The Social Network (Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Check My Facebook)

The Social Network is intense, fascinating, and one of the best films of the year. It's always about this time of year that I start putting together my list of top 10 films. Which ones I liked, versus which ones I really liked, and which ones I was indifferent towards. This one is easily in my top five. Nay, my top three. I personally never would have guessed that a movie about the creation of Facebook would be all of these things.
Part of why The Social Network is so fascinating, is because of how culturally relevant it is. I mean, you gotta wonder how many people were on Facebook while watching a movie about it. If that's not art, then I don't know what art is. You could even make the argument that this film is the defining movie of the decade. Again, because of how integral Facebook has become to our society. If it were to shut down for a week, I'd worry that our society was on the brink of Apocalyptic collapse.
This movie is also a testament to American Capitalism. Literally anyone, even nerds who spend their Friday nights typing lines of code on the internet, have the potential to become billionaires. The fascinating thing to me about this movie was its "who-stole-what-from-whom bickering. It attempts to paint Mark Zuckerberg as this evil-genius douchebag. Maybe he is. But there's no way he could have known from the beginning how big of a monster Facebook would become. If he was planning to screw all of his friends over from the start, as the movie suggests, I think that points to a very dark side of his character. That means he didn't do it for the money, he did it because Facebook was his, and no one would get in his way.
The Social Network is the best film director David Fincher has done since Fight Club. It doesn't hurt that he's backed by writer Aaron "The West Wing" Sorkin. The cast is also amazing. All the actors here bring their A game. Yes, all of them, even Justin Timberlake. Not only that, but it's a little freaky how much the trio of actors look like their real life counterparts.
As much as I said this film is a testament to American Capitalism, which celebrates that drive of the human spirit to succeed at all costs, I really hope a lot of people don't walk away from this movie thinking "Man, I really want to be that guy." It's possibly dramatic irony, but it's at least interesting to think that Zuckerberg, who created a network where friends could stay in touch with one another, seems to have few himself in the end.