The Social Network: A Tastefully Crafted Character Drama About a High-Profile Internet-Era Trial
David Fincher’s new film, “The Social Network,” is primarily a story about paradox. It chronicles the invention of Facebook, a pioneering internet tool that united the world, estranged five friends, and made its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, a 26-year-old Harvard dropout, the youngest billionaire in recent decades.
Jesse Eisenberg, in the lead role, is as brilliant as our conflicted genius: an emotionally isolated social outcast with an unpredictable array of motivations and affections. Zuckerberg launches the site for a multitude of reasons: partly out of resentment towards the world, partly out of competitive interest, and partly simply because it’s “cool.” The idea itself and its implementation may seem spontaneous, but the actual course of events hints at a clear calculation and a well-thought-out business plan.
A Symphony of Dialogue and Direction
The strengths of “The Social Network” become apparent from the opening scenes, especially in the scene before the opening credits, where Zuckerberg talks in a bar with his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara). The sharp, biting dialogue of screenwriter Aaron Sorkin gains momentum here and doesn’t soften until the very end. The same goes for Fincher’s direction: relatively restrained (except for the dynamic, intoxicating regatta scene), it strives for transparency, though it doesn’t weaken for a minute. The color palette plays its part: warm, sometimes sunny, remaining cozy even in the dark, it maneuvers between two tangled chains of events and two separate lawsuits.
A Portrait of Our Time
Beyond the stream of incessant discussions, not much happens in the film: no deaths, no murders, and all of Zuckerberg’s legal troubles would hardly warrant even an additional paragraph for his meager Wikipedia page. What attracted the 49-year-old Sorkin and the 48-year-old Fincher to this not-so-detail-rich story? After watching, there’s a persistent feeling that “The Social Network” is a portrait of our time, and understatement, in this case, is an important artistic device. Just twenty years ago, “Wall Street” was doing roughly the same thing, only on a larger scale – with cosmic egos and big deals. Now, when daily solvency has become even higher, politics are conducted not in board meetings, but in sandboxes.
Ambition, Betrayal, and the Price of Success
Zuckerberg wants to be special, dreams of being the center of attention. Saverin (Andrew Garfield) is hurt that his best friend has a new best friend (Justin Timberlake) and now he has no one to play with. The Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence), meanwhile, are stomping their feet: who said that the rich, beautiful, and athletic can’t also be smart? (This line particularly amuses Fincher.) If desired, “The Social Network” could well have turned into a black comedy.
Zuckerberg is obsessed with the idea of popularity and leadership, but is there more good or bad in his endeavor? And what social consequences will his invention entail? Is he a con man? Or a cunning manipulator? Fincher and Sorkin will never close the book if there is even the slightest hint of something like that in it. But here it’s not even required: in their version of the story, it doesn’t matter at all.
The Lost Generation
“What’s it like to be a beautiful person?” asks The Beatles song “Baby You’re A Rich Man,” which precedes the credits. The hero doesn’t know. The film suggests an answer. Zuckerberg is a representative of a lost online generation that has a weak understanding of beauty and even less of feelings.