Caroline Friday is a novelist and award winning screenwriter with several film projects in development for both television and theatrical distribution. She is also a 2008 Kairos Screenwriting Winner for spiritually uplifting screenplays, sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. Caroline currently serves as EVP of Sixth Day Media, LLC, a film finance and production company headquartered in the Atlanta area. She lives in Marietta, Georgia, with her husband and three children and can be found at www.carolinefriday.com.

The Social Network is a fun, smart, embellished story of the whiz kids behind the Facebook.com phenomena. Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, of West Wing fame, the film follows the meteoric rise of Mark Zuckerberg and his social network Website that is now worth $50 billion. While the real-life Mark may be a wonderful person, the man portrayed in the movie left much to be desired.

It all begins at a Boston pub where Mark (played by Jesse Eisenberg), a brilliant Harvard student, falls flat on his face in an attempt to woo his date, Erica Albright. Where he excels in extraordinary intellect and academics, he is equally deficient in the art of personal skills and communication. One insult after another leads Erica to get up and leave—but not without having the final word: Mark Zuckerberg may be a genius, but he is also the last man on earth Erica, or any other woman, would want to be in a relationship with.

This scene was long and full of sporadic, fast-paced dialogue, but it wonderfully summarizes the movie. It is clear that Mark wants to be accepted into a Harvard “final” club, highly selective and competitive fraternities, but deep down he knows he will never be cool enough to get in—and Erica makes that clear. Angry and hurt, he storms back to his Harvard dorm room and fires off several derogatory comments about her on his blog. This leads to hacking into Harvard’s computer system, downloading all of the face book pictures of the female students on a site, and creating a “beauty rating game” that crashes the university’s server. Thus, the idea for facebook.com is born.

I highly recommend this movie to Christians because of the underlying theme of how money and power can never fill that God-sized hole in one’s heart, which yearns for love. Mark’s longing to be accepted into a Harvard final club and winning the affections of Erica Albright represent mankind’s desire to be respected, revered, and loved unconditionally. When all of this alludes Mark, he lashes out with his great intellect and computer savvy (his only true abilities) and sets out to prove to the world that he is worthy of love and acceptance. Ironically, his drive for

success and ensuing rise to prominence in the business world leave him friendless, empty, and still no closer to winning Erica’s heart.

It’s no surprise that the film chronicles multiple lawsuits against Mark, brought by his Harvard colleagues Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (played by Armie Hammer), who claim that Mark stole their idea, and his best and only friend, Eduardo Saverin.

Andrew Garfield plays Eduardo and, in my opinion, is the star of the movie. His boyish charm and emotional humor provide a wonderful accompaniment to Mark’s dry wit. He represents the center of good, has character and integrity, and senses danger when Napster creator, Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake), befriends Mark and becomes an integral part of the company. This is where the real drama in the story unfolds: As Facebook develops into a mammoth organization, Mark follows the corrupt path of Sean Parker and pushes Eduardo out, ultimately selling his soul for money and power.

I also loved Armie Hammer’s performance as the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, who are Olympic crew athletes and savvy businessmen in their own right. Impressed with Mark’s ability with his Harvard beauty rating game, they enter into a partnership with him to set up an online face book site exclusive to Harvard students and alumni. When Mark takes the idea and turns it into Facebook.com, they go for revenge, but their good looks, gentlemanly manners, and family money are no match for Mark and his lightning-fast mind. Their attempts to bring him down reminded me of Wile E. Coyote trying to get the better of the Roadrunner.

Spoiler Alert

The Social Network ends on a satisfying note. Mark settles his lawsuits for millions of dollars (a small penance for him), but sits alone in a lawyer’s conference room with nothing but his laptop and a lovely picture of Erica Albright on the screen—it is her Facebook page with a friend request displayed. The story has come full circle, and still Mark is no closer to obtaining the love and acceptance that has long alluded him. As King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, Mark learns the hard lesson that money, fame, and power are all vanity of vanities. We as Christians know that these things are meaningless without the love of God that comes through Jesus Christ of Nazareth.