The Social Network

I recently saw The Social Network. At first I was resistant to seeing it for reasons I can't quite articulate. Perhaps I resisted because I have mixed feelings about facebook. Part of me thinks it's a great way to keep in touch, while the other part thinks that there are better things to do with my time and that friending people I barely see or have little connection to is silly. Regardless, I saw the movie to view the artistic elements in the anticipation of seeing three different points of view (at least that's what the media advertised). Usually when I think I'll see various points of view, I anticipate that I'll feel sympathy for each point. That didn't turn out to be the case. In the movie, we are introduced to a highly intelligent but socially inept and bitter Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). The movie goes on to show how the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer) argue that Zuckerberg stole their idea. We also see how Zuckerberg betrays his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). Eisenberg did a great job of demonstrating a glimmer of regret for Zuckerberg's character, but I'm not sure that quite redeems his actions. In "Influencing People," David Denby writes that " Mark Zuckerberg, as interpreted by this film, comes off as a binary personality," which he claims will cause viewers to have differing reactions to Zuckerberg in the film. I haven't come across many who have seen the film and am curious to hear their views.

I'm also stuck on trying to figure out the accuracy of the film and whether or not the accuracy even matters for a film. A film, afterall, is a work of art and not necessarily a biography. Zuckerberg has stated that the movie gets the small details right (for example his clothes) but the reasoning for creating facebook wrong (he claims to have been dating the same girl since before facebook). It will be interesting to see how or even if the film will affect viewers' use of facebook.