The Social Network: See it, then forget it.

Aaron Sorkin does not use Twitter. Aaron Sorkin does not have a flickr account. He doesn't use Foursquare, as far as I can tell. And unless you consider having a fan page being 'on Facebook' (and nobody on Facebook does), Aaron Sorkin is not on Facebook. That the writer of 'The Social Network' doesn't seem to engage in any social networks says all you need know about this film.


The movie is bright. The dialogue is 30's comedy fast, a style familiar to anyone who's ever watched Sorkin's other whip-smart love-child, "The West Wing". The film is structured around legal depositions, by the FB founder and those suing him for a piece of that multi-billion dollar pile. And what we see on screen is conflict over who owns the idea, what money gets you as an early investor, what being first can do for you in founding an online company, the social bump the founders get by starting a service that's 'cool'.


This really should be an interesting movie. And not only because of the considerable talent behind it -- it should be interesting because it is about social media, the most significant alteration in human interaction since television. Instead, we spend an entire movie watching preppies get steamed about how their run-of-the-mill dating-website idea gets implemented and expanded upon beyond their wildest imaginings without them, because they're too busy sculling.


This is not a movie about social media, and that's why it's a huge failure. Here, perhaps one of the smartest writers of politics and dialogue working in entertainment brought considerable skill to play to make an engaging drama regarding the events and conflicts surrounding FB's foundational year. But not once do we see an example of how Facebook works, about the changes it brings to individuals, and about the impact it can have -- is already having -- on American culture. The movie does not peer into the future, where everybody's past relationships are documented and recorded, where their peer groups are measured and quantified, where all are in contact with all about everything, all the time. The movie never asks the all-important double-rainbow question: What does it mean?


A movie about Facebook isn't about intellectual property battles, and that is all that this movie is about. A movie about Facebook is about what happens when 500 million people open up accounts, and interact socially online, daily, giving much personal information, being watched and read by a single company, having their relationships, arguments, break-ups, emotions, locations, sleep-time, aspirations, everything about their personal lives once formally private now made effectively public, archivable, searchable, quantifiable, exploitable.


Saying "The Social Network" is about Facebook, is like saying a movie about how Sylvannia was founded is about television. This movie is not about Facebook - at least, it's not about what's important about Facebook.


You can go see "The Social Network", and you'll enjoy it about as much as you enjoyed 'The Firm", if you saw that film. But if you're interested seeing a movie about Facebook, you're going to have to wait to see that movie; it hasn't been made yet. And once it does get made, this movie will fade into the historical mists -- pretty much like all those friendships of yours with people who aren't on Facebook.