ROLLING STONE
The Social Network
By: Matthew Viel
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin
Timberlake
Rating: A+
The latest in director David Fincher’s film catalog, The Social Network, proves to be a
film that defines not only the decade, but what we, as a society, have become during this
decade. It may come across just as a film about the origin of Facebook, sure it explains
most of the facts of how it was formed. However, the film carries itself based on what the
characters have become, similar to what society has become: doubtful, sometimes even
self-centered narcissists. I was questioning myself while watching this film, “Can a
movie about Facebook be really good?” The answer is yes, but also it is probably the best
this year.
The film begins with a perfectly written sequence in which we are introduced to Mark
Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg, in what could possibly be his career-defining role). In this
clever and humorous introduction, the audience witnesses Zuckerberg and his girlfriend
Erica (Rooney Mara) discussing multiple topics at a local bar. He ignores all her
reactions and opinions of each topic. It ends when Zuckerberg brings up that Harvard is a
far superior school to Boston University, where Erica attends. She breaks up with him
and calls him a jerk. Sad and confused, Mark runs back into his dorm, writes a furious
blog about Erica, then later starts hacking multiple Harvard girls’ photos into a website,
rating their attractiveness. Thus begins the layered, heartbreaking story of Facebook.
The writing here from Aaron Sorkin is pure, sharp brilliance. I can easily say that the
script is a definite Oscar win for Best Adapted Screenplay, there is really nothing more
interesting and intriguing this year. Most would not expect a film about Facebook to be a
dark comedy. Here, Sorkin creates dialogue using sarcasm and wit, which helps define
the past decade very well. Americans of the past decade have become a more doubtful
and sarcastic nation. The writing also develops layers for each character. One main
example is Mark Zuckerberg, who comes across as an arrogant, self-centered, socially
inept would-be billionaire, but from the opening sequence, you witness another quality:
he is very lonely, and wants to avoid social rejection at all cost shown in the opening
sequence when his girlfriend dumps him. We witness this through Sorkin’s writing: we
first meet Zuckerberg as a misguided, fast-talking, socially inept man, but through the
situations we witness in the film and the characterization shown through Sorkin’s
sarcastic dialogue, we come to realize that Zuckerberg is a one of a kind character: a
selfish, domineering monster who would not let anyone stand in his way, including his
best friend.
The acting is nearly flawless and every actor contributes his or her best. Also, each
character in this film portrays a different aspect of society. Andrew Garfield’s portrayal
of Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, is a prime example. He starts off as a
man with hopes and dreams of success, similar to what every American wants, and
because of his best friend, Mark Zuckerberg’s creation, he believes his dreams of success
will come true. However, when Zuckerberg backstabs him and tries to prevent him from
getting a huge percentage of the company, he feels not only betrayed, but that his dream
is destroyed. Garfield’s portrayal represents the American dream being destroyed, which
relates to American society during the recent economic crisis with unemployment rates
increasing. Garfield plays this character with such heartbreaking innocence and purely
human hopelessness the Oscars should keep an eye on Garfield for a supporting role.
Another prime example would be Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker, which I feel was
perfect casting. Timberlake’s portrayal of the character represents the more business side
of society. Originally the founder of Napster and going bankrupt, Parker needs a new idea
that would get him more money. Once he comes across Facebook, he takes Zuckerberg
under his wing, influencing him to do certain deeds that would “help” the company,
including trying to remove Eduardo as co-founder. Timberlake’s Sean Parker portrays the
greediness and selfishness of our society today: the type of people in our society that can
lead us into trouble. Since Timberlake is a celebrity and Parker is a celebrity wannabe,
the casting feels just about right here.
The score from Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross may seem
like a strange choice, but it fits perfectly with the film. It is very beautiful, very modern,
and very haunting. The mix of electronic, rock and orchestral music is very enjoyable to
the modern music audience. It also has a gloomy and dark tone that helps show the
realistic, heartbreaking mood of the film, and it sounds so beautiful. A great example is
the title sequence when Mark is running through Harvard campus to get to his dorm. The
music is very memorable and will stick in your head for weeks after seeing this film, it is
that haunting compared to any other film score this year. This one, at least, deserves an
Oscar nomination, or even better, a win for one of the riskiest and most unique scores of
the year.
The Social Network is easily one of David Fincher’s finest achievements in years. It is
his best film since Fight Club. Here he does not focus on the visuals, rather he focuses on
the characters and the story with help from Aaron Sorkin’s nearly flawless script. This
script will make the audience believe that Zuckerberg started Facebook simply because of
a breakup, it is that convincing. Fincher creates not only one of the most relatable movies
of the decade, he has created a modern masterpiece for all future generations to enjoy.
This is easily the best film of the year, and hopefully the Oscars will not overlook the
film’s brilliance, it certainly deserves some recognition.
REFLECTION
When writing this article, I had to choose what type of article I wanted to write about.
Since I love writing film reviews as a hobby, I figured that I should write a review as my
article. When deciding which newspaper or magazine I had to pretend to submit to, I had
to choose out of the many newsmagazines that I felt contained the best written and most
convincing reviews. I chose Rolling Stone because Peter Travers is one of the most
trustworthy critics in the business and his reviews are very well written. When choosing
what film, I wanted to do a film that closely related to Hollywoodization, and I decided
on The Social Network, a film that I felt Hollywoodized American society as a whole.
When I started writing my article, I thought about my potential audience. I came to the
realization that my audience would be people who would be interested in seeing the film,
people interested in Facebook, or people interested in society. Also when I started
writing, I had to think about what components of the film I wanted to discuss. Then, I
chose the components I felt had Hollywoodized society. Then I started free writing my
paper, then I let my professor look at it. Once I realized what I needed to do to strengthen
my paper, I wrote it until I finished it. I looked over my paper to check grammatical and
spelling mistakes. Then, I decided to look over the paper again to check if I avoided any
bias for the director, the actors or anyone involved in making the film. Once I finished
looking over the paper again, I corrected any mistakes I made and I was finished writing.
This assignment taught me on how to write a very effective article. Thanks to the last
assignment, I learned to avoid bias when writing this article to make it more effective. In
conclusion, I feel that writing this paper will help me write more effective reviews in the
future.