The Social Network

 

The Social Network (2010), directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Zodiac, and, Panic Room) tells the semi-autobiographical story of the creation of Facebook. The film tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg, a nerdy Harvard student who with his roommates create the biggest social network in the world. The film also shows the legal battles and issues that arose while Zuckerberg was creating Facebook. The Social Network details Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to power and his alienation from the people around him.

  Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg, a nerdy socially inept young man who over the course of the film creates the biggest social network in the world and becomes the youngest billionaire at twenty. Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as fast talking and intelligent yet socially awkward. He comes off at times during the film as an asshole but yet you still feel for him. What’s amazing about Eisenberg’s performance is how he’s able to emote in each scene. One scene for example is when during the legal proceedings Eduardo at one point tells him that he was Mark’s one and only friend, the look that Eisenberg gives him as he says this is one of regret and sadness for betraying Eduardo. Eisenberg also plays Zuckerberg as a misunderstood loner who wants to be accepted.  Eisenberg was nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for his performance as Zuckerberg. Eduardo Saverin the Co-creator of Facebook is played by Andrew Garfield. He is the cooler but yet nerdy best friend to Mark. He is tall and wears slick clothing unlike Mark who wears sweaters and is short with messy hair. Eduardo unlike Mark doesn’t fully know what Facebook could be. This is what leads to the friction between the friends. Especially after Sean Parker enters the picture, it leaves Eduardo feeling left out. After Eduardo is dropped from the company for freezing his assets Eduardo confronts Mark. This scene is intercut with the courtroom hearing between Eduardo and Mark. When Eduardo tells Mark that he was his only friend you can see the pain and feeling of betrayal on Garfield’s face. This and the scene in where Eduardo confronts Mark are two extremely pivotal scenes for Garfield’s performance. Garfield has to play Eduardo in a very vulnerable state. What Garfield is able to do with his performance is connect with the audience. We the audience sympathy for him and can understand his feeling of betrayal. Garfield and Eisenberg’s chemistry helps the audience to connect to their relationship. That’s why it’s heartbreaking when their relationship dissolves right in front of us. The two are to bring great depth to their respective characters and each give an amazing performances.

   An amazing aspect of The Social Network is the editing. Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall edit the film in a non-linear style. The film is intercut to show the creation of Facebook, The Winklevoos twin’s frustration, and the legal hearings that follow. The films opening sequence starts after Mark is dumped by ex-girlfriend Erica Albright. Mark gets drunk and writes a hateful blog on Erica. This then leads to Mark creating the website FaceMash where girl are compared next to each other based on their college Facebook picture. This is intercut with the Phoenix Club hosting a party for girls. And then intercut with students on the Harvard campus who use the website to judge girls. As we see Zuckerberg and friends create their website in their dorm room, we see girls kissing each other and taking off their clothes at the Phoenix party. This creates the effect that Zuckerberg and his friends are nerds who judge girls in a sexist manner we see the girls performing sex acts. While this is happening we then see the reactions of the males at Harvard playing the FaceMash game. This sequence is then intercut with the reaction to Erica Albright reading Mark’s blog. This scene is extremely difficult to edit because of the amount of footage used. The sequence crosscuts four scenes together, if one of these scenes looks off or if it doesn’t flow properly the whole sequence would look bad and be difficult to view. What makes the scene work is the pacing and flow of the intercutting of the scene. The rest of the film is told through flashbacks and cutaways. Throughout the film we see the legal hearings of Eduardo and the Winklevoos twin’s lawsuit against Mark for Facebook. As we see each person tell their story at the hearings it is intercut with the scenes depicting the events that happened prior. By telling the story in this manner the viewer is able to take in the story much easier. But the difficulty in doing this though is crosscutting the emotional scenes together. For example a scene in which Eduardo tells Mark that he was his only friend is intercut with Eduardo confronting Mark about his liquidated his shares in the company. The scene has to capture the emotional power of Garfield’s performance while still being able to create an impactful scene. The editing in the film is an amazingly well crafted and in important aspect of this film.

   Another important aspect of the film is the Score. Trent Reznor is best known as the lead singer of the rock band Nine Inch Nails. He along with Atticus Ross are the composers of the film. The music for the film is mostly made up piano and guitar riffs over electronic music. The soundtrack of the film gives off this sense of this technologic world in which the characters in habit. The distorted electronic sounds in the beginning of the film is foreshadowing to the events that take place. It gives off this sense that we are slowly in Mark Zuckerberg’s world. Another key aspect to the soundtrack is the use of pianos in the soundtrack. After Erica breaks up with Mark in the first scene of the film you can hear a distinct piano sound that plays when Erica leaves the bar. In this scene when the piano plays we feel and sense Mark’s loneliness and alienation from the world around him. As the piano plays throughout the titles we see Mark walking past students on campus. With scene being shot with wide shots we come to an understanding Mark’s alienation from the world around him. As the movie goes on the piano becomes more and more faint and we are given this feeling that Mark’s alienation becomes worse. The use of guitar riffs in the film creates a sense of excitement in the film. The first time we hear these guitar riffs is during the Phoenix party where females are taking off their clothes and is then repeated when Eduardo and his girlfriend have sex in a stall. The sound of the guitars creates a sexual pleasure within the scenes. The final song in the film isThe Beatles “Baby you’re a rich man”. It plays when Mark tries to add Erica on Facebook in the final scene. The tone of the song is upbeat, opposite of the film itself. The title of the song implies that Mark earned his way to the success he has. But it also implies the current state of his life where he has no one to connect to. In a way the song is telling Mark that he should be happy because he is a rich man and has accomplished a lot in his life but yet has alienated himself from society.

   The Social Network is a great feet in filmmaking history. It is the Citizen Kane of our generation. It’s themes of Power and alienation play throughout the film. A film about a young man who creates an empire but loses the people aroud him. The writing, cinematography, editing, and music are masterful and amazingly well done. The performances by both Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield are the heart and soul of the film. David Fincher has made a generation defying film that will be remembered for years to come.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppamk0iTCQ8