Facebook as Rheingold

At the New Yorker Festival last night, I saw The Social Network, aka the Facebook Movie. It's a mesmerizing, acutely unsettling film, one that makes you want to wind back time. Maybe I have Wagner on the brain, but about fifteen minutes in I said to myself, "It's Rheingold." A social outsider, spurned in love, purloins from the beautiful people and forges a device that casts a spell on millions and gives its creator unimaginable wealth. Except that in this case Alberich is not so bad-looking and gets to keep his ring, if not his true heart's desire. Justin Timberlake is Loge, siding with the dwarves rather than the gods.