Social Network

Rating: 9/10 (12 December 2011)

'The Social Network" (2010) is a film based off of the story of how the social networking site, Facebook, was created. The film stars Jesse Eisenburg as founder Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield as co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and Justin Timberlake as Napster founder Sean Parker. The movie depicts the development of the social networking site, as well as the obstacles Mark faces with lawsuits dealing with him stealing the idea of Facebook, and diluting Eduardo's shares once the company grew.
The theme of "The Social Network" deals with inspiration, betrayal, and the cost of success. Mark is inspired by his own idea of Facemash which was a website used to rate female students on attractiveness. After being invited by Camerson and Tyler Winklevoss to be a part of the creation of their social site called The Harvord Connection, Mark decided to expand his idea of Facemash into Facebook. Mark and co-founder Eduardo, work to get Facebook launched and running, and expand to other schools very quickly. I believe the instant success was too much for Mark to handle, as he proves in the movie he is easily influenced by Sean Parker. This causes Mark to betray Eduardo, when he is convinced to reduce Eduardo's shares of the company to nearly nothing.
The lighting throughout the film is very low key. I believe this gave the feeling of realness as well as seriousness. While Mark is hard at work creating the website in his apartment, the lights are low, which also shows him concentrating. The cuts that transitioned from the story of the creation of Facebook, to the current day lawsuit hearings, was done very clearly and smoothly. The film, as well as the cuts, were easy to follow and very well written. The actors did a great job of portraying the actual people and made the viewer believe.
Although the film has been criticized for not being completely accurate, the directors and writers did a great job of keeping a neutral point of view throughout, as well as illustrating many different points of view, including Mark, Eduardo, and the Winklevoss twins. I very much enjoyed the film, just as I suspected I would. I found it to be very interesting, and as a Facebook user myself, it made the meaning of it even more personal.