What’s bothered me are the comments I’ve heard about its being “Like Wall St., the defining movie of this generation!” Is this really how we want a generation to be defined? Success that is totally one dimensional, without thought to the wholeness of the human experience? I get it that as Americans, we respond to the mythology of the rugged individual. It is part of our history and part of who we are. We love the lone guy who makes it big, who overcomes adversity, who makes it happen.

But where we fail is in allowing success in one aspect of life, usually work, to override failings in others. In The Social Network, the main character ends up sad and alone. He alienates and hurts friends along the way. He steals. And while it is the proverbial ‘moral of the story’ that money can’t buy happiness, he is still a hero for making billions of dollars. I remember having a similar reaction years ago when it was announced that Magic Johnson had AIDS. I understand that he had personal suffering. But he had also been systematically, for a long time, unfaithful to his wife. And families were throwing their children in front of him as a role model.

Money, achievement, power and status are overt signs of success. But what about the elements that make life rich but are less measurable and less overt: Character, transparency, support, communication. They are not rewarded in the same way and too often let go for the cold, hard results.