Film Review on Relation to Theme

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2011)

In the film The Social Network, Mark Zukerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is the founder of the social network known worldwide as Facebook. The film covers his journey of becoming so successful and the theme that a person can do anything it takes to get to the top and become rich and famous but once they get there they may look back and wonder if it was all worth it to end up lonely. Originally Mark set up a site known as Face Mash through hacking the schools' records to provide information and photos allowing people to rate the faces of female students, after his girlfriend Erica Albright (played by Rooney Mara) breaks up with him. This is the start of a number of relationships Mark ruins on his way to the top. Eventually the site receives so much input it crashes the system. When the Winklevoss twins (played by Armie Hammer) hear news of this they already have a team in place trying to build a social network for Harvard students and invite Mark to join their team and help them. After reviewing their ideas and work Mark goes off on his own and with the help of his best friend Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield) to set up the network known as Facebook which mirrors the Winklevosses' idea without their consent or telling anyone that he has done this. Mark disregards any communication from the Winklevosses again severing relationships to benefit himself alone, leaving them out. As Facebook progresses and becomes larger Mark eventually begins moving the company forward at his own discretion and manipulates his best friend, Eduardo, out of having any ownership in the company; yet another ruined relationship of someone who has helped Mark succeed. By the end of the film mark has no friends and it closes out with him looking up his ex-girlfriend on the Facebook network. The theme in this movie is similar to the in the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, in which the father in the movie uses his daughter to build a relationship with his son in law. He then also uses his son in law to his benefit to get revenge and shut other companies down. In the end the father ends up just as lonely. Two film techniques used in relation specifically to the theme of The Social Network were dramatic acting and irony. Throughout the entire movie Mark is coldest through his intense sustained dialogue with people, requiring little action on his part. For example when he is speaking in the courtroom against the Winklevoss twins, Eduardo, and their attorneys he comes off very cold to the point showing no emotion towards them in which the audience feels the emptiness of mark through his dialogue alone. The most ironic part in the film is that Mark's main concern was climbing the social ladder and in every attempt to do so, including making the world's largest social network, he is left sitting alone refreshing the Facebook page of his ex-girlfriend after being sued by his ex-best friend as well. After everything was it worth it to end up lonely?