How Not to Win Friends and Influence People

2010/11/23

The 'Facebook movie' is more thrilling than it should be. Elizabeth Kerr reports.

"Are you on Facebook?" has become one of the single most commonly used phrases of the digital age. The social networking site has become the preeminent tool for getting in touch and staying that way, and if you weren't convinced of its success look no further than the recent mini-backlash for proof. Backlashes only happen when something becomes mind-bogglingly popular - like "500 million global users and counting" popular.

Popularity aside, Facebook is something of a lightning rod for all that ails modern communication. Charges of the site's being nothing more than a marketing and/or stalker's tool led designers to tighten up security protocols, and media critics and cyber-pundits are already counting down the days until it's usurped. Remember Friendster and MySpace? Not many people do. They've become the Beta of the Internet, and Facebook will head down that road one day, too. Contrary to popular belief Google is not some benevolent dispenser of information for the sake of education. If it was it wouldn't store everything you type into your search engine for months. The Internet itself could go the way of the Dodo if ISPs realize just how much money it really costs them to give you unlimited download hours. Facebook and much of what's online is built on a house of cards that continues to exist simply because we allow it to. It's kind of like the dynamic between inmates and prison guards: a tacit agreement on the power structure that could crumble at a second's notice.

Given the omnipresence of online life it's a wonder there hasn't been a real Internet film until now. And no. The Net and Wargames (dial up!) don't count. Any respectable film about revolutionary digital applications is going to demand a lot of typing and math, which admittedly don't make for compelling cinema. As a writer/programmer colleague so eloquently put it, "Does Hollywood actually understand what programmers do? They sit in their rooms in front of their computers. All. Day. Long. I can't imagine anything duller than a film about someone coding the latest and greatest web-based communication tool. Does anything blow up? Is there a car chase? Does anyone try to kill him? No. And if nothing's blowing up, and no one's trying to kill him, I'm not interested." Well then.

So in The Social Network, director David Fincher (Se7en) and writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) conspire to do the impossible: make coding exciting. Based on Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires (Mezrich also wrote Bringing Down the House, the basis for 21), Network is a hyper-verbose modern thriller, constructed in a flashback format that begins with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg being sued by former partners who want their share of credit and Facebook's current $15 billion value.

We're introduced to Harvard student Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg, Zombieland) right in the middle of a break up with his girlfriend. Not only does she dump him, she lays a major smackdown on his ego and sense of self. About half an hour later, Zuckerberg is at home wishing horrible things upon Erica. The difference between him and every other jilted college dork though is that he's a computer genius and can actually get his revenge. Of course, he takes it out on womanhood in general. His petulant tantrum leads to an idea for a social network for students, which he fleshes out with partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield, the next Spider-Man) and a bit of pilfering from Harvard elites Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer). The corporate shenanigans start soon after "The Facebook" launches and accusations of intellectual property theft abound.

Fincher and Sorkin's vision of Zuckerberg (who had nothing to do with the film) is one of an idealistic if emotionally immature and socially inept young adult whose creation morphs into an unwieldy beast he never envisioned. Zuckerberg is oddly positioned as both the hero and villain in his own story. Much of his drive comes from a desire to level the great inequities of Harvard life, but that desire is simultaneously fed by a burning need to break "in" to the right circles. Near the end of the film when the discarded Eduardo tells Zuckerberg, "You better lawyer up, a******, because I'm not coming back for the 30 percent. I'm coming back for everything!" it's hard not to pull for Eduardo. But with Napster (talk about dinosaurs) founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) lurking in the background, you also want to smack Zuckerberg and warn him off the real threat Parker represents.

The Social Network zips along at a dizzying pace thanks to Sorkin's hallmark rapid-fire, highly literate chatter. The opening sequence in the bar is a sample of what's to follow ("Dating you is like dating a Stairmaster."). But it's not all quips and quotes. One of the most interesting aspects of The Social Network is the hindsight inherent in the story. Six years down the road, it's hard to believe Zuckerberg et al didn't see what they would unleash. Can Facebook be blamed for a young man's suicide when his roommate streamed a romantic gay tryst online? Probably not, but Facebook can be held up as part of the larger trend of the devaluation of privacy. If your whole life is on Facebook already, why not stream the rest of it live?

Fincher dials down the stylized flair he's used in the past, falling more into the nuts and bolts Zodiac model than the fidgety Fight Club one. It's a wise choice given Network's talkiness; any visual flourish would have become a distraction. He's blessed with a strong cast and Eisenberg - who was teetering on the same "sweet but geeky" precipice as Michael Cera - manages to balance arrogance, innocence, ambition, obliviousness and wisdom beyond his years in the character. Does Zuckerberg actually talk that fast? Does he have that same stilted walk? Did he swindle friends and business acquaintances out of their just rewards? Who knows (though a sealed settlement would say the courts believed he did)? That's not what The Social Network is about. The film is a contemplation of ideas and the people behind them, not an accurate docudrama. It's a curious cloak and dagger examination of the birth of a wholly contemporary dotcom empire and the kind of incongruously introverted and extroverted people that birth them. It brings new meaning to the phrase, "Are you on Facebook?"

The Social Network opened in Hong Kong on Thursday. (Elizabeth Kerr)

 (HK Edition)