Wednesday, October 1, 2014

My Favorite Scene: The Social Network

Every scene of David Fincher’s The Social Network is memorable for its own specific reasons. The Larry Summers sequence, for example, contains what I consider to be the best four consecutive minutes of writing that Aaron Sorkin has ever done. It also features Armie Hammer’s best acting in the film, and a delicious cameo from veteran hardass Douglas Urbanski. I’ve commonly regarded that scene as my favorite in the film, but after watching the entire movie last night, I realized that while that sequence contains great writing and strong acting, the Facemash scene is pure fucking cinema at its finest.

After being dumped for being a douche to his girlfriend, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) goes back to his dorm, opens up his LiveJournal blog, grabs a Brand X beer from the fridge, and gets to work. (Side note: It always baffles me when a studio as large as Columbia, and a director as revered as David Fincher, resorts to using nameless product brands in films. The way this beer is “used” in The Social Network is perfectly legal. What would the brand’s lawsuit stipulate, anyway? That their brand was defamed because the film showed that underage college kids drink their beer?).
Okay, sorry, back to the scene. Mark sits down (notice the stealthy “8:13 PM” timestamp as he slams his beer on the desk – love it), and lets it rip: “Erica Albright’s a bitch.” So begins his nasty tirade damning his recent ex. Jump cut to 9:48 PM and this poor bastard is still blogging about how much he hates Erica. He needs something to take his mind off her. Easy enough. He’s buzzed, pissed, motivated. He just needs an idea.

Mark’s roommate, Billy, comes home and gives Mark the idea of putting pictures of their dormmates next to farm animals, and have people vote on who’s hotter. Notice the ingenious sound design of his brief exchange. A weaker director would have Billy’s voice take over the soundtrack so that he could clearly describe his idea. Instead, we stay in Mark’s head, with Billy audibly drowned out by Mark’s own thought process (via Eisenberg’s narration).

Then... yeah, it’s on. The movie cuts to my favorite cue from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ Oscar-winning score, bumping the opening bars of “In Motion” while panning down the aisle of a bus. A bus filled with girls drunk and stoned, made-up and eager. What follows is one of the best, most exciting montages I’ve ever seen.
The film cuts between Mark hacking into dorm websites and writing code for the site that will soon become Facemash (which displays pictures of two different Harvard girls and asks users to vote who is hotter), and the first party of the fall semester at a Harvard frat house. We watch as young women are herded into the frat house like cattle, their chests raised and their expectations met. Mark hacks, a girl swallows a tab of ecstasy. More hacking, more stripping. 

Now, perhaps the most obvious pleasure of this sequence is how Fincher, Sorkin, Eisenberg and editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall (who also won Oscars for their work here) are able to make a hacking session so goddamn entertaining. I don’t have the slightest clue what Mark is talking about during this sequence, but I always watch in transfixed amazement. Again, this is pure cinema.

The sequence goes on for minutes, eventually changing tracks and introducing a new key player, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), who gives Mark the algorithm that allows Facemash to function properly. The montage kicks back in: cutting between the sloppy party, to Harvard students using Facemash, to Mark and Co. watching the Facemash traffic in real time.
By far my favorite shot from this sequence - the lighting, the way the girl timidly covers herself. Its perfect.
Admittedly, I’ve always viewed this scene in a sensory manner. Because it looks and sounds so good, my brain goes into sensory overload. Adrenaline pumps, my jaw drops, I smile. It wasn’t until scrutinizing the scene for this post that I found a new meaning in the sequence. Sure, there’s the obvious parallel that Mark is creating something meant to mock the very people who attend the kind of frat party we’re watching, but I feel it’s deeper than that. Fincher is asking the audience to sit in judgment of these characters, but because Fincher is such a non-judgmental director, this presents a strange dichotomy for us. A judgmental director would, perhaps, show a girl at the party being date raped, thereby creating obvious villains of the frat boys. Or, similarly, show Mark and his friends cheering and howling at his nasty remarks about Erica.  But Fincher doesn’t make it easy for us to love or hate anyone in this sequence. Instead, we’re subtly asked to choose which situation is worse (or better...). And while I don’t think the creation of Facemash is an inherently evil act (though Mark’s blog comments about Erica certainly are), I do think Mark deserves to be reprimanded for it. But what’s worse: the creation of a site that asks people to judge women based on looks (a business model that thousands of current websites are based off of), or a frat party in which women are encouraged to disrobe and feed on free booze and drugs, all with the understanding that the more they participate, the more they are “in”?

Me? Hell, I don’t have an answer, and I’m not sure Fincher does either. He just has a lens. Which is entirely the point.


23 comments:

  1. Great post! This is one of my favorite scenes in the film too. The first 20 minutes as a whole, really. The break up scene, this scene, and how it cuts to those guys teasing Erica in her dorm room. This is damn good film making. A scene like this could've easily been a boring montage and they made it so much more.

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    1. Thanks! EXACTLY, the whole damn thing is so thrilling. And it's things that we've all seen dozens of times - break ups, people on the computer, parties... but Fincher and Co. make is so thrilling. I love it.

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  2. Honestly, I seriously cannot pick a favourite scene from this film. It is just such a masterclass in directing, acting, editing, writing, score and everything else. It's fucking perfect. My favourite David Fincher film after Se7en. How he and this film lost to The King's Speech is beyond me. Here's hoping that Gone Girl will be fantastic too! (Oh, who am I kidding? It's a David Fincher film, of course it will be fantastic).

    Amazing post as usual!

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    1. Thanks Aditya! I still can't believe this lost to The King's Speech either. Well, no, that's a lie... I can. I assumed The King's Speech would win Best Picture because it's such a cheesy Oscar-bait movie, but I was really stunned that Hooper beat Fincher. That honestly makes no sense to me, but, you know, oh well.

      So excited for Gone Girl!

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  3. My love for The Social Network knows no bounds! I've never written about the film, because the emotions it sets off in me cannot be put into words, but it is probably my favorite film ever. I've probably seen it 50-60 times, if I had to guess. It gets better with age!

    Of course, you know of my love for Aaron Sorkin (to whom I give much of my Social Network praise), but the music and the directing are similarly amazing to me, particularly in scenes such as these.

    I can't really pick a favorite, but this one is certainly toward the top, along with the rowing scene at the Henley Regatta, the chicken scene, and the opening credits (which feature my favorite score of all time... Hand Covers Bruise). But, I must say that my interpretation of the scene is almost identical to yours. It shows the parallels of evil and, at the same time, brings the two evils together, showing the frat guys on the site, as well. The initiation of social networking has begun!

    I could talk about this film forever!

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    1. Yes sir, I know how much you love this one! So it really pleases me that you agree with my assessment of this scene. Really glad we're on board here. I love how you said the scene brings the two evils together. So, so true.

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  4. That is a fantastic scene, what happens in it is hugely offensive but the scene is done so well, so swiftly and is so energetic you don't even have the time to process this. Is this the one containing the shot of Mara after some guys in her dorm read the comments? The look on her face is my single favorite shot of the movie. My fav montage though is the one where the e-mails in which Mark deceived and led on the twins are read during deposition. The music is just insane in that one.

    When are you seeing Gone Girl? I'm dying to read your thoughts on this one.

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    1. Seeing it tomorrow - can't WAIT! And that shot you mentioned of Mara in The Social Network... I'll definitely be expanding on that tomorrow on my site. That's easily my favorite shot in the film as well. It's so sad. Made me fall in love with her as a performer.

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    2. Oh man I cannot wait to read what you thought of it. Having heard a lot about the movie and read the book there is one montage there which I suspect may become my fav scene in his films, it sounded like it's gonna be wonderfully adapted when I was reading the script.

      That quick moment of Mara was just amazing, it's astonishing how much she did with what was about 4-second long shot? So memorable.

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    3. SO memorable. I love her in that film.

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  5. I was such a huge fan of this movie, that I think I saw it three times in theaters when it was released. I love how you explained this, because I think you got what Fincher was hoping his viewers would get: and that's a viewpoint, opened to questioning and drawing your own conclusion. I'm not sure which is worse either, although it's obvious that we're arriving at a thought that begs the question - which is worse, with irony added in. Great post, Alex!

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    1. Thanks Kirstin! Yep, we totally agree on this scene, so I'm happy you dig my interpretation of it. I love everything about this movie as well!

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  6. That is a great moment in the film as I also heard that Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher had different ideas for the music in the opening credits before eventually deciding on the Reznor/Ross score. Sorkin wanted this very cheesy cover of Love of the Common People sung by Paul Young while Reznor did reveal that Fincher wanted Elvis Costello & the Attractions' Beyond Belief which I think was a better choice but I'm glad they went with the score.

    It's among the reasons why it's my favorite Fincher film as I will see Gone Girl this weekend.

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    1. I heard that story too, and then they heard the score and they're like, "Oh... fuck." No way you can top "Hand Covers Bruise." So, so good. So pumped for Gone Girl.

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    2. Oh, I should note for anyone interested about the history of popular music. On that night Paul Young performed that song on Top of the Pops, the Smiths made their very first British TV appearance and thus, history was made.

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  7. I LOVE this scene. The movie literally starts with two big scenes of Mark being a total fucking asshole but god, it totally entices you in. That's the magic of Fincher. He just makes everything look so good. I remember talking to one of the computer guys at my school and them raving about the "hacking" part and I honestly don't think any of that even registered for me because it just looked and sounded fantastic. I find this scene very funny as well.
    I still haven't forgiven the Oscars for giving Hooper that Oscar. Like I know Fincher will continue to make brilliant films but I don't know if any will be as deserving of the Best Director Oscar as TSN was.

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    1. It's definitely a refined skill to be able to make an asshole so damn enticing. That's Fincher, Sorkin and Eisenberg working in perfect harmony. Love it.

      I agree, Fincher will definitely continue to make great movies, but I'll be surprised if he makes a film as commercially viable as The Social Network anytime soon. I could eat my words tomorrow, once I've seen Gone Girl. Who knows, maybe the Academy will try to make up for their Social Network screw up and nominate the hell out of Gone Girl.

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  8. Great post Alex. Love that scene, because it's so well paced, fast, yet pretty long. Mark's voice overs, explaining what's he doing next, is perfectly edited. But honestly, The Social Network is full of such amazing moments. It turns out, the more I watch TSN, the more I "understand" every part of it, making me sure that The King's Speech [no matter how much I love that one too] was not that deserving winner.

    But after all, it seems you need to see TSN many times to really enjoy.

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    1. Thanks Nika! Yeah, every time I watch The Social Network, I grow to like it more. It's so damn well paced and ingeniously written, that we can't dare to take our eyes off it. I'll never agree with the Academy's decision to award The King's Speech so highly over The Social Network.

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  9. The Social Network is a great example of why you should never count out a movie just for its subject matter, especially if a great director is involved. Who knew a movie about Facebook would be this awesome? This scene is so stylish and it perfectly introduces us to Zuckerberg's character. The style and music is is all icing on the cake. This is definitely one of the better "mundane things made exciting" scenes out there. Well done, man - great write up.

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    1. Damn, I guess I missed this comment last month - my bad! Thanks so much for the comment Robert. So happy to hear that you love this scene as well. Shit just zips on by,

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  10. Yeah, this scene is one of the best in the film, for sure. I still wish the second half of the film was as tight as the first, but Fincher does a fantastic job as a director.

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    1. I definitely prefer the first half of the movie as well, because that pacing is so nuts. Still a very good film here.

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