The Social Network

I have found my favorite movie of 2010 so far, and it is The Social Network (SN). SN, written by exceptional screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, directed by David Fincher, and based on the book The Accidental Billionaires, is the story about how Facebook was founded and established and the ensuing controversy surrounding it. I was initially reluctant to see this movie as I didn't think it would be particularly interesting to watch how the largest social network on the planet got started.

Boy was I wrong.

SN crafts its story not based on the technology or how it is introduced but instead decides to use all the key players in its founding as the foundation for studying human and corporate behavior. The resulting dissection is so engrossing, so absorbing, so utterly fascinating that you can't look away. Not only that, but if you're on Facebook (and let's be honest, you probably are) you will start to reflect on how you personally utilize it and how your social behavior has been modified as a result of its existence in your life. That sounds like a rather grandiose proclamation for a fairly straightforward movie about a website, but it is true.

SN follows Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard student who in 2004 who creates a website called Facemash, where Harvard students are given the pictures of 2 girls and then asked to rate which one is hotter. The site explodes overnight, but makes Zuckerberg look like an insensitive jerk - which we discover continuously throughout the movie that he probably is. This act grabs the attention of 2 other Harvard students, the Winklevoss twins, looking to meet girls, so they enlist Zuckerberg to help them create a new site called Harvard Connect, a social website exclusive for Harvard students to meet each other. Zuckerberg decides on his own to take this small idea and expand it into a site exclusive for college students that can be adapted to any college or university; with the help of his business-savvy friend Eduardo, they create The Facebook company.

thefacebook.com takes off, acquiring thousands of members and expanding to other campuses virtually overnight. As the site evolves, the Winklevosses try "gentlemanly" means to get Zuckerberg to acknowledge he stole their idea. Zuckerberg ignores them, so they eventually decide to sue him for theft of intellectual property. In the meantime, Zuckerberg and Eduardo meet Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, who encourages Zuckerberg to make Facebook ("drop the 'the,' it's cleaner") bigger, as he feels it's a billion dollar idea that could be revolutionary. He also encourages Zuckerberg to go to California, as that is where "it" is happening, so Zuckerberg decides to go west.

Zuckerberg starts to be influenced more by Parker and the California lifestyle and listens less to Eduardo. Zuckerberg decides to restructure the company, which leaves Eduardo out in the financial cold. He decides to sue and Zuckerberg finds himself the subject of lawsuits from Eduardo and the Winklevosses. The ugliness grows.

What do I love about SN? Many things. I truly appreciate the symphonic dialogue that Sorkin creates with every single project he writes (The West Wing tv show, with The American President as its forerunner, is one of my 3 favorite dramas of all time). The first scene of SN, where Zuckerberg's girlfriend breaks up with him, is genius. It's smart, sharp, witty, and engaging. Sorkin is a screenwriting king, and SN may end up being his crown jewel.

I also loved SN's acting. Jesse Eisenberg is fantastic as the socially inept and corporately defiant Zuckerberg. He really embodies the character and makes him someone you both like and dislike at the same time; this is an incredibly difficult feat to pull off. The actors playing Eduardo and the Winklevoss twins are really good for their first major roles. My only complaint for the whole movie is that I've seen the real Sean Parker and Justin Timberlake is nothing like him. While I get he is playing a character, it is difficult to separate what I know in real life from what I see on screen.

Fincher excellently showcases the numerous subcultures within SN. As someone that works with college students on a daily basis, he expertly captures what it is like to be in a college environment. Unlike other Hollywood movies, which make college students very wooden, 2D, non-thinking characters, the students in SN are fully realized. I see these students everyday on my campus, and I guarantee that anyone that works or attends a private school will identify with the elitist air that those students, like the ones at Harvard where this film is set, walk around in. He also wonderfully displays the business world, its cutthroat, underhanded, and greedily seductive nature. As a former business major, I haven't been this engrossed in the corporate environment since watching Wall Street on dvd. Anyone who likes that climate or has tried to create a viable website will enjoy it. And of course how can we forget the social environment? The film raises interesting questions about how and why we interact with people in a social context. It makes us think about what information about other people is important to us (like "relationship status").

It's been about 4 days since I saw SN, and I keep thinking about it. It is one of those movies that sticks with you after you've seen it. You process various scenes in your mind. You wonder about issues the film raises. You chuckle at lines that tickled you. I believe that if a vote were held today it would win the Best Picture Oscar. I thought it was too early to try and analyze how technology how we interact with the world and people in it. I now think that it's never too early to start reflecting on our world, no matter how long I take to get 500 million friends.