It’s not a horror movie. It’s not a psychological thriller. But from watching the trailers you might think it is. The undercurrent of dark, foreboding tension rises up like the heat and smoke from a fire that’s about to consume you. Let’s just say you’ll know where to find me on October 1st, when “The Social Network” is released.
The Social Network is a new movie, directed by David Fincher, (Se7en, Fight Club, and the Oscar nominated The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) based on the non-fiction bestseller “The Accidental Billionaires” written by Ben Mezrich. The story follows the rise of Facebook from Mark Zuckerberg’s (played in the movie by Jesse Eisenberg) Harvard dorm room to Silicon Valley in 2003. There, Zuckerberg meets Sean Parker, a young, wealthy entrepreneur (played by Justin Timberlake). And that’s when the story blossoms in a way that would warm Gordon Gecko’s heart with greed, deceit, fraud, bulging bank accounts — and, if you read what was leaked to London’s The Times newspaper, a bit of ruthless sex maniac thrust in just for spicy goodness.
Will this have any impact on Zuckerberg’s reputation? I don’t think anyone can say for sure. We’re a pretty forgiving (forgetful) bunch of people. The massive sting of Facebook’s privacy debacle already seems to be largely fading. Others still are claiming “Facebook fatigue” though it seems that isn’t stopping most people from checking their feed every day. Today, Facebook reports over 400 million users (making it the 3rd most populated country in the world after China and India — if it were a country).