Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s invention slowly unravels as he gets tangled in multiple lawsuits in “The Social Network.”
Zuckerberg, fantastically portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg , begins by creating “facemash.com,” a website exclusively for Harvard University students to compare women’s attractiveness. The idea slowly evolves into what is now Facebook.
The movie predominantly focuses on Zuckerberg during the lawsuit, and consists mostly of flashbacks. It opens with Zuckerberg and then-girlfriend Erica Albright’s breakup, which sparks Zuckerberg’s seemingly mean-spirited first invention.
The idea behind “facemash.com” soon spirals out of control. The website receives so much traffic that the Harvard server crashes, getting Zuckerberg into trouble with school. Despite his outcast status, the Winklevoss twins, two very accomplished rowers both played by Armie Hammer, and their friend Divya Narandra, played by Max Minghella, approach Zuckerberg with an idea for a Harvard-exclusive social network, and ask him to create its code.
The three then attempt to contact Zuckerberg for several weeks afterwards, oblivious to Zuckerberg’s other plan to create his own social network, “The Facebook.”
While watching the movie, it’s truly amazing to think about how young the the website’s inventors are. Not one of the characters was older than 20 when Zuckerberg began the Internet phenomenon.
Though the idea of a Facebook was indisputably genius, “The Social Network” only illustrates the selfishness that comes from success at a young age. Zuckerberg, who resents his best friend for his invitation to Harvard’s most prestigious fraternity, claims the idea was completely his own and ignores everyone that helped him along the way.
Throughout, Zuckerberg is portrayed as the bad guy. But the end demonstrates that he really isn’t a bad guy — he’s just trying too hard to be one. This movie’s much more than the invention of Facebook; it’s an excellent representation of how desperation for recognition gets the best of people.
