The Social Network

It has been nearly 12 years since the movie was released, but it still remains one of the crispiest movies I have seen. From the stellar combination of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin to the brilliant acting performance of all the stars, this movie deserves every accolade it has won.

The movie critiques the American dream by showing the character development of Mark Zuckerberg and questions what it means to be successful. The major theme of the movie is the quest for power and friendship, with the social network in the backdrop.

The Anti Hero - Mark Zuckerberg

Very early in the movie, we are introduced to the question that drives this character, his motif

“How do you distinguish yourself in a population of people who all got 1600 SAT’s?”

This remains his biggest fear over the whole course of the movie as he not only wants to succeed but also wants others to fail. The character arc followed here is like a sine graph, which initially embarks his constant rise to power, the downfall(the lawsuits) and finally his redemption towards the end.

Moreover, he is the only character whose character development is seen throughout the movie as he's so wrapped up in trying to stand out and in making Facebook the best that it can be, that he never pays attention to those around him and hence we never see that side of others.

He is obsessed with making it huge and being the most powerful man, but has trouble communicating and is so childish that whenever somebody attacks him, his way out is by insulting them.

The Correct Direction - David Fincher

David Fincher entered the project as an established director. Having directed Seven, Zodiac and Fight Club, he is an extremely strong-willed individual who did not compromise on either the budget or the script, both of which were being trimmed by the studio. His direction is splendid and his unique style of moving the camera exactly with the velocity

(both speed and direction) of the moving character hijacks you completely. It’s because of his excellent attention to detail that you align yourself with the characters on screen. A perfectionist, he is known for taking multiple takes till he finds his perfect shot. No doubt

it took him 99 takes to get the very first scene of the movie right.

He also knows how to use the colour palette effectively. There is an ongoing theme in the Movie - all the dorm room scenes and the college buildings have a dark background, which signifies the tradition and elitism of the Ivy League, whereas all the shots of the startups in California have a brightness to them.

The Genius of Aaron Sorkin

The rapid-fire, quick-witted dialogues with a non-linear structure, coupled with unreliable narrators make this a memorable movie. Sorkin knows how to organically intensify the movie by overlapping dialogues. The dialogues in any scene slowly and steadily intensify to the point where they end with a memorable quote.

Take this scene for example:

EDUARDO: I’m not signing those papers.

SEAN: We’ll get the signature.

—slowly intensifies—-

EDUARDO: (turning to MARK) Tell me this isn’t about me getting into the Phoenix! (pause)

EDUARDO: (CONT’D) You did it. I always knew you did it. You planted the story about the chicken.

SEAN: (pause) What is he talking about?

EDUARDO: You had me accused--

—-getting there———

SEAN: Seriously, what the hell’s the chicken?

EDUARDO: And I’ll bet what you hated the most is that they identified me as a co-founder of Facebook, which I am!

—-and there, boom——

You better lawyer up, asshole, ‘cause I’m not comin’ back for my 30 percent, I’m comin’ back for everything!

He is also the master of creating a misunderstanding in the audience’s head. In the first five minutes of the movie, as an audience member, I wasn’t able to understand what was happening. But exposition in misunderstandings seems to naturally flow from both the character’s conversations as the misunderstandings are used to establish Mark's character as someone, who has trouble communicating with others, his ego and also introduce us to his motive in life, which is to be exclusive. Sorkin engages the audience with multi-layered dialogues, ideally telling them a story without them even noticing.

There’s a lot more that I haven’t touched, but in a nutshell, The Social Network is a movie about friendship, loyalty, power, betrayal, ambition and of course, Facebook.