Trailer Analysis: The Social Network

If there is one thing I know about, it is social networking. I love my blog, my facebook, my twitter. Hell, I still I love my myspace (in a nostalgic type of way). I've been social networking since xanga (but you don't get the link to that, nice try). But enough about me-

David Fincher's trailer (the real one, not the teaser) for The Social Network has hit the Internet today. Let's take a look shall we?

Find the trailer here: The Social Network.

The trailer is presented as a series of status updates accompanied by the voices of actors reading them. Not very cinematic, but the movie can hardly be expected to be visually stunning. Its the type of story that might make for a better play.

This clearly means theres nothing interesting to show in the movie.

There is a definite feeling of drama amidst the founders (or those who can be presumed to be founders based on the trailer) of facebook. Who said what, who stole what from whom. It's the story of invention and court. A relationship drama. Sounds a lot like Flash of Genius. Look at how that did (you don't have to, I'll tell you: TERRIBLY).

Film is a visual medium and while it might have story, The Social Network, does not have visuals. Maybe stunt casting people like Justin Timberlake will put young people in seats, you see- aside from it's lack of visual appeal (that isn't the actors, I'll admit they're er... visually pretty. No, not you Jesse Eisenberg) there is another fundamental problem with a drama about facebook-

People my own age (aka The Facebook Generation) do not care about dramas. Very few people, in fact, care about dramas. So why would a movie, whose primary audience should be facebook users, gear itself for those looking for more distinguished dramatic fare (often, but not limited too, older people who know nothing about facebook). Maybe I'm being harsh on the elderly, maybe I'm being harsh on people my own age- but look at the movies in the marketplace- how many are dramas skewed for younger crowds?

Interestingly, the movie is placed in the "history" genre on IMDB. While facebook will be history, this movie will hardly make a historical dent.