The Social Network: The Overachiever
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer (x2), Justin Timberlake
Directed by: David Fincher
Other Nominated Categories: Best Actor, Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay
I’m going to be straight with you, dear reader. I felt that almost every aspect of this film was extremely overrated, and I did not particularly care for it at all. Perhaps I expected it to be a commentary-type tale about the effects of social media on our generation. (If you thought this, too, I highly recommend viewing Catfish instead). Alas, it is not a commentary but a creation myth story based loosely on the book by Ben Mezrich called The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal. And that pretty much sums it up.
The Story
The Social Network is about the creation of Facebook, or The Facebook, as our parents refer to it. The film follows the trials (literally) of Harvard student-turned-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) as he works to create the mecca of social networking sites. Like most great stories, this one begins with a girl. When Zuckerberg’s girlfriend breaks up with him, he drunkenly creates FaceMash — a Web site that rates the attractiveness of female students on Harvard’s campus. The site gets so many hits that it causes Harvard’s server to crash. This experiment catches the attention of the identical and delicious Winklevoss twins (both played by Armie Hammer). They approach him about programming their own Web site, Harvard Connection. Instead, Zuckerberg goes to his best friend and soon-to-be business partner Eduardo Saverin (Garfield) with a site idea that appears similar to that of the Winklevoss’, er, Winklevi? Meanwhile, Zuckerberg avoids the Winklevoss twins, creates his version of Harvard Connection á la Facebook, meets and is wooed by Napster creator Sean Parker (Timberlake), drops out of college, destroys his relationship with Eduardo, and becomes a billionaire — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The origination story is interwoven by Zuckerberg’s participation (or lack thereof) in two concurrent trials against the Winklevoss twins for stealing their idea and against Eduardo for stealthily shutting him out of his share of the company.
Fact or Fiction?
It’s hard to know whether this film is a representation of fact or fiction. Perhaps it’s a little of both. Either way, the film has received rave reviews, particularly for director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin. If you’ve been reading the previous blog posts, you already know my thoughts about Fincher directing this piece. However, this isn’t Fincher’s first nomination for Best Achievement in Directing. He was nominated in 2008 for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button but lost to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. While Boyle is missing this year, the competition is still tough to call. Fincher did win the Golden Globe for this category, and many think he’ll win the Oscar, too.
The critics have also favored Sorkin to win Best Adapted Screenplay. While the story wasn’t what I expected, I admire the amount of research that went into writing this script. If anything, he deserves the Oscar for making a compelling story out of little known truth. And, while Eisenberg makes an excellent Zuckerberg (he’s nominated for Best Actor, after all), some have criticized Sorkin’s interpretation of the young entrepreneur as being emotionally detached and ruthless.
“I don’t want to be unfair to this young man whom I don’t know, who’s never done anything to me, who doesn’t deserve a punch in the face,” Sorkin has said in multiple interviews. “I honestly believe that I have not done that.”
The Real Zuck
Personally, I don’t think Sorkin did that either. But Zuckerberg made sure America knew he was really a good guy. A week before the movie hit theaters, Zuckerberg went on Oprah to reveal his $100 million donation to New Jersey schools. It was criticized as a very calculated PR move but apparently one that played out in his favor. Zuckerberg was named TIME Magazine’s person of the year. And let’s not forget SNL.
No matter what the critics say, people aren’t going to just stop using Facebook. Middle-aged women will still be flocking to join, and you’ll still have to decide if they’re worth blocking or not.
The Bottom Line: Don’t expect the story to be a commentary on what it means to be a part of the “Age of Social Media.” Take it for what it is, a creation myth film starring some young, fresh talent.
SOURCES:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/
http://www.thefilmchair.com/wordpress/index.php/2010/09/08/the-social-ne…
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mark-zuckerberg-social-network-pr-…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network