The Social Network proves beyond a doubt that the daily drama occurrences on Facebook stem from its creators. The film tells a compelling story about the birth and initial legal complications of Facebook. It’s no surprise that The Social Network has more than 160,000 people “liking” its own Facebook group
The film begins with a nine-minute, quick-spoken break-up scene in a noisy Cambridge bar that leaves the audience in awe. The scene ends with Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg)’s girlfriend (Rooney Mara) making a snarky remark that creates the genesis to the entire movie: “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. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an [jerk].” Impressed by Zuckerberg’s drunken-rage developed website, identical twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) ask him to help create a Harvard-focused dating and social networking site. But Zuckerberg has his own plans to create a worldwide social networking site with financial help from his classmate and friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield). The twins are lead to believe Zuckerberg stole their idea which soon blossoms into the interesting lawsuit around which the rest of the film revolves.
Many scenes dramatize the genesis of the social networking website, such as the importance of Mark Zuckerberg, the inventor of Facebook, achieving “popular bad boy” status by getting girls when in reality, he was just sitting at a computer typing code for hours a day. Although the film surprised many by being mainly fiction, the movie is exactly what people expected it to be about: money, betrayal and sex.
Director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin focus on the characters’ wit and subtle actions by creating scenes of verbal jousting from a legal standpoint. The audience bursts into laughter as Zuckerberg replies to lawyers with humorous, witty remarks and the occasional smile. As one laywer asks if he deserves Zuckerberg’s attention, Zuckerberg replies, “I think if your clients want to stand on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have a right to give it a try. But there’s no requirement that I enjoy being here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention – the minimum amount needed. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook where my employees and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. Did I adequately answer your condescending question?” The film does not need to revolve around high-action computer generated effects, blatant insults or several horribly-placed curse words in order to grow a major fan base.
Eisenberg, Parker played by Justin Timberlake and Garfield all show similar features to their real-life counterparts which makes this film appear to be more well-planned than what meets the eye. While the actors’ appearances are important, their acting abilities are even more impressive. Zuckerberg’s subtle wit and Saverin’s disappointment and frustration are beautifully and realistically portrayed, making the audience feel as if it is in the film.
People may have gone into theaters to view this film solely because of the brand name, but they’ll leave “liking” more than just the social networking website itself.
