The Social Network

I remember that when news first broke that this movie was going to be happening, people were really confused about how somebody was going to make a movie based on Facebook. At the time, it seemed just as preposterous as the upcoming movie inspired by Hasbro board game Battleship. It was inconceivable that this idea could possible turn into something worth watching. As it turns out, it is certainly possible.

Probably the best thing that The Social Network has going for it is its script. Now, I never watched more than a half dozen episodes of The West Wing, nor have I seen any other movies with scripts by Aaron Sorkin, but in reading the buzz surrounding this movie, I became convinced that he would be the perfect person to pen this script. It's incredible the kinds of opinions you can form without firsthand experience. Now, however, that I do have a Sorkin script under my belt, I can happily say that I am delighted by the modernity and cleverness that exude from nearly every work spoken in the film. If this film truly is my generation's landmark film (or whatever it is people are saying), then my children and grandchildren are going to watch this movie and wonder why I talk like a sea turtle with a broken jaw in comparison.

But, words are not simply enough. At the centre of everything is Jesse Eisenberg in his portrayal of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. If the rest of the script is clever, then Eisenberg's Zuckerberg is a sarcastic, silver-tongued God. Never bashful about his accomplishments, intelligence or feelings of superiority, Zuckerberg is at his best when frustrated by things he considers to be unworthy of his time. The movie's court scenes, in particular, allow him the opportunity to voice his displeasure and distaste, belittling anyone who confronts him, always conscious of how far the boundaries of acceptable behaviour can allow him to go. With such a compelling character in place, The Social Network actually tells two stories. The first is about the inspirations, coincidences, and hard work that created (The) Facebook, but the second is about a young man, compensating for his insecurity and social naiveté by adopting a detached asshole persona. As soon as he recognizes a flaw or undesirable trait in his own programming, he simply adopts it and extroverts it, pretending it was of his own mad scientist creation.

While this second, character-driven narrative is crucial to the success of the film, there is still a lot of interest in the just-the-facts-ma'am timeline of the creation of Facebook. I remember when I opened my Facebook account, it had to be done with a university e-mail address. I never realized that the process began even more exclusively than this. The story is as interesting as it is because of how big and important Facebook has become. There have been social trends that have come and gone, like ICQ (which I liked only for the keyboard sounds), MSN Messenger (hours of my life passed saying things like "So..." and "What do you want to talk about?"), Friendster, and MySpace (I think I used mine twice), but Facebook has consistently been a fundamental part of my online experience ever since I opened it. Even if I don't do much with it, Facebook is the second website I open, after my Hotmail account, every single time I open up my computer.

The problem with using this film as an education regarding the creation and explosion of Facebook is that you have no idea how much of it is true. And, assuming that you don't bother to find out anything else, you will undoubtedly assume, however unconsciously, that it's all true. Considering how much public conversation there has been about the inauthenticity of the representation of the characters in the movie, it would be problematic to assume that Sorkin and his source material got everything else exactly right. Regardless, even if it is little more than folk mythology, it is still interesting and intriguing to witness and experience a possible explanation for the conception of the world's largest intentional social experience.

Rating: 3.5 stars