A still from "The Social Network."
The Yale Film Archive’s spring semester film series has been in full swing for a couple of weeks now, and in true form they have brought their A‑game with a variety of screenings that honor the all-time classics and the more recent additions to the canon of must-see films.
Never was that more evident than at their Saturday night screening of a 35mm print of David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” the 2010 film about Facebook’s origin and the resulting drama, from Harvard’s campus to the shores of Palo Alto and the dorm rooms and boardrooms in between.
The award-winning film, which was recently added to the National Film Registry and is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, was presented as part of the program’s Cinemix series, which features “stand alone screenings of standout films.” At Saturday’s screening, it was preceded by “Basic Computer Terms,” a 1976 educational short film directed by Yale alumnus Sheldon Renan that’s a fun and informative piece about computers in everyday life.
I recently discussed “The Social Network” with a friend who said that they doubted anyone in 2025 did not know the origin story of Facebook. Are you one of those people, dear reader? If you are, I highly recommend this film as a way to gain some insight as to how and why this online Harvard University community socialization site became the primary way for people all over the world to share their lives and make all kinds of connections.
I also recommend this film to those of you who do know how Facebook originated, because it is about oh-so-much more than that. While Jesse Eisenberg’s star-making turn as Mark Zuckerberg is the central focus of the film, Fincher also works his magic to give the viewer a long, hard look into the more lurid side of higher education, including fraternity pledging, alcohol-soaked parties, and the role that privilege — both the having of it and the longing for it — plays in that world.
The entire evening was co-presented with the Yale Library Software Preservation and Emulation unit and screened in conjunction with the Hanke Gallery exhibit “Remembering ‘Amnesia’: Rebooting the First Computerized Novel,” which is on view in Sterling Memorial library through March 2.
Claire Fox, Wendy Hagenmaier, and Ethan Gates from Software Preservation and Emulation joined YFA Managing Archivist Brian Meacham to welcome everyone, introduce the films, and discuss the exhibit and their work.
Meacham explained that the first film being screened on Saturday, “Basic Computer Terms,” was the third part in a trilogy of films made by Renan that included “Basic Film Terms” and “Basic Television Terms,” and that both of those films are currently being preserved with the hopes of screening them all at some point. Meacham also offered background information about the film’s host and narrator Terry McGovern, who was a voice, television, and film actor primarily in the 70s and 80s. (Fun fact: he coined the term “wookie” for George Lucas.)
Meacham introduced Fox, Hagenmaier, and Gates, who gave context for the screening and discussed the “Remembering ‘Amnesia’ ” exhibit and the goals of their unit, which include “seeking out more stories” about histories of mediums and the people who developed and worked with them. It inspired this reporter to want to investigate further, and I suggest you all do the same as the exhibit — which includes an interactive fiction game that can be played — is up for the remainder of this month.
Meacham also mentioned some of the other screenings that would be happening over the next few months, including a semester-long celebration of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” which had been screened two weeks before “to overwhelming demand.” In response to the one 100 people who had to be turned away from the sold-out screening, he announced that there would be a second screening scheduled in March.
Karen Ponzio Photo.
Meacham, Fox, Hagenmaier, and Gates welcome the crowd.
“Basic Computer Terms” was a 70s gem, complete with Harry the cigar-chomping business person, who has a desk overrun with papers, and Jane the computer expert, who proceeds to educate him on — you guessed it — basic computer terminology and function. Animation and plenty of humor make that seemingly intimidating information seem more easily understandable. Seeing all of those large processors and discs and even a rotary phone was an absolute blast from the past and brought many laughs and smiles to the crowd.
The Social Network, while not a considered a comedy per se, also garnered a lot of laughs from the audience, mainly for its snappy dialogue and sharp quotes penned by Oscar-winning writer Aaron Sorkin, well known for his quick, smart, and clever way with words. He adapted his screenplay based on the book The Accidental Billionaires written by Ben Mezrich.
The film begins with Zuckerberg giving his girlfriend, Erica Albright (played with fire and ice by Rooney Mara), a hard time while out at a dinner that is disrupted by her breaking up with him and walking out. It’s a scene that might be considered one of the best opening scenes in modern filmmaking.
Zuckerberg goes on to Live Journal some terrible thoughts about her, which leads to his making of a website that rates the attractiveness of women who go to Harvard, a site that becomes so successful it crashes the university’s network. This is the impetus for all that follows, and I doubt I am spoiling anything by mentioning that Zuckerberg’s journey from that restaurant leads him to even more confrontations and even more success, all the way to the bank and eventually The White House (though the film only encompasses the first few years of that journey).
Social media has become way more important and more volatile than anyone probably ever imagined it could. Zuckerberg himself is portrayed to have concerns about Facebook not being “cool” anymore when cofounder and friend Eduardo Saverin (played with equal amounts of pathos and bravado by Andrew Garfield) tries to get him to monetize the site. What once was “cool” has now become commonplace and is often stocked with more ads than socialization. Napster’s Sean Parker (played by a jumpy Justin Timberlake) says, “We lived on farms, and then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the Internet.”
What a long strange trip it’s been, to becoming a site where long-distance relatives and friends exchange vacation photos and recipes, and the possibility for purchases are endless.
Of course, we all know Facebook has become way more than a place to share photos and buy t‑shirts. Opinions vary regarding its exact degree of impact, but whether you consider Facebook to be the greatest or worst invention of the 21st century or if you fall somewhere in between or even consider it totally irrelevant, the film’s juxtaposition of the original events that led to its creation and growth and the ensuing legal battles are a tour de force for all of the actors involved. Even better, it’s all set to a pounding and provocative Oscar-winning score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross that you’ll want to listen to long after the film is over.
On this evening, the crowd that filled the Wall Street auditorium sat on the edge of their seats, enraptured by it all, even those of us who have seen the film multiple times. Fifteen years later, it definitely holds up as an entertaining and often sobering account of events that helped shape our current culture. We have come a long way from dial-up modems and floppy discs, but the effects of a broken heart, failed friendships, and empty promises — and the ensuing drama of such — is something that no machine may ever be able to mimic.
Yale Film Archive film screenings continue to be open and free to the public. Please visit their website for a list of films as well as their dates, times, and locations.