Griffin: The Social Network

My preconceptions before viewing “The Social Network” (David Fincher 2010) were that it would be a highly paced, over-sexualized blockbuster with an overload of special effects, but it turned out to be none of those things. Rather, the film is an in-depth chronicle of the origins and development of Facebook, but more principally, the film is about the characters that created Facebook, fought over it, were changed by it or were destroyed in the process.

The story unfolds in Harvard dorm rooms of the co-founders, Eisenberg’s Mark Zuckerberg and Garfield’s Eduardo Saverin. These scenes make up the past tense as it were of the film, while extended deposition scenes make up the present and set up future events while exploring the conflicts set up in the dorm room days. Though the film portrays several years of events, the editing is clever and quick so the narrative never loses momentum or becomes too convoluted. Often, the film cuts back and forth between deposition scenes with aloof Zuckerberg or the haughty and stubborn Winklevoss twins and scenes where these very characters first met or are fighting, etc. So the technique of juxtaposing past and present and future events is one of the film’s key elements for establishing tension and suspense.

Another facet that lends “The Social Network” credibility is Aaron Sorkin’s adapted screenplay. As in his writing for “The West Wing”, the dialogue is quick, witty, sharp, sarcastic and comedic when necessary. The opening scene of the film is Zuckerberg and his girlfriend drinking at a college bar. Her unrequited love forms one of his key personal conflicts throughout the film, which grows into the notion that Zuckerberg is just a nerd who never had a real girlfriend and his invention of Facebook compensated for weakness he felt in himself. But the opening scene is a sprightly and sardonic exchange of words which embody Sorkin’s style and abilities. Having such a skilled writer of dialogue like Sorkin is critical for this movie because so much of it happens in boardrooms and over long wooden tables with lawyers.