The Theme of Deceit in The Social Network

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 2011)

The movie The Social Network details the creation of the wildly popular social networking service called Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, first comes up with an idea to rate the looks of girls on the Harvard campus after his girlfriend abruptly leaves him earlier in the night. As he is stirring in his anger and drunkenness, he comes up with the idea for rating the looks of girls and calls the web page FaceMash. After e-mailing the site to several people, the news about FaceMash spreads around campus like wildfire and eventually crashes the Harvard computer network in only four hours due to the abundance of network traffic. Mark Zuckerberg then teams up with Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, played by Armie Hammer and Josh Pence respectively, to create a type of social network service for Harvard students called the Harvard Connection. Mark Zuckerberg builds upon the idea of the Harvard Connection as he works with Eduardo Saverin, the financier played by Andrew Garfield, and Dustin Moskovitz, the programmer played by Joseph Mazzello. The rest of the movie follows the events that lead to the Facebook that is known today as it is remembered by the characters during their discussions about the two lawsuits against Mark Zuckerberg.
A main theme in the movie The Social Network is deceit as it deals with the relationships between Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss twins and also between Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. One of the two lawsuits against Zuckerberg is initiated by the Winklevoss twins because they feel that Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for the Harvard Connection and renamed it Facebook. Saverin leads the other lawsuit because he feels that he was cheated by having his stake in the company diluted to an amount less than one-tenth of one percent. He originally was the person to put up money to get Facebook started and feels that he deserves a share of the millions of dollars made on that idea. Instead, the trickery of Zuckerberg and Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, lead to the complete dissolution of Eduardo Saverin with Facebook. The main theme of dishonesty and deceit are well known to fans of the movie titled Deception that was released in 2006. It is easy to think that someone is your friend, just to find out that everything was a big lie in the end.
Many times throughout the movie, the theme of deceit is illustrated through the emotional reactions of characters. One such instance is when Saverin goes to Palo Alto to the new headquarters of Facebook in a house that he is paying for. After waiting for an hour for Zuckerberg to pick him up, Saverin arrives at the house to find Sean Parker on the phone making business decisions on the phone. The camera switches between subjective point of view shots of Saverin and Parker. The camera is able to catch the raw emotional feelings of deception on Saverin's face. The ensuing discussion between Saverin and Zuckerberg further reveals the hurt and treachery that is felt by Saverin.
Another extremely important scene involving Saverin and Zuckerberg is near the end of the movie. When Saverin is told to come to California to a party for celebrating the one millionth user of Facebook, he learns that Parker and Zuckerberg agreed to issue more stock. The result is that Saverin's one-third ownership in the company is reduced to less than one-tenth of one percent. Eduardo instantly feels betrayed and rushes over to Zuckerberg, who is wired in with headphones on. The camera uses a low angle shot of Saverin as he swiftly walks over to Zuckerberg. The pain is quite obvious on Eduardo's face as the camera follows him to Zuckerberg. The actions following further display the pain and deception felt by Eduardo Saverin.
Another technique used in this movie to illustrate the mood and emotions of characters is the lighting conditions. In the scenes described above, the lighting is somewhat dim to create a negative mood that can be felt and witnessed by the audience. The use of low-key lighting puts more of the attention on the main characters of the scenes. Our attention is immediately consumed with the actions and reactions of the main characters such as Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and Sean Parker. Low-key lighting also helps to create the gloomy mood displayed throughout much of the movie. Most of the lighting used in the movie is front lighting so we have a clear picture of the characters faces and their emotional reactions to different situations. The different lighting techniques helps the audience to identify the emotions felt by the characters and also helps to illustrate the theme of deceit as it is experienced by the various characters.
All throughout the movie, it is easy for the audience to see the emotions of the characters as the actors and actresses do a great job of displaying real emotion with their expressions and body language. The main theme of deceit is evident throughout the movie as many of the characters feel cheated and deceived by Mark Zuckerberg. The Social Network is a great movie that details that controversial history of the hugely popular social networking service called Facebook.