The Social Network

David Fincher's "The Social Network" is tantalizing in its frenetic energy. Aaron Sorkin's lighting-fast dialogue blazes through the air from the opening scene, and from the point at which its revealed that Facebook was still just a germinating idea in late 2003, with the knowledge that it first took SPU by storm in early 2004 and the knowledge of what it has become since there's no way not be drawn in to the culture of Harvard, the desire of Eisenberg's portrayal of Zuckerberg as a friendless genius crazing recognition, and the taut legal battles that erupted after Zuckerberg and Facebook became monsterously profitable. Yet, even before it became monstrously profitable, the conflicts over Facebook erupted as a result of broken promises, broken friendships, and a desire to be recognized and included in the exclusivity that only success can bring. The film is an adept psychological drama, examining how and why Facebook became so appealing, and one of the geniuses of the film is how little time is actually spent examining the digital Facebook but really spent examining the wants and needs of Facebook founders, which universally apply to the majority of Facebook users. The narcissm, addictive personalities, jealousies, and egos of the main players in the drama highlight the main problems with Facebook and social media. Never once is "fun" or "practicality" addressed when designing and refining Facebook.

Yet, while it is a compelling story (apparently very fictionalized from what sounds like a rather straight-forward legal battle), I found myself immersed in Fincher's beautiful directorial decisions with the camera and the intensely subtle score by Trent Reznor. These elements combined made it feel like not so much the "film of the 2000s" that captures the spirit of the modern 20-something generation but the quintessential American tragedy of the 2000s. I didn't find anything new or revolutionary in the film's themes or emotions, but I found myself relating to them, and sadly contemplating the ways in which the trends present in the film exist in even more exaggerated fashions in modern American culture, with no signs of slowing down.

9/10