Being an avid addict of Facebook, I was excited -- and anxious -- to see "The Social Network." Excited, because I had never taken the time to really dig into how Facebook came to be, and anxious because I was afraid it had some kind of tragic background.
Turns out, I was pleasantly surprised ... and slightly mind blown. From a simple operation that took only a few months and a few thousand dollars to come up with, to what it is now, is an almost unbelievable story of chance and genius.
The movie begins with Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) arguing with his then-girlfriend, Erica (Rooney Mara), in a crowded bar. He's a lanky, quirky, genius, and is spewing facts off the top of his head as quick as he can, trying to keep the conversational ball rolling. After a while, though, his attitude goes south, and he becomes biting, sarcastic and uses his wit to a mean ends -- and Erica breaks up with him.
Enraged, he goes home (a dorm in Harvard -- fancy schmancy, eh?) and begins ranting on his blog about his ex, ticked off at the female population in general. As time progresses, he and his pals set up the code to his site, Facemash, in which the Harvard girls are then ranked on hotness based on generic photos that Zuckerberg genius-ly stole from Harvard links. Let me just say, the way he speaks computer code -- and fluently speaks it throughout this scene -- is really amazing. It will make your jaw drop, at how computerized someone can become.
After this, Zuckerberg is noticed and approached by the Winklevoss twins -- or the Winklevii, as Eisenberg calls them in the movie -- Tyler (Josh Pence) and Cameron (Armie Hammer) to be the programmer for a sleazy idea that would allow women to be able to view and communicate with men who go to Harvard ... because, as they say, girls like Harvard guys. It's basically a Match.com meets Myspace kind of thing, only it's exclusive to hot chicks and Harvard men.
Zuckerberg likes the idea of a social network, but doesn't quite like the Winklevii twins' idea, so he decides to go in his own direction, and approaches his best friend and roommate Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) about it. And from this, they design TheFacebook.com after a few months and about a thousand dollars, and right after it launches, it becomes a hit with the Harvard network, thanks to Eduardo's Phoenix Final Club connections.
Along the way, they encounter groupies, Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), big money, bad encounters with a chicken (it's hilarious--and no, it's not dirty) and big, big lawsuits.
Speaking of lawsuits, the way the movie is set up is that it switches from the current lawsuits, to how things happened in order -- specifically, in answer to the questions that the lawyers ask in the lawsuits. It's a nice, streamlined way to present the information in a more emotional, rollercoaster-type way that leaves you enthralled with the way things happened with the creation of Facebook, and how they unfold.
So, later that night after the movie, when I logged into Facebook, I sat there and thought about how this billion-dollar global networking site spurred from Zuckerberg being ticked off about a breakup, and I had to laugh. Maybe some breakups aren't so bad, after all.
Charlie Anderson is a "new" senior at NUAMES. She loves fall, French and random facts. Did you know elephants can't jump? E-mail her at charliesaurus@gmail.com.
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