Conclusion: Why Him? and the Dialectics of Silicon Valley Cinema

Summary

In the light-hearted comedy Why Him? (John Hamburg, 2016), Ned Fleming, the owner of a Michigan printing factory, warns his excitable son about the seductive world of Silicon Valley. ‘Most of these internet companies are built on smoke and mirrors,’ he says. ‘Don't get sucked in. That whole industry is based on hooey.’ Somewhat surprisingly, and notwithstanding Fleming's denialism (which gradually cedes to anger, resignation and eventually acceptance), Why Him? offers the most dialectical Hollywood depiction of Silicon Valley. Co-produced by Shawn Levy's 21 Laps Entertainment and TSG Entertainment, both of which were involved in The Internship, it follows Fleming negotiating the blossoming relationship between his Stanford University-attending daughter and her paramour, Laird Mayhew, the founder of an online video games company based in Palo Alto, not far from Facebook's headquarters. Competition from dot-com companies spearheading the drive towards the paperless office threatens Fleming's company's viability, while he learns that the post-2008 economic downturn has left his prospective son-in-law down to his last $197 million. Played by James Franco, now fully immersed in Silicon Valley after Will Rodman's split from Gen-Sys, Mayhew was raised in isolation from his peers, worked as a computer programmer from the age of thirteen, and respects few social niceties, wandering around barechested to display his numerous tattoos, peppering his speech with swearwords, and engaging Fleming's teenage son in inappropriate conversations that revolve around objectifying women. Reflecting his vast wealth and bad taste, expensive art bedecks his mansion, including numerous paintings of animals in sexual congress. He also has one of the country's most famous chefs at his beck and call. A little like Darren Cross, he practices yoga, mixed martial arts and parkour daily.

Yet this uncouth tech bro seeks old-world approval, seeking Fleming's permission to ask his daughter to marry him and buying up the debt of Fleming's company as an act of good faith. Eventually the two bond over an improbable solution to the company's problems: it will pivot from printing paper to making automated toilets that clean your backside for you, thus relieving the consumer's reliance on toilet paper while furthering Silicon Valley's quest for a paper-free world.