The Facebook Movie

I saw the movie "The Social Network".

Although highly entertaining, aspects of it bother me. The screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, stated quite openly that his objective was to tell a good story, rather than to be perfectly accurate and loyal to the facts. But this is not historical fiction. This is a depiction of a currently living person, presented as a truthful representation of events. Isn't this libel?

The movie made me realize what Facebook was intended to be. It's a private space for teenagers to call their own. Teenagers need their own domain away from the eyes of adults, a place to express themselves freely, to test out new grown-up things, to get a little wild.

The audience in the theater with me consisted mostly of older folks. They had their own version of Facebook in their day. Their teenage years occurred just as the car became a mass consumer good. They bought big cars, enormous cars -- cars so big that both the front seat and the back seat were like couches. They loaded all their friends in the car and drove around and around the same loop in town, whistling and hollering at other groups in other cars. They went to restaurants that served them in their cars. They went to outdoor movie theaters and watched movies through the windshield. They had dates in their cars. Supposedly, they would drive their dates up to Inspiration Point for privacy, where one can only imagine what went on there. Their parents were terrified of the whole thing.

It's the cycle of the generations. It's no different in rural Africa. During my years there, I saw young people creating their own slang and dress codes and handshakes that only they understood. Their parents were also terrified of the supposed decline in morals and proper behavior.

The Simpsons put it best:

Grandpa Simpson: What the hell are you two doing?

Young Barney: It's called rockin' out.

Young Homer: You wouldn't understand 'cause you're not "with it".

Grandpa Simpson: I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you.

Young Homer: No way, we're gonna keep on rockin' forever...