The Social Network is a movie not to miss By Nikky Raney

David Fincher's The Social Network can easily be labeled the movie of the year, because it shows how the 21-year-old evil genius Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, used his advanced abilities as a hacker to manipulate those around him in order to create the largest social networking site used by over 500 million users. Zuckerberg always seems to have an arrogant comeback for every remark thrown his way.

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Eisenberg plays the role of Zuckerberg brilliantly - the way he portrays the young Mark Zuckerberg is believable and matches up with the personality that Zuckerberg presently exhibits.

A huge part of why this is the movie of the year is, because it's more than just a movie. If this was a work of fiction then it may not have as big an impact - but this movie is based on the real story of how Zuckerberg did whatever he had to do, even if it meant betraying his closest friend, in order to make it to the top. The selfish Harvard student can easily be labeled as an arrogant jerk, but he is in fact the arrogant jerk who has created a site that millions of users spend hours of their day on.

The movie does not portray Zuckerberg as a likable character, which reflects on how he is viewed by many in reality. He shows that he will screw over whoever he has to to make his way to the top, and this is proven when he betrays his best friend who in turn ends up suing him.

It's quite intriguing to find out how Zuckerberg was able to create this empire - users are able to see how the site that they spend a majority of their time on came to be. It also gives an uneasy feeling that all the information on the site could at any point be accessed by Zuckerberg; the movie does not help Zuckerberg's case about the privacy issues that stirred up much controversy over the summer.

With Zuckerberg being so quick to screw over and break the trust of his best friend Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, why should users trust that he isn't hacking onto their accounts and taking account of their personal information?

While watching Justin Timberlake play the role of Napster's creator Sean Parker it's hard not to wonder what the real Sean Preston thinks of this depiction - especially since hew as fired from Facebook after being caught with cocaine, but the movie also shows him with underaged girls.

Parker is shown as cocky and delusional although playing a vital role in getting funding for Facebook - abandoning Saverin's ideas for advertising. Is this portrayal of Parker accurate - surely it will only be a matter of time until he speaks up.

It will be interesting to hear the feedback from the actual people who are depicted in the movie. It will definitely be worth while to find out what the real people have to say about the movie as a whole and how they feel they were represented.

When Zuckerberg was on Oprah he said that the movie was a piece of fiction, but the court cases, hacking, etc. are all too believable. Either way, the world's youngest billionaire will no doubt gain more traffic and the site will earn even more money and popularity due to the release of this film.

The Social Network deserves a five star rating and is a box office hit.

It would also be nice to know if Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who sued Zuckerberg for stealing the name and idea for Facebook, have their own Facebook accounts now.


Written by Nikky Raney
Journalist & Blogger