The RPM Show

By Adam Miller

The story of facebook comes to the big screen with ‘Social Network’

In 2003, a Harvard undergrad named Mark Zuckerberg started an empire from his dorm room. That empire would soon become a huge phenomenon that as of today has over 500 million members. A website known as facebook has become a major piece of today’s pop culture, some for good and some for worse. This movie while controversial to some is a real eye opener to most and is arguably one of the best films of the year.

The film dives into the virtual aspects of how the website was created. Basically one fall night at Harvard, Zuckerberg gets on his computer and begins blogging his ideas and hacks them into the college’s network and soon becomes a huge hit. But success comes at a price when Zuckerberg is soon faced with many obstacles that are thrown in his direction. From allegations that he stole the idea from a rival Harvard social networking website to confrontations with his best friend and co-founder Eduardo Saverin.

What the film does so well, and this is all from screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant structure of events, is it bounces all over in order to give the full story. It starts with Zuckerberg inventing the idea with Saverin and then cuts to Saverin in an office giving testimony in his lawsuit against Zuckerberg. That story structure is what makes the film fast paced and ultimately the best way possible.

Now in terms of the controversy surrounding the film, I have to say that there is room for debate but that is all. Sure some people may think that this film might be painting Zuckerberg in a not so good picture, but in the end you realize that it is done in an almost sympathetic kind of way. Yeah Zuckerberg may have invented a website that has members abusing it in everyway they can, but at the same time he is the guy who created one of the biggest empires in the country. And today he is the youngest billionaire in the country. But in terms of the factual material, people should know that filmmakers take liberties with stuff like that for dramatic purposes. So of course the movie is going to have fictional material, they have done that for years. But it is called historical fiction.

When all is said and done, this movie truly is one of the best films of the year. It has very rich performances from the cast, including Justin Timberlake. But is David Fincher’s direction and the before mentioned writing from Sorkin that elevate this movie to absolute greatness. But it is also a moral tale on betrayal and trust as we see how people are damaged as facebook becomes a huge success. But the movie is an eye opener for those of us who have a facebook profile and are on the website all the time. In so doing it should also be a lesson because people misuse it and hurt themselves and others, the lesson here is that old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”.