Even amongst the most misanthropic people, we all want to be liked. For many, the almost insatiable need to be considered cool is almost up there with the basic human requirements of food, water, and air, and it's no easier for teenagers and post-adolescents due to the social clubs, politics, and exclusionary atmosphere present in their lives.
While some are able to manage this goal due to an inherent likability and engaging personality, others try to gain their status on the upper rungs of the social ladder by other means: mainly, becoming a success. After all, once you've made your millions and etched out your legacy, you can finally look at your peers and say, "I told you so". But sometimes, that very drive for success evolves from a desire for being liked into an increasing desire for even MORE success and selfish fame.
In David Fincher's breathtaking biographical film The Social Network, that drive is what produced a billion-dollar cultural behemoth, but at the cost of one man's friends, reputation, and conscience. Chronicling the genesis of Facebook from its origins as a small Harvard-based website to a worldwide social media phenomenon that permeated the very fabric of our culture and means of communication, Social Network is a mesmerizing, impeccably crafted tale of fame, burned bridges, and obsession.
In fall 2003, brilliant computer science major Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is hoping to join Harvard's highly exclusive Final Club because they are, in his words, "exclusive... and fun". But while on a tangent about his desires, he inadvertently insults and patronizes his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara), who's fed up with his egotism and self-centered personality. After being dumped by Erica, an angry and drunk Mark returns to his dormitory and not only publicly insults her via his blog, but immediately creates a website where female Harvard students can be rated on their attractiveness, building it upon an algorithm provided by his best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).
The site is a massive hit overnight amongst Harvard males, but Mark gets in hot water not only by gaining the enmity of his female peers, but for also creating his site by hacking into Harvard's security system and culling together photos of students. Mark avoids expulsion, but his impressive skills and technical brilliance gains the attention of twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), who recruit Mark to help create a Harvard-exclusive dating site called "Harvard Connection", where users would create profiles, add photos, and biographical information.
Inspired by this idea, Mark decides to secretly create a similar site called "The Facebook", and he convinces Eduardo to provide seed money to build it. The two now business partners, their site becomes highly popular amongst other students, and Mark decides to expand it to other Ivy League schools. The Winklevoss brothers catch wind of this, infuriating them and causing them to seek legal recourse for this seeming plagiarism. Meanwhile, The Facebook's growing popularity not only makes Mark and Eduardo the talk of the school, but give reason for the two to expand their social media site into a full-blown business venture, adding Dustin Moskovitz (Joseph Mazzello) and Chris Hughes (Patrick Mapel) to their team.
Seeing a need to monetize their site, Eduardo tries to convince Mark to add advertising to create profits, but Mark (who's moved The Facebook's base of operations to Palo Alto, CA) has become enthralled by the words of Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who charms Mark with his own vision for Facebook's future. As the site becomes a global success, Mark must eventually contend with both the litigious threats made by the Winklevosses, but also the unraveling of his friendship with Eduardo, who's angry with both Parker's growing involvement with the company as well as Mark seemingly pushing Eduardo away both personally and professionally.
Now, as with all biopics, there's bound to be some artistic license being taken in order to make the story more engaging and dramatic. Based on Ben Mezrich's nonfiction bestseller "The Accidental Billionaires", The Social Network has reportedly taken liberties with the narrative, especially regarding the characterizations of Zuckerberg and Saverin. But even if the film was 100% fictional, it wouldn't make any difference from a dramatic standpoint, as director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin have created a complex, multilayered, and positively brilliant story of betrayal, fame, and personal self-destruction not unlike the granddaddy of such films, Citizen Kane.
But strangely enough, despite being informally called "the Facebook movie", the popular social networking site itself doesn't figure into the story much. Yes, the film is about the creation and expansion of Facebook, but the focus is squarely on the people behind the phenomenon. Zuckerberg is portrayed as a mad, calculating genius, willing to throw aside his social life to (ironically) build his social media empire. While many films set in the business world have the usual intensely competitive protagonists who are stabbing backs and making bucks in their middle-aged years, Fincher sets out to show that a college-aged wunderkind like Zuckerberg (especially those in ridiculously exclusionary schools like Harvard) can be just as cutthroat and ambitious.
It's the masterful casting of the three male leads that drives this point home. As the twentysomething founder of Facebook, Jesse Eisenberg (great in last year's Adventureland and Zombieland) is a revelation. Twitchy, distant, and obsessed, his Zuckerberg is a man of many layers, revealing an inner sadness and loneliness that's only exacerbated by his ambitions. Eisenberg effortlessly keeps up with Sorkin's ferociously brilliant dialogue, a rapid-fire whirlwind of technobabble and philosophical musings. Andrew Garfield (star of the upcoming Spider-Man reboot) is terrific as Mark's trusting and sympathetic best friend, a man whose devotion to his friend and business turns out to not be entirely reciprocal. And believe it or not, pop star-turned-thespian Justin Timberlake is a blast to watch as the badboy entrepreneur who serves as the Faustian devil in Zuckerberg's deal.
Famous for psychological thrillers such as Se7en, Fight Club, and Zodiac, director Fincher makes his second attempt outside that genre (the first being the technically brilliant but rather overrated Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and does not disappoint. He wants the audience to be both repulsed and in awe of the emotionally-complicated Zuckerberg, who despite his faulty moral compunction is nonetheless a creative and wise-beyond-his-years genius. And like the Emmy-winning television movie Pirates of Silicon Valley (which chronicled the rivalry between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs), The Social Network is a powerful study of friendships and rivalries between two brilliant innovators amidst a technological revolution.
The musical score by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor is superbly haunting, and the dimly-lit cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth is enthralling (quite the task considering the film's subject). But the biggest star of the film is the Oscar-worthy script by "West Wing" creator Sorkin. Every monologue and emotional outburst delivered is delicious in its raw intensity, wrapping the audience around its finger as easily as any explosion in a summer action flick.
With 500 million users and counting, Facebook certainly serves as a cultural milestone. Aside from the Mafia Wars and Farmvilles and "likes" and "pokes", the Facebook revolution is certainly illustrative of our desires of wanting to be seen and heard, and in this digital age, that desire is more ubiquitous than ever. But like any success story, there's an even more interesting story behind the process, and even though certain creative license has been taken with Zuckerberg's story, there's no denying that Fincher has crafted a masterpiece with The Social Network. A true testament to the power of storytelling and how one young billionaire changed the very landscape of our society, The Social Network is one "like" you'll want to click on.
Letter Grade: "A+"
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