Facebook learns to coexist with film

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Why can’t we be friends?

“The Social Network,” David Fincher’s pulsating account of the contentious creation of social- networking behemoth Facebook, has rolled through awards season like a dot.com on fire. On Wednesday, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2010.

At 26, Zuckerberg, who owns about a quarter of Facebook’s shares, has put himself on the map not only as one of the world’s youngest billionaires, but also as a prominent newcomer to the world of philanthropy. Earlier this year, he pledged $100 million over five years to the Newark, N.J., school system.

“The Social Network” has been picked as the best of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review. On Tuesday, it received six Golden Globe nominations, including best picture, drama, going up against its chief rival, the British monarchy tale “The King’s Speech,” which led with seven nominations.

Though Facebook initially might have hoped that “The Social Network” wouldn’t have staying power, it’s clear the film has captured the public consciousness at a time when the social-networking site surpassed half a billion users and is going to be right at the top of the movie discussion right through the Feb. 27 Academy Awards.

Now, the two sides to the Facebook-“Social Network” drama have seemingly learned to live with each other, settling on coexistence, if not outright friendship.

“The Social Network” premiered amid great discussion about its accuracy, with Facebook watchful of the potential public-relations problem of having its co-creator, Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg in the film) portrayed as a power-hungry, back-stabbing hacker motivated by social acceptance and girls.