Zeitgeist, it ain't.

Let me start off simply: Facebook is NOT a phenomenon.

Facebook is the continuation of a trend of an increasingly social internet.  There was Friendster, there was Myspace, there was LinkedIn.  Facebook simply took ideas from each of these and set up their own shop, ostensibly peddling the same thing.  It worked.  They are popular.  But popularity does not a phenomenon make.

This article summarizes my view on the Social Network movie.  Essentially, it explains how the movie is more or less a fairy tale about a copyright lawsuit.  It's the woes and tribulations of a few rich Harvard kids (I don't even know if they go to Harvard, I really don't even care enough to look it up.) and how they feel so left out and isolated.  Rough.


Facebook is not the zeitgeist of a new online generation.  There is, for sure, a move towards socializing online.  There was a fantastic article explaining how social media is changing us, but I'm having trouble finding it.  This is like the bootleg version of it.

But essentially, the article explained how we're not forced to interact with those nearby, our networks are broadening.  We can find groups of people as weird or smelly as us, we can resist change.  But, on the other hand, we can find people as weird and smelly as us and be able to follow our predilections wherever they lead us.

But the Social Network is not about that.  It's another movie about a utility like Wall Street.  You might as well watch a movie about the water company.  Or your local cannery.  The movie's popularity just boggles my mind.  I could understand if it actually explored the phenomenon, but David Fincher dropped the ball on it and went with making a movie about a made-up character in a made-up situation with only loose connection with reality.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go post a link to this on my status update.