What Makes 'The Social Network' So Captivating?
Writing Secrets: Character Development and Its Impact on the Story
The Social Network is undoubtedly one of the best movies of the last decade. Although the film falls into the drama genre, the writing made it feel like an action/thriller. So, I invested quite some time to understand the process behind the screenplay and what made the narrative engaging. Let me break it down for you.
What If…?
“What if… the world’s most successful social network created by the world’s most anti-social person?”
The Social Network is based on Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires. That’s a clear title and gives an idea of the story, so why does the film have a generalized title—The Social Network?
For a long time, I kept asking this one question: Why is the movie titled “The Social Network” and why not “The Facebook” or anything specific?
I think it’s because the concept is not about “how” Mark built Facebook, what code he used, or who helped him. The concept is about “why” Mark built Facebook. And that question leads to the next important thing in any story—The Character.
Character Comes First
A compelling character completes any good story. Without a compelling character, the story would be just a series of events combined as a whole — because the character is what holds everything together.
The character can be a person, animal, or even a city, but a character is evident for any effective storytelling. How does The Social Network portray its main character?
“It all boils down to intention and obstacles. Somebody wants something. Something standing in their way of getting it.” — Aaron Sorkin
It’s essential to know who your main character is, what they want, and what’s in their way. There are many ways to approach the main character’s goal; I find Aaron Sorkin’s technique effective and simple.
What’s the Intention and Obstacle?
The intention is what the character wants in the story, their particular goal. The obstacles are a person or people or things or events that prevent the character from achieving the goal.
There are many variations of obstacles, but to better understand, I categorize them into two types:
1. Internal Obstacle
An internal obstacle originates within the character, such as a weakness, and the character must overcome the internal obstacle to achieve their goal.
2. External Obstacle
The external forces that stop the character from achieving their goal.
If the writer has a clear vision of the main character’s intention and obstacle, the scenes and sequence will flow naturally, but it requires lots of patience and time.
What is Mark Zuckerberg’s Intention?
In the script, Aaron Sorkin introduces Mark as:
In the opening scene, Mark reveals his intention:
Mark underlines the fact that he wants to get into a final club, and another name for the final club is a social club —A Social Network.
As we all do, Mark intended to be part of a better social network. The moment he failed to be part of the social network he wanted, Mark built his own “Virtual Social Network”—Facebook.
Intention: Mark wants to be Part of a Better Social Network.
This is also why the film is titled The Social Network.
What Are Mark’s Obstacles?
Internal Obstacle
The night after the breakup, Mark writes an insulting blog post about Erica and develops a campus website called Facemash by hacking into college databases to steal female students’ photos, allowing site visitors to rate their attractiveness.
Isn’t it weird that Mark took revenge against Erica after the breakup? I understand he was upset, but that was a savage action against her. Badmouthing Erica and creating a website to rate female students because they just broke up?
I don’t think Mark is a bad person, and neither is Erica. They are just teenagers who broke up in an argument. Then why did Mark take an act of revenge against her? Because Erica touches Mark’s internal obstacle.
Internal Obstacle: Mark’s Fear of Rejection.
Mark expresses his worries about being rejected by the final clubs during the breakup scene. Later, his conversation with Erica turns into an argument. She does something Mark can’t tolerate — Erica rejects Mark. A punch on Mark’s fundamental weakness.
The battle between Mark’s intention and the obstacle has begun, and he must overcome his weakness to achieve the goal.
So, Mark makes a blind choice by creating Facemash, which unexpectedly leads him to his goal—he gets the attention of the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra (the final club members).
External Obstacle
The Facemash incident impresses the Winklevoss twins and their business partner Divya Narendra, and they meet Mark to pitch a Harvard students’ website concept called Howard Connection.
Later, Mark realizes he can build his version of a better social network. He came up with a better idea than the Howard Connection and developed Facebook, and the rest is history.
The external obstacles are the outside forces trying to stop Mark from reaching his goal:
Lawsuit one by the Winklevoss twins, Divya Narendra
Lawsuit two by Mark’s best friend, Eduardo Saverin.
External Obstacle: The Two Lawsuits.
Every plot point deals with the clash between Mark’s intention and obstacles. He battles with internal and external obstacles to protect his social network.