I hate that it took me 7 weeks to experience “The Social Network”

I guess it would be apropos that I would be at the end of the sloped curve of persons experiencing this movie. I just opened a facebook account this summer, which puts me about 5 years behind that curve as well.

Intellectually there is no solid reason why I waited so long. I saw the trailer in August and loved it. While on the computer that same night I researched the movie and found that one of my favorite writers, Aaron Sorkin, penned the screenplay adaptation from Ben Mezrich book entitled “ The Accidental Billionaires.” So there is no logical reason why it took so long.

An aside, Aaron Sorkin is a brilliant writer. If you’re unaware, he was the creator of “The West Wing” which ran on NBC from 1999-2006. This show is amazing and really gives you an inside look at how political sausage is made on a daily basis. There are 156 episode of classic TV out there just waiting for you. If you haven’t had a chance to experience this show I highly recommend it.

My favorite episode is entitled “Two Cathedrals”. The writing is stellar and the story culminates with the President asking to be left along in the National Cathedral where he questions aloud; life, randomness, death, and the existence of God (in English, and Latin), as he grapples with the senseless death of his close friend and personal secretary Mrs. Landingham.

Sorkin also created “Sports Night” a behind the scenes ESPN style show, and “Studio 60” a dramatic behind the scenes Saturday Night Live style show, both have a cult following but never approached mainstream popularity. These shows are superb and worth a look.

OKAY, getting back to the point here. The Social Network opens in a bar with Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook Founder), and his girlfriend Erica Albright (Muse). They are having a typical conversation that suddenly turns ugly when a shortcoming of Zuckerberg’s is exposed. Feeling threatened he falls back on the one thing that gives him supreme confidence, his superior intellect.

The conversation becomes sharp and frenetic, and evolves into basically a verbal shoot-out at the OK Coral where Albright is carrying a six-shooter, and Zuckerberg an AK-47. This conversation is beautiful because it gives us distinct insight into a genius mind; how it processes words, how it identifies queues, how it interprets syntax, how it parcels context, and unfortunately how it misses humanity.

The six-shooter surrenders and decides to end the relationship with Zuckerberg, which sends him into a dark fertile place where he conceives the facebook idea, as an act of revenge and therapy all at once.

All in all very cool flick. I wish I had seen it when it first came out so I could have had 7 extra weeks with it. Finally….

The story of the movie is told through a narrative of the 2 lawsuits that Zuckerberg is a defendant in. This movie is not for the intellectually squeamish. In fact, at odds, for most of the films is ownership of intellectual property. WHO OWNS IDEAS?
Very interesting concept!