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It seems to me that “The Social Network” (Columbia, 10/1, trailer), which is widely regarded as the best film of 2010 so far (see my writeup from earlier today), actually shares a great deal in common with “Citizen Kane” (1941), which is widely regarded as the best film of all time. If — and only if — you’ve already seen both films, please read on, check out the long list of commonalities that I’ve compiled, and let me know if you can think of any others…

Both films…

• focus on an enigmatic media tycoon (Charles Foster Kane and Mark Zuckerberg)
• present multiple, often conflicting accounts about him
• leave it up to the audience to try to decipher the truth

Both protagonists…

• emerge from humble beginnings (Kane is shown playing outside a small wood cabin in Colorado; Zuckerberg is from White Plains, New York)
• spend their adolescence without much, if any, parental guidance (Kane is taken away from his to be raised by Mr. Bernstein; Zuckerberg’s aren’t seen or referred to at all)
• studied at Harvard University, got into trouble there, and did not graduate (Kane is thrown out; Zuckerberg is placed on academic probation and eventually drops out)
• create a communications empire (Kane inherited his father’s gold-mining fortune but poured it into newspapers; Zuckerberg builds his from nothing)
• are cocky smartasses (both are quick with wisecracks)
• are not focused on making money (Kane tells his financial advisor, Walter Parks Thatcher, who is worried about his wild spending, “You’re right. I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dolars a year, I’ll have to close this place… in sixty years.” Zuckerberg tells his financial advisor, Eduardo Saverin, who feels they should have advertisements on the site, “We don’t even know what it [the site] is yet. We don’t know what it is, what it can be, what it will be. We know it’s cool, that’s a priceless asset and we’re not giving it up.”
• issue a declaration of principles to protect their readers (Kane literally writes his out; Zuckerberg verbally makes it clear that Facebook will not be overrun with ads)
• amass a fortune (Kane was worth millions; Zuckerberg is worth over a billion)
• meet their best — and arguably only — friend during college, go into business with him, but wind up not speaking with him (Kane with Jedediah Leland; Zuckerberg with Eduardo Saverin)
• celebrate the crossing of a circulation milestone with a big office party (Kane when the readership of The Enquirer reaches 684,132, the highest number of any New York newspaper; Zuckerberg when the membership of Facebook reaches 1,000,002, crossing the one million mark)
• are dumped by the women they love after insulting them (Kane by his first wife Emily Monroe Norton Kane after he cheats on her; Zuckerberg by his girlfriend Erica Albright after he demeans her)

I believe…

• Sean Parker is a surrogate for Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), an older friend and business advisor to the protagonist. In “Citizen Kane,” Mr. Bernstein delivers one of the great soliloquies in film history (click here for video) — Roger Ebert‘s favorite, incidentally — when he says, “A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn’t think he’d remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn’t see me at all, but I’ll bet a month hasn’t gone by since that I haven’t thought of that girl.” In “The Social Network,” Sean tells Mark about a girl from high school who he cared deeply for, but who was dating the co-captain of the lacrosse team and who did not return his feelings, and says that his drive to create a massively successful business was largely fueled by a desire to change her mind. Moments later, Mark meekly asks Sean if he ever thinks of that girl anymore, to which Sean — in the culmination of what I believe to be a winking homage to Mr. Bernstein’s story — flippantly replies, “No!”

My strong sense is…

• “Rosebud” represented to Kane what Erica represents to Zuckerberg: the simple, carefree, happy life that he had at the beginning (literally the first scene of the film, in Zuckerberg’s case), lost, and was still chasing at the end (literally the last scene of the film, in Zuckerberg’s case).

Also…

• at the time Orson Welles portrayed Kane he was 26; at the time Jesse Eisenberg portrayed Zuckerberg he was 26 (he still is, as is Zuckerberg).

Photo: Mark Zuckerberg. Credit: IdeaGrove.com

Tags: Aaron Sorkin, Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane, David Fincher, Eduardo Saverin, Emily Monroe Norton Kane, Erica Albright, Facebook, Harvard, Jedediah Leland, Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Orson Welles, Roger Ebert, Sean Parker, The Social Network, Walter Parks Thatcher