the social network ✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰

the social network
10/10
dir david fincher
screenwritier aaron sorkin

f*** not celebrating ficitonal birthdays happy belated 2 the social network and no one else. if yr born on oct 1st literally f*** off. td (yesterday) is a day to celebrate billionare drama n thats it. fr tho i acc love tsn so f***in much so basically heres somethin i wrote 4 film class abt why i love it so!! if u wanna read my film hw here u go!! also dont judge cause i wrote this high outta my gd mind

My favourite film is The Social Network, directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. As a long-time fan of both Fincher and Sorkin, I think this film is a near-perfect blend of their creative styles as well as different genres, settings, and themes. This film is one that is guaranteed to stick with any viewer- the kind that makes the air feel different when you exit the theater. The kind with lines that will echo in the back of your mind when you’ve just broken up with someone or have to deal with one of hundreds of nerdy a**holes. (This film is something that covers all possible purposes of art- to chronicle the time in which it was created, to educate its viewers, and arguably the most important, to entertain). The kind whose scenes play in front of you when your mind wanders in mundanity or emotion (who wouldn’t want to smash their ex-best friends’ laptop?) The water at the golden gate bridge is freezing cold, and your ex-best friends laptop is like, right there. In this review I will detail some the different elements that lead me to define The Social Network as a perfect film. 

 Number 1: Characters 

The characters in this film don’t fall into the contrived categories of “good” and “evil”. The characters are layered, and their motivations and actions are ever changing and often wrong, chosen out of base emotion and desperation. Everyone has their own likability’s and flaws; charming demeanour, good intentions, generosity. Their characters are not defined by their reputation, rather they are able to move freely and exist as different people under different lightings. You see Mark first through Erica’s eyes, a twitchy twenty-year-old narcissist oddball. We see him through Dustin’s eyes, a fun college kid who drinks beer, blogs, and bitches. We see him though Divya and the Winklevoss’s eyes, a nerdy nuisance and a leech. Then, we see him through Eduardo’s eyes- the gaze which we hold throughout most of the film- Mark is a friend. Mark is also the worst. Mark falls for greed. Mark is careless. Mark is a Judas. Finally, we see Mark through the eyes of a near-stranger, Marilyn, who believes he is a misunderstood genius who only ‘tries to be an a**hole’. This is being a person. This is personhood. Mark Zuckerberg is 500 million people to 500 million people. He is the next Bill Gates, he is a college ex-boyfriend, he is a best friend, he is a co-worker, and he is the worst. We see him become these different people throughout the film, but the endings still the same. He doesn’t end in a mansion, or in the Facebook offices, or in a grand place we viewers could only dream of. He ends up in a room, alone, refreshing the Facebook page of a girl he used to know. Eduardo faces similar treatment, yet instead of peeling back the curtain on apathy, we are able to explore his brutalization, watching him become cold and bitter. Compare the glitter-eyed frat boy dancing in a Hawaiian shirt on Caribbean Night to the man suing his best friend for $600 million dollars, glaring tastefully across a board room table. It almost happens without you noticing, but if you showed ‘present-day’ Eduardo to college Eduardo, he would believe he was looking at a stranger. That’s good character development. That is also good acting, 

Number 2: Acting 

I am far from an acting expert, but Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg are masterful in this film, much like Sorkin, being able to translate effortlessly from each genre and story beat the film plays with. From shrieking about marlins to seething rage at a man who has become a stranger to you, Garfield is able to give every word his full effort. They are both also experts of heartbreak, which is crucial when playing two characters who have betrayed each other with devastating consequences. Even Eisenberg, who’s characters face betrays little more than a twinge, is able to access a full range of emotions. 

Number 3: Story 

You can feel the care that is put into this film, every turn taken, and word spoken feels alive. Any other film holding this description of a “true story of the secret dramas of the creation of Facebook” would be a tabloid movie at best, but with Aaron Sorkin’s mixture of fact, fiction, and style, it reads less as a moving news article and more as a Greek epic. What appears to be an exposé of petty college fights and the birth of new big brother could serve as a modern retelling of Macbeth; a man who thought to be a god manifesting his downfall, blindness by seeing stars. This film incorporates a million philosophies perfectly, none being lost or unutilized. From Sean’s waxing poetic about lost opportunity to Erica’s bar speech that put every god-complex hyper-nerd unempathetic dork into words, to Eduardo’s heartbreaking delivery of one of the tensest scenes of cinematic history. Has any film really come close to packing the punch of “point zero three percent”? The contrast of the soft warm days of college and the harsh adult world is stark and jarring, and the way Sorkin slowly blends one into the other is nothing less than artful. The mesh of genres in the film is also impressive- by not existing firmly within the lines of a ‘true story’, Sorkin is able to add elements that make for a beautiful everlasting collage of cinematography. The slowly lost love of Eduardo and Mark (as said by Jesse Eisenberg in an interview, this film is about Mark falling out-of-love with Eduardo. A pretty far cry from greedy nerd drama, no?) the historical retelling of the creation of what is now a dying multi-billion-dollar media conglomerate, and the comedic duo that is the Winklevoss twins. 

 Number 4: Dialogue 

We understand each character through their speech, mark is jumpy and intelligent and unusual, Erica is bright and polite and harsh, Eduardo is kind and clumsy and normal. Their conversation is like an elevated form of human speech, a representation rather than communication. The dialogue is snappy and poetic and fun. This movie is heartbreaking and fun. Aaron Sorkin is less interested in communication than he is in miscommunication, and while it is obviously dramatized to suit the needs of the film, I would say it is more accurate to how people really talk. People aren’t concise or clever or straightforward, we are a jumble of needs and wants and thoughts bouncing around in our heads. We are not gods, we are animals. Many of the characters fall at this intersection- mark is an inventor, and yet he craves companionship. Sean is a genius, and a druggie, and the worst. Eduardo is intelligent and overly emotional. Erica is a bitchy-ex girlfriend and also the most rational character in the film. This films dialogue reflects reality-we contradict ourselves. We contain multitudes. 

Number 5: Editing 

This film is always moving forward, it never stops to ponder, and it never wastes time. All exposition is delivered in a way that we neglect to notice, all the shots are powerful and important, and all elements, soundtrack, acting, dialogue, camerawork, and setting, are woven together and used to its full potential. The editing falls in a near impossible category, it is not unnoticeable, and it is not overly apparent- it is a district part in the art of the film, it is lively and dancing and without it, the film would not be nearly as compelling. 

The Social Network is a film about love, betrayal, change, heartbreak, personhood, and people. It uses its editing, characters, acting, story, dialogue, and editing, to convey one of the greatest stories about one of the least interesting men in human history.