On the surface, The Social Network is the story of Facebook — a website created in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 that has redefined how we connect and communicate in the 21st century. At its core, the film is much, much more than just the story of one website. It is both a micro and macro look at success, failure and the trappings of ego and greed.
The film is ostensibly based on real people and real events. That said, many of the proceedings and characters were invented for the screen. In the coming weeks, there will a flurry of discussion regarding just how accurate or inaccurate the film is with regard to Facebook’sfirst year. Ultimately, these differences and inaccuracies are irrelevant.
For better or for worse, the cinematic version of “the Facebook story” will be what becomes the lore surrounding the company, much as The Pirates of Silicon Valley has become the unofficial history of Microsoft and Apple for a generation of users. From a cinematic perspective, The Social Network is no more or less effective based on its factual accuracy. This is a fictional narrative, not a documentary.
The Beginning
Throughout the course of the conversation, an acutely unaware Zuckerberg proceeds to insult his girlfriend, belittling her background, intellect and future life prospects. Having had enough, she ends the relationship and tells him off. The dialogue in this scene is a joy for Aaron Sorkin fans, reminiscent of the best interactions and moments on The West Wing or Sports Night. This scene, one of the most significant additions that Sorkin made to the script — which is loosely based on Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires — introduces the audience to Mark, a man who is clearly brilliant, but who is also deeply insecure, awkward and more than a bit antisocial.
It also sets up the motive behind the project that would become the precursor to Facebook, Facemash. With Facemash, a Hot or Not for female students at Harvard (and a post-breakup lashing-out against womankind), Mark brings down the university network, gets in some trouble from the administration and makes himself an outcast on campus. It also brings him to attention of twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, two good-looking, athletic and privileged twins.
The Winklevosses (both played by Armie Hammer) and their friend, Divya Narendra, are looking to build a social dating site for Harvard men. They want Mark to work on the code. He readily agrees.
The dating site spawns a much bigger idea in Mark’s head — and that idea is Facebook. Partnering with his best friend and financier Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, Mark builds The Facebook. What follows is an almost viral spread of user adoption and rapid growth and expansion.
To those of us who joined Facebook in those early days (I believe I joined in January 2005), the sequences demonstrating the takeoff of the service will resonate. One of the most interesting things about Facebook, a site that first built its allure and prestige based on its exclusivity (the need to have a *.edu e-mail address from a supported school and an invite from another user), was just how quickly it spread. Much like YouTube, which launched about a year later, Facebook went from not existing to being everywhere, seemingly overnight.
As Zuckerberg, Jesse Eisenberg is brilliant. I fully expect to see his name on the shortlist for Best Actor nominees when award season ramps up. He manages to make Zuckerberg sympathetic but not pathetic — there’s actually a nuanced difference. The character could have easily been portrayed as a pathetic, socially inept genius. Eisenberg doesn’t do that. He manages to play a three-dimensional character, even though the last five minutes of the film are the only times we ever see a mournful side. His speech patterns, his eye movements, the way that he walks and moves his body — it’s truly one of the best performances of 2010.
For The Second Act & The Summation visit Mashable.com
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