The movie is based on the story of the humble beg innings of the social network, Facebook and how the face behind it, Mark Zuckerberg became the billionaire that he is today. The story tells of how Mark Zuckerberg started the social net work following a break up with his girlfriend. The events that follow the breakup were the most defining ones. That same evening, mark gets drunk and decides to come up with a website through which students can rank female students. The website is known as “TheMash.” This website does get him in trouble with the school administration when traffic to it brings the school server down.
Not all is bad when he is suspended from school because he does gain recognition and respect from a number of companies for his expertise. He gets an offer to work with the Winklevoss twins to work as a programmer. It is from here that Mark comes up with the idea of coming up with a social network that would only be accessible to Harvard University students. Together with his friend, Eduardo Saverin hit the ground running with Eduardo providing the necessary funds. The social site is known as “TheFacebook.” With time, its popularity grows and it is soon serving a number of universities.
The defining moment for the future of the website comes when Christy, Eduardo’s girlfriend introduces the pair to Sean. He helps in the rebranding of the social site to “Facebook” and nurtures the idea of the growth of the website to other continents. With time, the social site grew to be the most popular social site in the World with over 500 million subscribers and Mark becoming the youngest billionaire ever.
The story of the growth of Facebook to a World giant is not without its difficulties. Mark faced lawsuits in 2008 from both the Winklevoss twins and Eduardo. The Winklevoss twins were suing Mark for stealing their idea while Eduardo for being usurped of the power and his share in the company. Mark in the end opts to settle with Eduardo outside the court. The movie itself is an eye opener and as well as quenching the thirst of most people who may be curious on how the phenomena that now is Facebook came about.
In terms of en-mise-scene, the movie does gradually let the characters grow in status. The mise en scene is emotional throughout the film thus allowing viewers to be part of the film. From the beginning, you can actually tell of the conditions, as Mark and his girlfriend are seen drinking cheap liquor. The character portrayed by Mark is that of desperation leading the entire audience to pity him. However, as time goes by, we can see Mark growing in confidence as the website takes off. Even I the courtroom scene, you can easily tell of the difference in demeanor as he now has grown in confidence over time. In his time through the ordeal of being damped by his girlfriend to the present where he sits in a court, the scenes are brilliantly interchanged to create the right mood and setting.
The character of Mark is played by Jesse Eisenberg who not only has the rugged but nerdish look to go with the role. He perfectly portrays the life of Mark through college. Being the main character, he had to be perfect if the film was to be a success, which he did brilliantly. The other characters also do play their roles brilliantly to build the story. The characters are able to adapt to their various roles over time.
The movie is directed by David Fincher who has done brilliantly to maintain the story line along with giving each character the freedom to play their roles to perfection. The director has kept everything simple from begging to the end. This has helped in setting the mood and tone off the movie.
To be honest I was not very impressed with the storyline as it is an all too common one; a nerdy student gets dumped by a girlfriend but he manages to get back up from the setback becoming hugely successful. However, I was greatly impressed with how the characters are build within the story.
Works cited
The Social Network. dr. David Fincher. Perf. Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Armie Hammer and Josh Pence. Columbia Pictures, 2010. Film.
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