The Social Network

The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)

From the rapid fire beginning Sorkin's fingerprints are all over this tight knit, kinetic script.  It practically oozes the quick wit, intelligence and ambition he showed time and again on the hit TV series The West Wing, from acid barbs to classic put downs, no line is left to chance and under the guise of Fincher's imposing, classic and bling, flash, wallop mise en scene, sepia tones, inferred pessimism and defined spaces; dripping with the atmosphere of status, back-stabbing and privilege, his dialogue is able to dazzle with a narrative that's as old as time itself; the betrayal of your best friend.  However, The Social Network, is no Noam Chomsky diktat, 'old wine in new bottles', it's a living, breathing fresh take on a phenomenon that defines our generation, the birth of social networking, the rise of geek as power magnate and the way in which we live our very lives now.  Not then.  Not in the future.  This is a film that defines us.  How novel is that?

Yet, The Social Network works like a period piece set in 2003BF (Before Facebook), before our Internet addled lives, touch screen apps and i-pod dependence lifestyles kicked in and as such it's eye-opening to witness, to say the very least, the pace at which these things have changed.  Taken from the source novel, The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, The Social Network charts the rise of Facebook (or 'The Facebook' as it was known before a well needed re-brand) and all the reprisals, the allegations, legal rows and boardroom dramas that ensued over the invention of one most profitable Internet sites, games changers, life moulders, of all time.  At most the synopsis of The Social Network looks dull - courtroom legal battles rarely make dazzling cinema time - yet this is Sorkin world and that just won't do, he finds his hook in the friendship of Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg, faultless as the bird nest haired automaton, driven by rejection and delusional self-importance) and Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), their relationship and creation of Facebook, the inevitable lure of status, right up to the knife in the back and confrontations in the board rooms as they regurgitate their respective histories.
 

Before, however, there are the Harvard years and an opening scene so masterly executed that in one fail-safe swoop we have The Social Network spelled out to us as clinically as Zuckerberg's tact. As Zuckerberg sits in the bar, across the table sits his date for the evening,  Erica (Rooney Mara), they throw, no that's not right, they volley words and sentences at such speed to each other it renders the like of His Girl Friday or Bringing Up Baby to the status of the silent era.   It infamously took 99 takes to nail this scene to get the measure of Sorkin's words and Fincher's image to take shape from page to screen, with the aid of extreme editing and no doubt infinite patience on the behalf of everyone involved, this opening gambit plays out like a breakneck instant messaging board with social networking intensity.  Zuckerberg's guard is down and you can imagine a keyboard in front of him as he says these things but the real world doesn't offer the barrier that a monitor does, no anonymity, it's here and it's real, Zuckerberg wasn't made for that.

Zuckerberg is never more open than in this scene, for all the triumphs and humiliations to follow, nothing leaves him as naked as this moment, his social ineptness, superior exterior and awkwardness betray him as he walks time and again into faux pas, insinuation and insults, quite unaware of how what he is saying is coming across; in the classical style of Sorkin's script this moment of rejection becomes Zuckerberg's sole raison d'etre, his focus point for the uber-success to follow but will forever scar him and also, up to a point, define him. A final insult towards Erica's education leaves him reeling as the slow realisation of what he's said may have caused offence, the look of dawning awareness shoots across his face and in putting out a hand he asks, is this real?  From this refusal Zuckerberg, ignited by rejection and alcohol sets out the first Facebook prototype, after trashing Erica in his blog, he creates Facemash, a degrading, misogynistic site that allows guys to rate college girls against one another at the press of the button.  All of this is neatly played to one of Fincher's ongoing juxtapositions, a motif device he constantly refers to; where young men of status and privilege are seen paying young women to strip (to the wonderful score by Trent Reznor), it seems money may open doors but it's totally devoid of any class.

With Fincher at the helm, The Social Network feels classic, played straight and crisp with neat lines devoid of acerbic and wild fanciful touches, everything is confined but allowed to breathe, everyone has their place and like a classic play, play their part on cue, on the dot and within their space.  Though the subject matter is as modern as it gets, The Social Network is steeped in classic story-telling and Fincher matches this with a disciplined, stream-lined approach, shrouded in the same kind of haze that engulfed his previous films 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and ' Zodiac', each scene is measured to exude the exact emotion, ambition and cold animosity projected by the script and it's players.  It takes a tactician to film another tactician this intuitively and Fincher executes Sorkin's intelligent script with adroit panache and high technical skill, Zuckerberg doesn't grow, as with the usual bio-pic, there are no redeeming features, no facet of personality we can put hope in, he remains unengaged, anonymous, much like a mutual friend of a friend, and Fincher never once, much to his credit, makes us feel any differently towards him. 

Zuckerberg, in securing financial backing from his friend Eduardo and successfully delaying his involvement in the Winklevoss twins (both brilliantly played as the 'All American' Harvard alpha males by Armie Hammer in extraordinary CGI wizardry) rather timid site idea 'The Harvard Connection', sets to work on the website that will make his fortune, if not many friends in the process.  Eduardo's ease with people and with his money leaves a bitter taste with Zuckerberg, who resents those who he deems privileged and have an easy ride in life; he also finds the Winklevoss twins condescending and not worthy of his talents, when in fact it's his own inferiority complex mixed with a desperate need to be accepted by the cool kids that fuel his anger.  Add to this mix the smooth Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), inventor of Napster and something of an idol to the inspiring Zuckerberg; who will turn to Parker in favour of Eduardo and infamously cut him out of the deal, and you have the full rostrum of players and victims that tore ground anew.

Despite this being a film based around the creation of multibillion dollar business, The Social Network is never about the money, sure the Winklevoss twins and Eduardo want their share but The Social Network is commenting on more than the delusion of power, greed is good or loneliness at the top.  At the very heart is the need for acceptance, the wanting to fit in and be appreciated by your peers, Zuckerberg is that kid being picked last for sports, the geek that never gets the girl and the lonely boy sat at the back of the school bus.  All Zuckerberg espouses for Facebook is for it to be cool, something he never could be and that ultimately he invents a key device for him to friend, or defriend, with as many people as he wants without ever having to socially interact with them, without the messy in person part.  Zuckerberg is a brilliant creation, a modern concept of something gone wrong within the human spirit, unable to communicate with another person without the medium in between, how app we leave him staring once again at the screen, typing away for another evening, all by himself.