The Social Network

The Facebook Movie

So the other day, the Writing Wars team got together and went to see The Social Network – the recent “facebook” movie. We all went in with different expectations but came out in absolute awe.

Personally, I am not a big fan of non-fiction and am somewhat prejudiced towards them. I was prejudiced towards the Network as well. But David Fincher had me pleasantly surprised.

And how? The Social Network has everything “bad” you would expect in non-fiction. It’s completely deprived of special effects, any kind of “cool” action, and it’s painfully restricted to “telling a story”

Also, you don’t really see anything you won’t see in life anyway (ex: no elves, no bank robberies, etc)

No Elves? Impossible

So, how is The Social Network successful? I’ll tell you. The Social Network has excelled at every aspect it could at – the acting, the directing, the choice of cast, and even the script, unoriginal though it was, has left me very happy.

The actors do a terrific job at delivering their parts, Jesse Eisenberg in the lead and Andrew Garfield in the role of Eduardo Saverin.

The idea itself is very smart; almost all teens in North America have facebook accounts and therefore would be drawn to anything facebook-related.

And drawn they were. I mean, $23 million in its first weekend? For a non-fiction, that’s huge!

And even though the plot is based on a true story, it was dramatized for effect and rightly so. The key thing that Social Network has that most non-fiction movies don’t is: fun.

The Social Network is made for entertainment, not for education, and that’s what makes it awesome.


Of course, like anything out there, the movie also has flaws. And they struck me pretty hard.

Minor Nuisances

First of all, some parts of the movie are just plain annoying. Those were the times when I would sit there, listen to dialogue, and be like “man, where is the action? Why is there NOTHING HAPPENING?”

I would also comment on the overall “dramatization” of the script. Like I said before, the movie doesn't have a “this is out-of-this-world” feeling, which is normal for non-fiction. But, some parts of the script leave you thinking “ok, this did NOT happen like that!”

So, there’s kind of a gap between realism and unrealism, which is not good.

But overall, this film is a masterpiece. So, go my readers, spend the $11.75, and watch the Social Network. You have my personal word that it’ll be worth it. And if not – write me in the comments, write about what you thought of the movie, and we can discuss the aspects.

Peace out

Will Rock