Sixteen years after the release of The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin has unleashed its companion piece – The Social Reckoning.
Do we need a rewatch of the original movie? Not really – while the original may give us an insight into the psyche of Mark Zuckerberg, it doesn’t offer much else to The Social Reckoning. Everyone knows what Facebook is; The Social Reckoning is simply here to highlight the menacing underbelly of the platform.
It starts by introducing two new characters – Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) and Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White). Haugen is part of Facebook’s Civic Integrity team – the social conscience of the brand. Spurred by a personal event, she takes it upon herself to investigate the impact of the algorithm on users’ behaviours. Meanwhile, Horwitz is a journalist who is looking for a story on Facebook. He starts by fishing for sources via LinkedIn and eventually connects with Haugen.
The dynamic between the two characters is shaky. Horwitz is a political journo turned investigative tech reporter but he can’t even use his rental car’s GPS, let alone understand the algorithm. Haugen is a data scientist by trade; analysing the statistics comes naturally to her. Her urgency to share her findings makes her impatient with Horwitz’s limited understanding of tech.
While there are moments of humour from the odd pairing, the bumbling Horwitz just doesn’t sit right with me. As a political correspondent, you would expect Horwitz to be a little more switched on. Instead, I can’t shake the image of White’s previous portrayal of “Lip” Gallagher in Shameless – bobbing in a tide of Haugen’s whims. We don’t see much of Horwitz’s effort – when he isn’t being spoon-fed by Haugen, his interns are covering all the menial work. There’s only so much that “lack of tech savvy” can excuse. In fact, we should be seeing him do more research to bulk up his understanding of Facebook.
Meanwhile, Haugen’s jargon dumping is not just frustrating for Horwitz – it is for the audience too. While terms like algorithm and engagement are liberally bandied about nowadays, there were concepts in the movie I struggled to comprehend because they were too flippantly tossed around. In particular, Haugen implores Horwitz to look into Meaningful Social Interactions (MSI), without really explaining what they are. We don’t find out until much later, after several references to MSI.
To further complicate things, the film highlights Haugen’s social isolation. She doesn’t have any friends and is unlucky in love. Her team has been warned about Horwitz’s attempt at an exposé, so she decides to go undercover when she meets him at his suite. Her idea of a disguise is to pretend she’s on a fancy date – slinky dress and trench coat included. Surely, being caught on a date is worse than being caught in a meeting? I couldn’t help but wonder if Haugen was interested in romancing Horwitz.
The one polished part of the movie is Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg.
As with any sequel, it is inevitable that people will be quick to judge Strong’s almost robotic Zuckerberg against Jesse Eisenberg’s socially inept, cocky iteration.
But Strong’s Zuckerberg is a very different man from Eisenberg’s college-era Zuckerberg.
The Social Network covers the origins of the social networking site – from its roots as a Harvard-only server to the ownership disputes in 2009. The Social Reckoning is set between 2019 and 2021. Zuckerberg is no longer a college student trying to make a name for himself – the name is already made. He’s escaped the legal disputes mostly unscathed and he is now one of the most powerful men in the world, with a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Strong’s Zuckerberg is zombie-like – expressionless yet terrifying because he represents the epitome of corporate greed. He’s all about the money – while a one percent decline seems to be a reasonable trade-off, he immediately equates it to the loss of millions. He is so hell-bent on growth that it is his entire personality.
One scene that stands out is the film’s portrayal of Facebook’s handling of the 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol. Despite the chaos on the screen, despite the prodding from his staff, Zuckerberg stares at the anarchy, detached, unwilling to make the call to suspend a sitting President’s Facebook account, even though the account’s posts are clearly inciting violence.
While there is a degree of dramatisation, this scene is the most chilling part of Strong’s portrayal. It’s not just that he’s fixated on profits but he is obsessed with the notion of Facebook being a messenger of free speech – without the responsibility. Even when misinformation can (and does) impact social cohesion and mental health, Zuckerberg believes it is ultimately not Facebook’s job to verify online claims.
Strong repeatedly holds this position with conviction and a stone-cold expression. That’s the haunting image that the audience is left with – that a man with so much power could be so detached from the consequences of his company’s philosophy.
It is such a shame that Zuckerberg is not the main focus of this narrative but a supporting act. While the movie is meant to be centred on Haugen and Horwitz, I didn’t feel inclined to cheer them on at the Congressional hearing. This should have been a peak moment for them because it was the culmination of months of work. Instead, the flat dynamic made their important findings feel stumbled upon. Had Strong been given a meatier role as a more foreboding adversary to the duo, the audience would have had more reason to stand behind the two protagonists.
Ultimately, there is no questioning the malevolence of Facebook’s mechanics. However, this film’s contribution to the debate undersells the real-life accomplishments of Haugen and Horwitz. In a time when we need to be increasingly cognizant of the sway of social media platforms, this film could have brought the spotlight back on the articles The Wall Street Journal published. Instead, I left feeling awakened but not quite motivated to read them.
The Social Reckoning is now showing in cinemas nation-wide.