played a minimal role because women played a minimal role in the founding of Facebook. (I have not done the research to support this, and I know Mark’s sister Randi is involved in running the company now.)

College is about rebelling, or in Zuckerberg-the-genius-character’s case, doing what you want even if it has negative repercussions on the people around you. Understandably, women were his first target when dumped - how often have you heard your women friends, once jilted, say “I’m done with men” or “I hate men”? Add to that the fact that Zuckerberg may not have been aware of how far-reaching his project would become, and what you have is totally normal rejection fantasy playing itself out only because the Facebook founder was more of a computer genius than a student of human emotion.

Again, it’s worth noting that the film is based on a book that’s basically narrative nonfiction - the book (which I’m reading now) is beautifully written, but is not a transcript, and neither is this film a documentary. So to imply that Zuckerberg the person makes dating decisions because Zuckerberg the character has friends with an algorithm to explain the attraction between Jewish men and Asian women is a stretch.

And by the way, let’s not forget that AEPi event depicted in the film. That party run by Jewish guys was offered up as an example of a lame party, in sharp contrast to those run by the more desirable private Harvard clubs (which, one might assume based on the portrayal in the film, were also significantly less respectful of women).

I don’t know who Aaron Sorkin hates. But if “The Social Network” - and its understanding of Facebook’s creation - is a revenge fantasy, there are two entities who have “done Zuckerberg wrong”: the lady who scorned him and the clubs who wouldn’t have him step further than their bike room (the Winklevoss twins embodying the strength, prestige and desirability that the Zuckerberg wanted access to).

While Erica’s may be the face that launched a hundred million friend requests, and while there are certainly those Jewish men who eschew dates with fellow Jews in favor of someone “outside the tribe,” I think it’s a stretch to say that Sorkin’s script is an illustration of his “obvious aversion to Jewish women.”

Comment by Esther Kustanowitz on 10/30/10 at 7:03 pm

Don’t forget that the purpose of this movie is to sell and create revenues for the producers.
Every detail in the movie is modified for maximum revenue.
Maybe you do not want to realize facts of commercial cinema.
For a movie about a real Jewish woman (not yiddishe mame) watch the incredible fight of Maytal to recover from her wounds http://www.thejewishcinema.com/video/maytal and the second movie Maytal fight to become a mother http://www.thejewishcinema.com/video/shining-stars
David

Comment by David Silberman on 11/03/10 at 7:22 am

The history of aversion to Jewish women by Jewish men might make a good doctoral thesis.  I for one just saw, “CAST A GIANT SHADOW.”  I was about ten when this film came out.  Kirk Douglas plays the lead.  He was confronted by the chief Bedouin concerning the Syrians fears that the Jews would ravish their women.  Douglas replied, “We aren’t interested in your women (Syrians);we’re even not interested in our women.”  What a message to be sent to young impressionable Jewish girl.  I could go on, but I’m sure this situation has gone on for over a half a century or more. Even the Jewish editors of magazines and newspapers don’t understand the their own built in prejudices against Jewish women.  It’s like how can any World Court be set up in Europe when so much hatred
and prejudice spewed forth from their shores. Can there really be justice. I think not.

Comment by Carol Budkowski on 12/17/10 at 6:00 pm

I think there’s something to Berrin’s commentary. Rather than worship Yahweh, Zuckerberg claims to be an atheist.

Comment by Joseph Dooley on 3/04/11 at 1:25 pm

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