Sure, we don’t all have the same hunk of cash flow, but there are other ways we stay close with today’s elite. This is what can fill your brain when watching “The Social Network.” The story of Mark Zuckerberg founding (or arguably co-founding) Facebook is a movie for today’s young people.
Viewers at the right age could even find themselves feeling like they are watching the story of a friend they’ve come to know for the past six years unfold.
The film follows the father of Facebook and shares the story of how the site, usually used daily, came to be. Every relationship status changed, every friend request sent and every wall post made was once just an idea in the mind of a Harvard University student. How the idea ended up in his brain is the central debate the movie revolves around.
And thus, the movie’s very essential and relatable characters come into play. The tagline says, “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” This raises the questions: Who would you be friends with and would you leave them when it comes to the possibility of success? Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, was faced with this issue time and time again.
First, there’s the Winklevoss twins, played by Armie Hammer and Josh Pence (who aren’t actually twins and do an amazing job playing them), who approach Zuckerberg with an idea of a social website that could only be accessed by Harvard students.
Inspired by their idea, Zuckerberg enlists the help of his only friend Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, to develop the site without help from the twins. Zuckerberg was thrown into the site’s creation after a bad breakup with his girlfriend Erica Albright, played by Rooney Mara, causes him a mini-mental breakdown. Much to the surprise of the twins, the site goes viral at Harvard University, and both Zuckerberg and Saverin create a money-making success.
Then there’s Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, who comes between Zuckerberg and Saverin. The hard partying, womanizing founder of Napster gets his hands on Facebook, and the site becomes a global triumph.
The film shines a harsh light on the lawsuits that Facebook has had its name affiliated with over the years. Both the Winklevoss twins and Saverin end up suing Zuckerberg.
Other smaller story lines in the movie feature Saverin growing jealous of Parker and Albright staying bitter throughout her ex-boyfriend’s success.
The film pulls heartstrings and successfully creates and tears apart friendships as it tells the story of the site’s origin in a number of flashbacks.
Where some of today’s college students can find themselves feeling less than adequate to be relatable to the success that is Zuckerberg, the film shows the trials every college student goes through. The movie shows his struggle with fitting in, an awkward sexual encounter and suddenly being thrown in the middle of a lifestyle filled with debauchery. Everything blows up when lawyers and police officers become involved.
The movie ends (rather quickly) with one point made. Mark Zuckerberg still remains the world’s youngest billionaire today. Facebook is still a sensation all over the world. Whether or not he came up with the idea himself, him creating the site has led a huge phenomenon this generation may not be able to see again. This movie catches that nicely, and with fun filming techniques and good acting, it gives room to be one of the best movies of the year.
