Social Network, The (1/11/2011)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language.

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake

Directed by David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Fight Club, Se7en)

It’s amazing to me that the creator of the largest social networking website doesn’t have enough friends to fill up a Mini Cooper.

On a fall night in 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg sits down at his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication. A mere six years and 500 million friends later, Mark Zuckerberg is the youngest billionaire in history… but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.

Truthfully this is a beautifully tragic film. That seems to be David Fincher’s niche. Like Se7en and Fight Club, there are times when I was physically uncomfortable and wanted to look away…but couldn’t. But unlike those films, it wasn’t the violence that made me uncomfortable; it was the sheer selfishness of the main character. I mean he is so condescending (that means to talk down to people…I’m just kidding), so arrogant and such a self-absorbed tool that I actually thought about deleting my Facebook account (I didn’t…but I did think about it).

The film’s tag line is, “You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” That sums up the story of Mark Zuckerberg. Or better yet, maybe it’s Matthew 16:26 that sums up Mark Zuckerberg. You know that verse… And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Or your friends? Or your integrity? Or your honor? So yeah Mark has gained the whole world…or at least 500 million people and a few billion dollars…but he stepped on everyone he knew to get there.

The opening scene highlights Mark’s inability to communicate with his real live girlfriend, and throughout the film we see his desperate attempts to be accepted only to alienate and offended everyone around him. That is the irony of Facebook. While millions of people are “connecting” and/or “reconnecting” via Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg lacks the ability to maintain any sort of normal relationship.

Fincher and Sorkin needed an actor to play the unsympathetic antihero and Jesse Eisenberg is so good at being so unlikable. There wasn’t a single moment of him on screen that I didn’t want to choke the life out of him. Ok maybe that’s a bit harsh, but I really did not like him. Anytime an actor stirs up that much emotion…well let’s just say the Oscar goes to… The rest of the cast is pretty great too. Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake are prefect as his two “friends” on opposite ends of the right-and-wrong-spectrum.

I loved how the film takes place in deposition rooms and layered with flashbacks. Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay never makes a clear cut argument for who stole what from whom, but allows the viewer to be the juror. (by the way…he’s guilty as sin!) We’re also left wondering why Zuckerberg does some of the things he does. Was it passive-aggressive payback for petty differences? Is he really that socially awkward?

Although I don’t know those answers, I do know that The Social Network is definitely worth the price of admission. This modern morality tale about the rise of the world’s youngest billionaire is Theater Worthy for sure.


SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
The film is rated PG-13 for sexual content which includes and oral sex scene and college girls dancing and undressing. There is also drug and alcohol use and language.

But before you say no…let me encourage you to wait for the DVD and fast forward those scenes. This film is one object lesson after another. Greed, pride, friendship, loyalty and others are so clearly depicted that you can have some very valuable conversations with your teenagers. For example one of the best lines in the film is “The internet’s not written in pencil, Mark. It’s written in ink.” Our students are going up in the world where everything they say and do is “written in ink”. Someone is going to hear something you said and post it on their Facebook page or tweet it. Someone is going to take a picture or video of you doing something stupid and within seconds millions of people can view it. Take this opportunity to discuss the choices they are making.

Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):

Q: What’s the message/theme of this movie?

A: Greed really is the root of all evil.


Q: How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?

A: 1 Timothy 6:6-10 says, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”


Q: How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?

A: One thing we can do is to learn to be content with what we have. Have your student take an inventory of the many ways God has blessed them. And when they complain about not having the latest iPhone or game system, remind them of their list.