History YMMV / TheSocialNetwork

** Rashida Jones plays a character who claims that she can turn an entire court against the head of a major company with just a few words. Seven years after this film came out, she unfortunately found herself having to do just that, as her remarks about how John Lasseter, then one of the most powerful men in showbusiness, was mistreating female and minority employees got him fired from [[Creator/{{Pixar}} both of]] [[Creator/{{Disney}} the companies]] he was in charge of.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Facebook executive Sean Parker, who cofounded Napster with Shawn Fanning. ([[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Of course, provided you are[=/=]were on Napster's side vs. the copyright holders.]])

** In this film, Mark Zuckerberg gets accused of {{stealing the credit}} for his big breakthrough from a character played by Creator/ArmieHammer. In its SpiritualSuccessor ''Film/SteveJobs'', Steve Jobs gets accused of stealing the credit for his big breakthrough from Steve Wozniak, who's played by Creator/SethRogen. Armie Hammer and Seth Rogen notably played Franchise/{{the Lone Ranger}} and Film/TheGreenHornet, two famous pulp heroes who are canonically related to each other.

** Cameron's quip that suing Mark could make the brothers look like they're "in skeleton costumes chasing [[Film/TheKarateKid the karate kid]] around a high school gym" became this after the release of the film's SequelSeries ''Series/CobraKai'', which portrays Johnny Lawrence and his friends in a more positive light, while highlighting more of Daniel [=LaRusso=]'s character flaws.

** Mark. While he's a InsufferableGenius, he ultimately wants to succeed in life, and be somebody. [[spoiler:By the end of the film, he's lost two friends and is realizing the consequences of his actions.]]

** Mark -- "[[{{Jerkass}} asshole]]" or "[[JerkassFacade trying so hard to be one]]"? And were the makers of the film trying to portray Zuckerberg as an outright {{Jerkass}}, or did they make him more of a admirable jerk?

** Even with as critical as the film is of Zuckerberg and Facebook, the site’s later controversies regarding data mining and Russian bots make the movie's depiction of them downright quaint. Aaron Sorkin has even said he’d like to make a sequel covering this.

** With the massive scandals and controversies that rocked Facebook in the latter half of TheNewTens (most notably revolving around its influence on politics and sharing data with outside organizations and companies), it feels somewhat quaint that the film builds up the fact that Mark Zuckerberg might have screwed over some other people who helped him start the company as the biggest skeleton in Facebook’s closet.

** And it's satisfying to compare the current state of Facebook with Mark's original vision. Now that anyone can join, not just Ivy League college students, it's not exactly the elitist, exclusive social club he thought it would be. In fact, many people on there are simply TooDumbToLive. [[http://www.lamebook.com/ See for yourself.]]

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: With the massive scandals and controversies that rocked Facebook in the latter half of TheNewTens (most notably revolving around its influence on politics and sharing data with outside organizations and companies), it feels somewhat quaint that the film builds up the fact that Mark Zuckerberg might have screwed over some other people who helped him start the company as the biggest skeleton in Facebook’s closet.
** Related to the above, the real Zuckerburg became famous in the late 2010s for being an '''extremely''' [[CringeComedy awkward and un-charismatic individual]], with comparisons to an alien or a talking reptile masquerading as a human being particularly popular [[MemeticMutation meme fodder]]. This can make his portrayal in the film as a curt and direct, but incredibly fast-thinking and decisive individual as bizarre in hindsight.

* HarsherInHindsight: Even with as critical as the film is of Zuckerberg and Facebook, it still comes off as laughably naive given the site’s later controversies regarding data mining and Russian bots. Aaron Sorkin has even said he’d like to make a sequel covering this.

** Movie Zuckerberg's comment about people wanting to sit on his shoulder's to make themselves tall becomes this after the real Zuckerberg [[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/mark-zuckerberg-testimony.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news sat on a cushion to make himself look taller during a Senate hearing.]]

** Related to the above, the real Zuckerburg became famous in the late 2010s for being an '''extremely''' [[CringeComedy awkward and un-charismatic individual]], with comparisons to an alien or a talking reptile masquerading as a human being particularly popular [[MemeticMutation meme fodder]]. This can make his portrayal in the film as a curt, direct, but incredibly fast-thinking and decisive individual as bizarre in hindsight.

** Related to the above, the real Zuckerburg became famous in the late 2010s for being an ***extremely*** [[CringeComedy awkward and un-charismatic individual]], with comparisons to an alien or a talking reptile masquerading as a human being particularly popular [[MemeticMutation meme fodder]]. This can make his portrayal in the film as a curt, direct, but incredibly fast-thinking and decisive individual as bizarre in hindsight.

** Related to the above, the real Zuckerburg became famous in the late 2010s for being an ***extremely*** [[CringeComedy awkward and un-charismatic individual]], with comparisons to [[HuMan an alien or a talking reptile masquerading as a human]] being particularly popular [[MemeticMutation meme fodder]]. This can make his portrayal in the film as a curt, direct, but incredibly fast-thinking and decisive individual as bizarre in hindsight.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Facebook executive Sean Parker, who cofounded Napster with Shawn Fanning. ([[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Of course, provided you are[=/=]were on Napster's side vs. the copyright holders.]])

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: With the massive scandals and controversies that rocked Facebook in the latter half of TheNewTens (most notably revolving around its influence on politics and sharing data with outside organizations and companies), the film building up the fact that Mark Zuckerberg might have screwed over some other people who helped him start the company as the biggest skeleton in Facebook’s closet feels rather quaint.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: With the massive scandals and controversies that rocked Facebook in the latter half of TheNewTens (most notably revolving around its influence on politics and sharing data with outside organizations and companies), the film building up the fact that Mark Zuckerberg might have screwed over some other people who helped him start the company the biggest skeleton in Facebook’s closet feels rather quaint.

** In this film, Mark Zuckerberg gets accused of {{stealing the credit}} for his big breakthrough from a character played by Creator/ArmieHammer. In its SpiritualSuccessor ''Film/SteveJobs'', Steve Jobs gets accused of stealing the credit for his big breakthrough from Steve Wozniak, who's played by Creator/SethRogen. Armie Hammer and Seth Rogen notably played Franchise/{{the Lone Ranger}} and the Franchise/{{the Green Hornet}}, two famous pulp heroes who are canonically related to each other.

* HypeBacklash: Considering this film has been referred to as the "''Citizen Kane'' of the 21st century", it may get this. Though the ''Citizen Kane'' comparison is apt in regards to the general LonelyAtTheTop story.

** Mark -- "[[{{Jerkass}} asshole]]" or "[[JerkassFacade trying so hard to be one]]"?

** Mark -- "[[{{Jerkass}} asshole]]" or "[[JerkassFacade trying so hard to be one]]"? And were the makers of the film trying to portray Zuckerberg as an outright {{Jerkass}}, or did they make him more of a JerkSue?

** Mark -- "[[{{Jerkass}} asshole]]" or "[[JerkassFacade trying so hard to be one]]"?

** Were the makers of the film trying to portray Zuckerberg as an outright {{Jerkass}}, or did they make him more of a JerkSue?

** The Winklevoss twins and Narendra: {{Hero Antagonist}}s who were unjustly wronged by unethical business practices, or are they sore losers filing a FrivolousLawsuit out of revenge for being legitimately outsmarted?
*** After the boat race scene, Tyler talks about how it is unfair to lose a race because they showed up on a Monday for a race run a Sunday. But considering their prestigious background and rich family, they were already winning the race ever since they were born.

** Everyone hates on Sean Parker but it should be remembered that he is right. In the nightclub scene, he asked Mark to look at his face and say that he did not know what he was talking about. But Sean did know what he was talking about. A good question to ask is why shouldn't Sean replace Eduardo since Sean obviously knew more about the tech world?
*** Also, while Sean ain't no saint, Eduardo was making a point at antagonizing the guy from the moment they met, despite all of Sean's attempts at making friends or at least be cordial towards him, if only because Eduardo was Mark's friend. After Eduardo almost ruined Mark, Sean had no further reasons to try being nice towards him.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Mark -- "[[{{Jerkass}} asshole]]" or "[[JerkassFacade trying so hard to be one]]"?

*** It's possible that the Academy's votes were split by the studio's decision to push forward a total of ''three'' campaigns for Best Supporting Actor for Garfield, Timberlake and Armie Hammer. Between Garfield's Eduardo being the most universally liked character, the "[[HeReallyCanAct Wow he really can act]]." reaction brought forth by Timberlake's performance and the impressive ActingForTwo on Hammer's part, all of which were critically acclaimed, its no wondered that three great performances with such diverse qualities cancelled each other out.

* CrossesTheLineTwice:
** Mark.
** Also, Eduardo's "It's better to be accused of necropholia."

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Facebook executive Sean Parker, who cofounded Napster with Shawn Fanning. ([[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Of course, provided you are[=/=]were on Napster's side vs. the copyright holders']]).

** After Jesse Eisenberg's [[BaseBreakingCharacter polarizing]] performance as Lex Luthor in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', many of that film's detractors found his performance as Mark Zuckerberg to be a more faithful portrayal of Lex Luthor than his actual performance in ''Dawn Of Justice''.

** When Jessie Eisenberg was cast as ComicBook/LexLuthor it [[WhatTheHellCastingAgency raised some eyebrows]], but a lot of people who defended the decision said that he can pull it off because he played the same character in this movie...which is really stretching things. Yes, both Mark ([[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope in the movie]]) and Lex are arrogant billionaire geniuses, but Mark (in the movie) is a {{Jerkass}} at the very worst; Lex in most depictions is a [[AMillionIsAStatistic mass-murdering]] [[TheSociopath sociopath]] with [[AGodAmI a God complex]] (also, Mark is a computer whizz and internet billionaire while Lex is an OmnidisciplinaryScientist and major industrialist). Evidently a lot of ''Social Network'' fans either think that Lex Luthor [[DracoInLeatherPants isn't that bad a guy]], or they think that Mark Zuckerberg (in the movie) [[RonTheDeathEater is an evil supervillain bent on world domination.]]

* {{Narm}}: The incredibly intense, brilliantly acted confrontation is undone slightly by mentioning the [[InherentlyFunnyWord chicken]] when it could have easily just used "the ''Crimson'' article". They at least lampshade it and it doesn't throw it off course but it is still odd to see a powerhouse actor on the verge of tears, fully committing to dialogue about a chicken while sorrowful music plays. It doesn't help that Sean keeps interjecting to sincerely ask what the hell they're talking about.

* NightmareFuel: [[spoiler:Christy burning Eduardo's scarf. It's PlayedForLaughs but is surprisingly dark. The implication is that, had he not put the fire out right away, the whole apartment would've burned down.]]