The Social Networkis deservingly dense, pragmatically precise, and is a case study on articulating the silent motives behind loud projections. The meticulous tandemachieved by director David Fincherand screenwriter Aaron Sorkin in the pace, exposition, and orchestration of the humane drama behind erecting Facebook makesThe Social Networka spotless film. Enough has been mythicized about the Sorkin-Fincher collaboration regarding their perfectionist approach to filmmaking and dissent to improvisation. Therefore, there is no surprise that there is an intentional unease in the tone of the film.
The Social Networknever feels like a breeze on the first watch. This attributes to the fact that the film sells an experience rather than a view. The interactivity of the film grows further after the film ends as one loses themselves in the maze of virtual echo chambers when one finally resonates with the motives behindThe Social Network.The film’s critical acclaim elevates itselfeven after a decade of its release, as social media enters itsFrankenstein-created-the-monsterera.
The Parallel between The Social Network and Citizen Kane
The recent comparison betweenThe Social NetworkandCitizen Kaneis legitimate. Only time will tell ifThe Social Network is the Citizen Kane of the 21st centuryin terms of its artistic and technical contributions, but the similarities between the motivations in both films are uncanny.Charles Foster Kane played by Orson Wellesand Mark Zuckerberg played by Jesse Eisenberg are the media elite of their era. Both make friends and enemies along the way, as their hunger for power and status ends with the lonely-at-the-top third act.
Both films share a non-linear structure as the plot unravels the materialistic and emotive motives behind its characters. The protagonist of the films succumbs to the self-inflicted emptiness in their final act as they search for the missing piece, their rosebud, to what started it all.
The impeccable climax of both films is where cinema and philosophy meet. There is a search for meaning without the easiness of conjecture. The measured abstractions of the complicated characters and their oblivious pursuit of the information revolution makeThe Social NetworkandCitizen Kanespiritual cousins. Nevertheless,The Social Networkhas enough to credit itself as one of the finest films in modern filmmaking.
The Social Network’sTake on The Paradox Behind Facebook
Facebook has changed the etymology of human connections. As friend requests, followers, profile pictures, sharing, tagging, and commenting become a legitimate vocabulary in virtual communication,The Social Networktakes the viewers behind the human detachment masquerading as human connection behind Facebook. It is a paradox that an establishment that claims to connect friends started out with betrayal.
The film projects a cynical voice behind the lack of intimacy in what Zuckerberg perceived to be connectivity and community. Zuckerberg enviedSavarin’s invitation to the exclusive Phoenix Club in Harvard. According to the film, Mark’s idea of social access was inspired by his own insecurities, social awkwardness, and his desire for exclusivity.
In the first act of the film, Erica breaks up with Mark for him being condescending towards her. Mark is dejected and blogs about her in a disrespectful way. The film clearly alludes thatZuckerberg ended up creating Facebookas he wanted to take his mind off his breakup. However, the film flips its own premise in its climax, when Mark sends a friend request on Facebook to Erica and refreshes his screen obsessively to see if she has accepted his request. His behavior echoes the Incel-like behavior plaguing the internet as the film adds to the commentary of how Facebook was created to aid men like Mark who cannot confront emotional vulnerability.
The contradiction of looking at social communications as a product-induced phenomenon driven by convenience and tech sophistry is dystopia at its best. The irony also lies in the fact that it was never Mark’s idea, to begin with.
Eduardo Savarin’s Perspective and Overall Impact
The Social Networkis an adaptation of the bookThe Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayalwritten by Ben Mezrich.Aaron Sorkin was interested in writing the screenplayof the film after reading the unfinished draft of the book. Both writers were doing their own research while they worked on their separate projects about the same event.
The only real-life stakeholder from Facebook who was involved in the development of the book was the co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Savarin, whose lawsuit was still unsettled with Zuckerberg at the time. With Savarin maintaining a low public profile after the success of Facebook and Zuckerberg enjoying most of the limelight, the film remains to be the stand-alone perspective from Savarin’s point of view.
Related:Best Movies Written by Aaron Sorkin, Ranked
One can argue that the movies are subjected tocreative liberty and Eisenberg’s performanceis only a fictionalized version of Zuckerberg. In no way,The Social Networkis a documentary, and it seems legitimate when the real-life Zuckerberg criticized the film to over-dramatize the characters’ obsession with girls over simply building a product. However, Mark conveniently steers away from talking about Eduardo Savarin and how he was never protected.
For an entrepreneur who has revolutionized communication, Zuckerberg is not a thought leader in human intimacy and mental well-being but has only crashed his tech vehicle into global communal conflicts. The success of the film continues to address the big elephant in the room when it comes to Facebook, i.e., the empathetic incompetence behind the minds of Facebook.
