Reality Vision

The Social Network is an excellent movie, but it shouldn't be mistaken for reality. Some who have investigated have found some major holes in the factual structure created by writer Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher's movie. Check for example Luke O'Brien or Nathan Heller in Slate. Heller, who lived a couple of rooms down from Zuckerberg when they were both freshmen, recognizes neither Zuckerberg nor Harvard in the movie:

I recognized their Harvard, but only from Love Story and The Paper Chase, not my experience.

Heller didn't like the movie, but I did and most critics seem to agree. Perhaps the real Harvard and real Zuckerberg are more compelling, or maybe not. The trouble is that a clearly biographical movie that gets a lot of facts wrong is a kind of crime against reality. I'm ambivalent about the result.

Of course maybe fellow Harvies like O'Brien and Heller need to defend their territory. Or maybe Zuckerberg or some other insider will write their version sometime.

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