The Social Network is one of the most critically acclaimed David Fincher movies. Yet, this dramatic depiction of the founding of Facebook and the conflicts surrounding it, based on the book “Accidental Billionaires,” is arguably an anomaly in classical narratives.
The Social Network is not your usual good versus evil story. While screenwriter Aaron Sorkin describes the lead characters, especially Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), as antiheroes, the character arcs feel a little more complex than that.
The film neither establishes a protagonist nor an antagonist. By acutely focusing on the founding of Facebook, both Fincher and Sorkin refuse to declare a hero. Instead, the unfortunate turn of events establishes the primary characters as shifting villains.
In this article, we’ll unveil how The Social Network ditches “heroes” to vividly explore “villains”.
Story and Theme
The Social Network follows the creation of Facebook, after a Harvard undergraduate, Mark Zuckerberg, creates a controversial site to distract himself from a somewhat nasty breakup. Although he is punished with academic probation after his website crashes Harvard’s network, the stunt catches the attention of three other Harvard students, who invite Zuckerberg to work with them on a more refined version of the idea. Zuckerberg realizes the potential in his idea, and instead approaches his friend to build their own site where people can digitally network, which we now know as Facebook.
The Social Network is a sharp commentary on ambition, exploring how more often than not, innovation and legacy can cost you your emotional security or isolate you from the world.
Analyzing How The Characters In The Social Network Are Simply Villains In Rotation
Throughout the narrative, The Social Network’s lead characters keep passing the “villain baton” to each other. If you analyze closely, nobody really did the right thing, or even if they did, they were far from doing it correctly. Let’s begin by analyzing Mark Zuckerberg’s depiction in the narrative.
Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) in ‘The Social Network’Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
Right from the beginning, the story establishes Zuckerberg as a genius without a heart. He is cold, arrogant, and snobbish, even to his girlfriend. The film opens with Zuckerberg getting dumped by his then-girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), after he passes a snide comment about her intelligence on their date. His comment becomes the last nail in the coffin of their relationship, which was already a disaster due to Zuckerberg’s constant emotional unavailability.
Fuming, Mark returns to his dorm and creates a website, Facemash, out of spite and ego, by hacking into Harvard’s database for the photos of female students. The site allowed site visitors to rate the women on the campus based on their looks. Quite naturally, a toxic website like Facemash becomes a hit overnight and crashes Harvard’s network. Zuckerberg is caught and punished with academic probation for six months.
But his stunt gets him an invite from two other Harvard twins and their business partner to build a dating website focused on Harvard students. The invite helps Zuckerberg realize the potential in his idea, and he sets out to build his own website with his friend Eduardo Saverin.
Zuckerberg does nothing right throughout the narrative, other than coming up with the seed idea of Facebook and building the website. Throughout the narrative, he acts impulsively, further aggravating people’s dissatisfaction. If you ask me, trash-talking about an ex on the internet and then creating a website like Facemash to degrade an ex and all of womanhood after a lousy breakup are in themselves questionable acts, or more precisely, outright acts of betrayal.
Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) in ‘The Social Network’Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
Fuelled by ambition, Zuckerberg goes on to betray multiple people, including his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), who was his biggest pillar of support through Facebook’s creation. Saverin was the seed investor of Facebook, presenting Zuckerberg with an opportunity to build the website. Zuckerberg also manipulates the other group, the Winklevoss Twins, Cameron and Tyler, and their business partner, Divya Narendra, as he keeps them hanging in the dark for an answer to their invitation for a professional collaboration, while actively working with Saverin on Thefacebook.
Ironically, despite being the creator of a global networking site, Zuckerberg is rendered isolated throughout the narrative. Honestly, at some points, it becomes really hard to keep liking Mark Zuckerberg!
Eduardo Saverin is also an equally complex character. While he isn’t outrightly in the wrong, or rather, arguably a victim of Zuckerberg’s impulsiveness, he never really sought meaningful conflict resolution when disputes began creeping in between him and Zuckerberg. Every time, Saverin chose an eye for an eye, further complicating the matter, which ultimately culminated in legal strife between the two over Facebook.
Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) in ‘The Social Network’Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) also contributes actively to the mess. He masterfully plays by the divide-and-rule strategy to cement his position in Facebook’s entrepreneurial landscape. His snide attempts to replace Saverin in Facebook become evident from his first scene, but Zuckerberg chooses to turn a blind eye in pursuit of success.
As the three continue to work against each other, instead of working together, every character becomes a villain in someone else’s story, from time to time, including the Winklevoss Twins and their business partner, who sue Zuckerberg later on, accusing him of stealing their idea.
The Cultural Impact
In addition to mirroring a larger shift in modern storytelling for an audience that is no longer perceived in black and white, The Social Network is a masterclass in narrative complexity with its morally ambiguous characters who are neither good nor bad; or rather, they’re equally good and bad. Much like our reality, The Social Network is not only a story of shifting morals but also a story of shifting perspectives.
Everyone has wronged everyone in this story, so who do you empathize with the most? Let us know in the comments.