This week I started my studies at the Mizzou School of Journalism. Saying it was a huge change in environment and lifestyle would be a vast understatement. However, in this new setting, I walk by hundreds of people each day who know nothing about me and, frankly, wouldn’t remember my face alongside everyone they glance at. This feeling of being an unremarkable fish in a sea of diligent students sparked an ambition that drives me to try to become some sort of well-known alumnus. My wildest dreams insist that my journalistic endeavors could make me a campus celebrity, not unlike Mark Zuckerberg’s notoriety at Harvard. And while I know it is an extreme long shot, this ambition forces me to connect, push, and stay productive.
But to be honest, it feels wrong to want to be like Zuckerberg. Most of his notoriety was also infamy because of his insensitive actions. The irony of my fascination with Zuckerberg’s rise is great because my family actually has a lot of animosity towards Facebook, or Meta as they call it now. One of my parents is in the used-car selling business, which is heavily reliant on Facebook Marketplace. Unfortunately, Marketplace has a very inconsistent and ineffective algorithm that will punish or shadow-ban you for the most minuscule reasons. This has caused my family a tremendous amount of stress and a feeling that their car business could easily fall flat because of the platform. This causes me to see him in a bad light. I’m not the kind of person who contributes to conspiracies about him being a lizard, but I do not think he is the most ethical current businessman.
Yet, my fixation on the notorious CEO is not because of his current ventures or status; it stems entirely from one of my favorite films: Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network. I believe that this movie has the best script of all time and is truly a masterclass in storytelling. It is a film that showcases the fiery ambitions that I currently possess, but also serves as a cautionary tale of the results of an ego that can drive you into loneliness. Wanting to stand out and make a name for yourself is a powerful and relatable motivation that can be sparked by something as unrelated as a bitter breakup, and Sorkin’s character study perfectly reflects that.
Conception
Aaron Sorkin is a legendary screenwriter and playwright known for his fast-paced and witty dialogue. He crafted this film as a loose adaptation of the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, though, bizarrely enough, the book and screenplay were being written at the same time, with Mezrich occasionally meeting up with Sorkin just to exchange notes. Instead of relying purely on the book, Sorkin built the backbone of his script almost entirely on the actual testimonies made in Zuckerberg’s legal depositions, the same deposition rooms that are present in the film.
“With ‘The Social Network,’ I got into it at first because frankly I thought there was a cool courtroom drama to be had with the intellectual properties. And then what further drew me in was that the most extraordinary social networking device ever created was created by the world’s most antisocial person. I liked that story.”
— Aaron Sorkin
Biopics
Sorkin’s choice to weaponise the biopic structure changed the game for modern cinema. It proved that a film about a famous person’s life could not only be marketable but also full of storytelling and thematic potential if you are ruthless with the depiction. Unfortunately, the current state of biopics is extremely stale but absurdly successful. For example, the 2026 movie Michael is a lazy telling of Michael Jackson’s life created in collaboration with the Jackson family estate. Therefore, the movie is whitewashed and seems to avoid portraying the historic singer in anything but a miraculous light. It is essentially a compilation of music videos made for simple-minded fans to open their wallets and enjoy watching their favorite songs performed on the big screen, and by all means, it worked and took over the box office with mediocre critical reception.
Ultimately, biopics will probably never be as extraordinary as The Social Network, simply because it doesn’t pull its punches. Mark Zuckerberg had nothing to do with the production of this movie, and if we are being honest, it paints him as an antagonist. It shows you his flawed nature at the beginning of the plot and how this evolves into borderline apathy. And yet it all feels real as they give it to you. You see betrayal, mistakes, and the descent into loneliness, and you question if you should sympathize with this character. It never paints Mark as this genius hero; it tells you how he became the horseman of the dangerous online society we live in now.
Production
This film was originally going to be Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, but eventually David Fincher took over the role after some discussion. David Fincher is a famous director who made classics like Fight Club. With his great understanding of tightly woven filmmaking and psychological intensity, Sorkin and Fincher became a marvelous duo that I hope we see again. The role of Mark Zuckerberg fell into the hands of Jesse Eisenberg, an incredible actor who defined this movie. This would become his most well-known role by a landslide because of his unique and brilliant performance.
Andrew Garfield plays Eduardo Saverin, Mark’s best friend, whom he cheated out of the company, and he is another character perfectly cast and performed, showcasing genuineness and rage at its peak. And finally, the famous singer Justin Timberlake is in this movie as the notorious Sean Parker, the entrepreneur who joined Facebook and manipulated Mark. You wouldn’t think Timberlake would be the best pick in this serious movie, but his performance is very charming, and he is very unlikable when the story needs him to be.
Let’s dive into the scenes that make this little movie about Facebook a masterpiece.
Opening
Somehow, this film manages to have one of the most effective openings of any movie I’ve seen. It starts in a bar where Mark and his girlfriend, Erica Albright, are having a playful conversation that rapidly becomes uncomfortable and intense due to them accidentally insulting each other. This scene shows off the incredible dialogue that is extremely fast, intelligent, and layered as the conversation develops multiple misunderstandings and confusions, as if they are having three separate conversations at the same time.
It sets up Mark’s major flaw: he is easily offended when his intelligence or potential feels challenged, causing him to lash out with rude remarks and fuel his ambition to succeed. With this, Sorkin establishes him as a deeply unlikable protagonist. Yet, when Erica decides to break up with him, we see Mark get very upset and desperate to keep her, setting aside his ego. The scene manages to show you all the poor qualities of Mark but gives you a glimpse into his soft human side.
The film then transitions to a very artistic and well-shot scene of Mark jogging back to his dorm on the Harvard campus sidewalk. A simple premise for a scene, but a powerful one. The track, Hand Covers Bruise, a memorable tune from the original soundtrack, plays as he runs, which suggests that his mind is racing in anger, sparking ideas on how to make a name for himself, and distracting him from the breakup.
Controversy
From there, the plot starts racing. He immediately begins an immoral project where he creates a website that compares Harvard women to each other based on looks. Fincher intercuts Mark’s feverish coding with scenes of local fraternities and students gleefully flooding the site, exposing an uncomfortable truth: Mark’s ruthlessness isn’t an anomaly, but a reflection of the very culture around him. The site crashes Harvard’s network and permanently taints Mark’s reputation on campus, an infamy that shapes his defensive, chip-on-his-shoulder choices for the rest of the story.
We cut to a legal deposition set in the present, where we learn that this story is being narrated through testimony. This is genius because it leaves open the idea that the stories being told aren’t exactly true and were exaggerated to make Mark look bad and win a lawsuit, therefore making it an unreliable narrator. Also, the way Mark acts in this legal setting is fascinating because he is fuming with anger and acts as if he doesn’t take it seriously by dishing out witty remarks, even though it clearly matters to him.
Facebook’s Creation
Anyways, Mark’s reputation from his website attracts the attention of the Winklevoss twins, two rich frat athletes, who think they are entitled to make a cool college social network, essentially a fraternity online. However, when they pitch this idea to get Mark’s expertise in coding, they undermine him and pretty much insult him by saying that this will “help rehabilitate his image,” to which Mark responds, “You’d do that for me?” In that single line, the entire trajectory of modern tech history changes. Spurred by wounded pride, Mark decides to string the twins along, systematically stalling their project while secretly building his own far superior platform: The Facebook. What started as a vague idea pitched by two privileged athletes becomes the fuel for Mark to build an empire, transforming him from a campus outcast into the global tech titan he is today.
The Winklevoss twins are easily one of the most satisfying elements of the entire film, precisely because Sorkin writes their downfall with such glorious irony. He portrays Cameron and Tyler as the ultimate old-money athletes; the cinematic equivalent of high school jocks who expect the world to stop and center around them the moment something doesn’t go their way. They parade around claiming Facebook was their idea, despite lacking a fraction of the technical intellect required to build it. The twins even visit the dean of Harvard to try to get him to help them, but the dean basically laughs in their face and calls them spoiled. While the twins walk away at the end of the film with a $65 million settlement, Sorkin ensures it feels like a completely hollow, dishonorable victory carried by their rich father.
This Act 1 on its own is brilliant, but the story peaks when covering Mark’s descent and betrayal in Act 3.
Betrayal
Eduardo Saverin was Mark’s only true friend who even stood with him through his morally ambiguous moments. He co-founded Facebook with him and, in the beginning, funded all of it. However, as the business grew, Eduardo seemed to be forcefully distanced from the company. When they attracted angel investors, Mark had Eduardo sign a contract that allowed his share of the company to be diluted for more investors. What Eduardo didn’t know was that Mark was going to dilute Eduardo’s original 30% to 0.03%. For what seemed to be a malicious and cruel scheme to get Saverin out of the company, we still do not know the reason Mark decided to betray his best friend.
The movie heavily implies that it was because of Sean Parker’s manipulation into thinking that Eduardo wasn’t bringing any value to the company and was too impulsive and rash to be an owner. Sorkin also makes you think that maybe it was because of jealousy. Eduardo got into a final club (which is Harvard’s version of fraternities), and Mark didn’t. Maybe this made Mark feel lesser, and he did this evil act to show his power over Eduardo. Either way, this is the greatest showcase of Mark’s antagonistic nature. He is so obsessed with rising and claiming what he thinks is his that he screws over his only friend. By the end of the movie, he is alone, sitting in a puddle of his mistakes and guilt, and accepts that he should try to be a better person.
Ending
This film’s ending reveals his true motivation. After the multiple lawsuits that he is forced to settle, he starts a conversation with a woman who is a lawyer at the deposition. He asks her if she wants to get dinner with him, and she rejects him. We then see a vulnerable side similar to when he was first broken up with. He says, “I’m not a bad guy.” She responds, “I know… You’re just trying so hard to be.” This gives you the final piece of the puzzle of Mark’s character. He has been using his ego as armor to protect him from rejection, as he experienced with Erica. Everything he did, every accomplishment throughout the story, every backstab, has been his peculiar way of recovering from this breakup. And in the last shot, he gives in and searches Erica’s name on Facebook, sending her a friend request and refreshing the page again and again in total isolation.
Sequel?
The Social Network is a brilliant movie that will be a classic for centuries and is a great stand-alone film. However, to my excitement, there is a sequel titled The Social Reckoning coming in October this year. It is written by Aaron Sorkin again, and this time he is also directing it, which will be interesting to see. Unfortunately, Jesse Eisenberg is not returning to his signature role; instead, Jeremy Strong will be playing Mark Zuckerberg in his older, more recent years. Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White will be stars in it as well. I believe this will be a great film and a standout movie in a year packed with great ones already. I watched the trailer, and Jeremy Strong perfectly encapsulates a lifelike Mark Zuckerberg, combined with Eisenberg’s portrayal as well.
I am looking forward to this movie, and I will write a review about it as soon as I get to watch it. It will be interesting to see if Aaron Sorkin can create a sequel that holds up to a perfect movie like The Social Network. As soon as the movie releases in theaters, you should be like Mark in the final moments of that masterpiece; keep refreshing my page so you can read my review!
Final Count: 9.8/10
Written by James Michael Counts
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