The Social Network
Facebook is a global phenomenon. Whether you use it or not, love it or hate it, you know about it. It makes life public, relationships a ‘status’ to be updated and to Facebook someone a verb, so why not make a film about it?
Some of my friends thought this to be the worst idea in the world, asking why would anyone go and see a film about Facebook? But The Social Network revealed itself to be about much more than stalking the fit bloke you met last night. As it detailed Mark Zuckerberg’s epiphany or his stolen idea, depending what side you fall on, the film manages to discuss the price of friendship, intellectual property and the unique exciting inventions our generation can produce. It begins with Mark being dumped by his girlfriend for his condescending and degrading attitude. He comes off as socially inept and too smart for his own good by then going back to his campus to ‘blog’ about the break up and creates his own girl comparing website called facemash.com. We are not meant to ‘like’ Zuckerberg seeming like a misogynistic immature teen with too much time on his hands despite his Harvard education but he does appear to be quite funny. He crashes the Harvard network and it is this angry drunken experiment which gets the attention of the school board and the Winklevoss twins. The boys have an idea for a social network exclusively available to the Harvard network. They pitch it as a kind of dating website as ‘girls want to date Harvard guys’. Zuckerberg agrees and the inception of Facebook is placed into flashbacks as we begin to see the two ongoing legal battles involving Zuckerberg and co-founder Eduardo Saverin and the Winklevoss brothers. The web of Facebook history is slowly unravelled whilst friendships disintegrate and Napster creator Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, shoe horns his way in.
Mark Zuckerberg is played intelligently by Jesse Eisenburg who portrays him as a boy frustrated that people don’t think as fast or as uniquely as him and manages to hold the audience between love and hate during his rise (or demise) into billionaire status. Justin Timberlake is perfectly slimy and opportunistic as the enemy of the music business and the home grown Andrew Garfield holds the break out performance for me, whose naivity you can’t help but sympathise with and gives a brilliant comic performance with his overbearing girlfriend played by Brenda Song. David Fincher has certainly put his stamp on the film and one of highlights is the boat race scene in which Fincher blurs the edges of the screen, making the Thames look like a miniature town and the race seem frightening and tense. I particularly enjoyed the use of Edvard Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King or more commonly known as the Alton Towers music! This however is the longest single portion in which we can recognise Fincher’s usual traits. The film is primarily a character drama, in sunny picturesque settings and very different to the directors previous films. I would also say the nature of the films setting, being in an American college with such prestige as Harvard, will make it harder for the audience in the UK to relate to their politics of social status. The characters can come off as spoilt, privileged and inaccessible at times particularly within the legal settings as Americans do love to sue one another!
Despite these flaws I did however thoroughly enjoy The Social Network. I found the subject matter poignant and intriguing without letting too much seriousness take over as the humour was pitched correctly and with perfect timing. I would recommend it to anyone who is intrigued by the Facebook legal battle, fans of David Fincher to see the possible change of direction for him and for anyone who enjoys deconstructing the ludicrous nature of the obsession with the internet particularly Facebook and the nature of friendship versus business.
Emily x
"It's the Alton Towers music!"
ReplyDelete