The Social Network

Ever wonder about the power of an idea?  In the biggest blockbuster of the year to date, Inception asked the question, "Can you deceive someone into believing that an idea is truly their own?"  As a nice counterpoint, The Social Network expertly asks the question, "Can one person really claim ownership of something as fleeting as a simple idea?"  

The Social Network is, of course, the story of Facebook founder and gazillionaire, Mark Zuckerberg.  The movie traces Zuckerberg's roots from a nerdy Harvard undergrad to the heights of his fame and subsequent legal battles.  Zuckerberg is a acid-tongued sophomore at Harvard with a flair for computer wizardry when he meets the Winkelvas brothers.  The "Winkelvi", as Zuckerberg calls them, are everything he wishes he was: tall, attractive, succesful, athletic, capable of getting girls.  They also have an idea.  The brothers have an idea for a social networking site that is exclusive to Harvard students only.  They believe that exclusivity will set them apart from other already existing sites such as myspace and friendster.  The brothers hire Zuckerberg to write code for the site, but soon he's launching his own site, TheFacebook, based on much the same idea.  

Much of the drama in the movie is set in the deposition room as lawyers for several parties question the motives, knowledge and capabilities of each individual involved.  At the base is the question: "Whose idea was this?" 

If only it were that simple.  Social networking was nothing new when facebook was founded, several alternatives were already out there.  Facebook was just the next step in the evolution of networking.  Did the Winkelvas brothers have a claim to the idea that Zuckerberg actually put into operation?  Zuckerberg, in one of the best lines of the film, sneers during his deposition that "If the Winkelvas brothers invented facebook, they would have, well, invented facebook."  

So, perhaps that's it.  In this era of intellectual property where music, movies, money and so much more is passed electronically, maybe the only one with any rights to an idea or thought is the person who acts upon it and makes it his own.  

The acting is all top-notch, especially a turn from Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, the Napster founder, who manages to dazzle/weasel his way into Zuckerberg's inner circle.  The writing from Aaron Sorkin, of West Wing fame, is taut, as to be expected.  

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-  Stuart