Facebook Frenzy hits the Silver Screen
October 20, 2010
The anticipated film about the 500 million member social network worth approximately twenty-five billion dollars is more than just the story behind Facebook and how it came to be. The Social Network illustrates a deeper story about acceptance, rejection, ambition, friendship, and betrayal within the creation of Facebook, between its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and those around him.
The film’s plot revolves around the two lawsuits Facebook CFO, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), faces after his creation of Facebook. After breaking up with his girlfriend (Rooney Mara), Harvard sophomore Zuckerberg insults her by writing about her in his blog; however, this revenge is not enough. This leads him to create a website, Facemash.com, used to rate Harvard girls based on their appearance. It quickly gains popularity and eventually crashes the Harvard server. Facemash allows Zuckerberg to make a name of himself.
Twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, seek out Zuckerberg’s help to develop an equally popular website to connect Harvard students, mainly for hooking up. Zuckerberg takes the idea and makes it his own. Thus, with the financial help of his best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), he establishes Facebook.
With the rapid growth in popularity of Facebook, the lawsuits come pouring in. The Winklevoss twins sue Zuckerberg for stealing an “intellectual idea,” much like young children fighting over who thought of what first. Saverin sues Zuckerberg for his betrayal in making him sign contracts agreeing to reduce his profit to almost nothing. Because of jealousy toward Saverin for being accepted by his peers, Saverin had become the pushover used to provide financially for Facebook and then be rejected by it.
Overall, The Social Network is a captivating film that turns computer programming into intense action. There couldn’t have been a better actor to play Zuckerberg than Jesse Eisenberg; the nerdy character is portrayed perfectly. His witty language and quick responses such as, “If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook,” takes you back and forth love and hate for Zuckerberg.
Despite the computer lingo being hard to follow, its fast paced sequential pattern between lawsuits and the creation of Facebook is interesting and easy to understand. You don’t have to have to like Facebook to understand or enjoy the deeper story behind it. The Social Network provides an interesting concept about how the popularly used website came about. It’s an undeniable example of how-to many people -success is more important than money and fame; success is acceptance. You may hate Zuckerberg for going to the extent he went to try to be accepted; yet, by the end of the film, you can’t help but just feel bad for the lonely guy searching for a sense of belonging.