The Social Network (2010)
A review of The Social Network (2010), directed by David Fincher.
I am opinionated about social media, especially Facebook. I’m not a fan of it at all. But I’ve heard this movie has gotten so much hype when it came out, and that it wasn’t just focused on Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to becoming the titan of Facebook. This is more of a story about the characters behind Facebook, who they are, and kind of humanizing them and their story in the process. Once someone has become rich and quote-on-quote made it in society, we tend to distance them from the rest of the pack. When, in actuality, they’re just people too. Facebook is a modern invention, but the themes that this story touches upon are classic, ones that appeal to everyone.
With that being said, let’s get into this review.
Content
This script captures the vibe of a college student really, really well. That opening scene with the girlfriend who goes to Boston University and Mark being too elitist for her really hits hard, because that’s such a college boy and Ivy League student thing. He was such a dick and deserved anything that happened to him after that, especially after he humiliated her on his blog for no reason at all.
The double Armie Hammer twin game was kind of strange to watch, especially since it’s just him and sometimes a body double acting all of these scenes out. Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg really stole the show this time; Eisenberg really embodied the character of Zuckerberg and made him come to life on the screen.
Which leads me to my next point. This movie is based off of real content and real people, but if none of this had actually happened, this movie makes it quite believable. I knew nothing about the founding of Facebook, and if I were someone who blindly trusted things, I would 100% believe this is the truth story. It was so fleshed out, the script was tight, and I couldn’t find any flaws or holes in it. These characters felt very real and if I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought this movie was fictional. The pacing is good, the characterization, and we see all sides.
It’s a boy’s story at the end of the day. This film is filled with men, the women being pushed down and proved to be not capable. And that, my friends, is the story of Harvard in the early 2000s. We start the movie with demeaning the girlfriend who’s breaking up with him, where he makes her seem unreasonable and stupid because she goes to Boston University.
The story trapped within this movie that young people can change the world. Zuckerberg is seen as inferior to the people older than him, one that think they’re smarter than him. Zuckerberg, as a character in this movie, clearly has his game together and manages to work his way to the top. You have to be ruthless, kind of willing to exploit others, and this shows that at the end of the day.
Overall Thoughts
It’s a good film, but I don’t think it looks that great for Zuckerberg at the end of the day. It’s a dramatization of people and history who are all still very much alive, which is kind of problematic in my opinion—who owns their story? Who controls their story? I would be terrified to have a movie like this made about me, despite it being good content to the rest of the world. Acting was insane, though when I’m writing this Arnie Hammer has had multiple rape and sexual assault allegations against him, which makes this movie seem a little creepier in tone when it comes to the more sexual elements. I am going to take this advice though: “Harvard graduates invent a job, not find one.” That’s my dream right there.
