The Social Network > The Courier's online entertainment connection for northwest Ohio

Monday, February 21, 2011

The Social Network
By RT @ 4:25 PM :: 2631 Views :: 0 Comments ::

It seems almost ridiculously unlikely now, but there was actually a time when we had no way of knowing what the freckle-faced girl who sat in the second row in Mrs. Kelly's first grade class 27 years ago had for a mid-afternoon snack today.
No way of knowing what TV show our high-brow philosophy professor watches Monday nights ("'Pawn Stars?' No way!")
Not even any way of cyberstalking ex-girlfriends and driving ourselves into a not-so-small depression by seeing -- depending on their privacy settings -- pictures of them with their buff new boyfriends in Cancun last spring break.
Back in the old days, we could have possibly come across this information. But not without looking like an obsessed psycho.
The year was 2003. It was a simple, more honest time in communication, back when social networking involved actual faces of our friends, not just digital pics of people we wish were our friends.
As I start writing this review of the movie "The Social Network," the number of Facebook users who "like" Facebook stood at 21,821,948. That's 21 million-plus, for those not real good with numbers. The number of Facebook users worldwide is generically put at 500 million, although setting a fixed number on the constantly growing site is like trying to pin down exactly how much debt the US has to its name.
For those of you who have never logged onto a computer, Facebook is the biggest thing to happen to society since "¦ well, television. This is not as much of an exaggeration as it would seem to be. It might not even be an exaggeration at all.
Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) was a geeky undergrad student at Harvard in 2003. One Tuesday night after being unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend at the bar, Zuckerberg drunkenly to post pictures of Harvard female students online, allowing other students to compare -- in a "left" or "right" manner -- which ones are hotter. As someone who has spent a Tuesday night or two in his condition, I can see how this would be an incredibly attractive time-waster.
The idea blows up across campus, and by 4 a.m. the Harvard server crashes.
"The Social Network" is the story of how this "she vs. she" idea turned into the social networking site that you've visited every (give or take 3 minutes, depending on whether you're employed or not, and your employer's firewall capabilities) 14 minutes today and "¦ wait for it "¦ the reason your Blackberry just beeped.
It's as socially relevant of a film as you're going to find these days. By "these days," I essentially mean "ever."
It's also pretty fascinating, thought-provoking and downright good, to boot.
As the movie poster says in text stamped over Zuckerberg's face, "you don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies."
The movie, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, would seem to suggest the golden-spoon twin brothers who pitched their idea of a social networking site to fellow Harvard student Zuckerberg shortly after the hotness competition site exploded would be among these enemies. As would Zuckerberg's only real college friend, Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield), who started out as Facebook's chief financial officer only to have his stake in the company reduced to a fraction of a percentage once the site started taking off.
Zuckerberg is an extremely intelligent, sarcastic individual, confident in his ability to create a product a whole lot of people want, but not so confident in his ability to befriend them. Ironic for a guy with the world as his "friend."
Justin Timberlake is along for the ride in a solid role as Sean Parker, founder of music file-sharing website Napster. Annoying, brash and confident, Parker inspires Zuckerberg to dream bigger as he takes Facebook to the one million friend plateau and beyond -- at the risk of the respect and friendship of those around him. It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect an Oscar nod for best supporting actor to be in Timberlake's future.
Was making these enemies worth becoming the youngest billionaire in the world worth it? Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.
The movie will undoubtedly spark conversation among viewers of whether Zuckerberg's behavior was ethical and what they would do in the same situation. Assuming, of course, they found themselves with the ambition and technological know-how to develop and market a website with the widespread appeal of Facebook.
Not that most of us Facebook users particularly care how it came to be that we could ask our online friends for help growing sunflowers in "Frontierville" or how, with the click of a mouse, can see what the cute girl we're scared to talk to in history class looks like in a polka-dot bikini, mind you. We just know that we can, and we can't imagine a life in which we couldn't.
But knowing a bit more of what went into the best time-waster of all time actually does serve a purpose. It provides an incredibly timely and insightful look at who we are, for better and worse.
For those of us who already obsess over Facebook, this movie will do one of two things. We'll either want to log in and see what Susie from fourth grade thinks of her days spent changing diapers and cleaning spitup off the couch, or we'll want to log out and talk to actual people.
I'm trying to force my fingers to point the mouse in the direction of the "log out" link. "Trying" being the key word.
In case you were wondering, the number of people who "like" Facebook is now at 21,831,203 — 10,000 more than 16 paragraphs ago.
If you have ever posted a status update about the cute thing your two-year-old said or how excited you are to check out "The Situation" in tonight's episode of "Jersey Shore," check out "The Social Network." Chances are better than one in 500 m illion you'll "like" it.
Joel Sensenig is news editor of the Review Times. While he appreciates the importance of virtual farming in Facebook's "Frontierville," he probably won't send you any virtual picnic baskets or manure to help you out with your efforts. Just so you know.

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