Columbia Pictures has just released its first poster for this fall’s The Social Network, otherwise known as the Facebook movie. The poster features image of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, as portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg. Atop his face is the tagline, “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”
The Social Network, which will be in theaters this October, chronicles the early history of Facebook, from its humble beginnings in a Harvard dorm room through its early rise to mainstream domination. Written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, in many ways, the film seems even more timely now than it did a year ago.
When this project was originally announced, many were skeptical that the source material could provide for either a good story or anything of lasting cultural value. Let’s face it, two years ago, the idea was laughable. However, as anyone who has read either Accidental Billionaires (on which The Social Network is partially based) or The Facebook Effect can attest, the story about the founding of the company and its early days actually is interesting.
Beyond that, the cultural impact of Facebook into how we communicate, how we are marketed to and how we find out about and disperse the news is something that can no longer be passed off as a fad. The most recent round in the Facebook privacy debate only underscores just how important Facebook has become to millions and millions of people. And as the tagline says, you can’t serve 500 million users without rattling some cages.
