DVD thoughts: The Social Network

Almost as addictive as Facebook itself. Jesse Eisenberg, is it? Fabbo, plays Zuckerberg. Does Zuckerberg have Aspergers? This character as written does, surely. Sharp writing, convincing characters. (This film is notably short on any decent female characters- is that really the world of Zuckerberg?)Film manages to convey an eerie sense of (shudder, I'm going to use the word...)ZEITGEIST. This is happening, this is now, kids in their 20s are playing on computers and visualising and creating means of communication whereby half a billion people are all chatting to each other and in the process, making these very smart kids into billionaires. And these very smart kids are racing around betraying each other, except its on a billion dollar scale, rather than ripping a mate off when giving his change back at the pub. And when a visionary does something as passe as drugs, he's dropped by his disinterested peers.
...in my lifetime, the role of music in youth culture has never looked so bleak. Visionary Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake, ironically) boasts that (by founding filesharing site Napstar) he has been instrumental in bringing down the music industry, but I dont see any of these characters as interested in music as a reflection of their culture or way of life. The soundtrack to the film is superb, but what also caught my ear was the use of the Beatles 'Baby You're A Rich Man' at the end of the film; a nod to the last group of precocious boys who changed the world through their vision- only it was their musical vision. And here I was, hoping that some other young musicians would come along and change it all again, and instead the lads have rocked up and changed our lives via computers. Sigh.
Oh. And the film's funny. 9/10