A Rosebud by Any Other Name ...

So my friend is watching the movie "Social Network" this weekend and said one critic quoted this movie as being -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- "the Citizen Kane of our generation." Ummm, no. Citizen Kane was Citizen Kane. Social Network has the kid from Zombieland in it.

It might be a movie to define our generation, but don't people say that about every film that has even slight social implications?

When Boyz n the Hood or Menace to Society premiered, it was to be a "wake up call for the black community."

Did African Americans come together on some kind of shared consciousness? Did we attempt to infiltrate the very cancers eating away at our communities with the intent to heal them? Become self-reliant and not tear down those willing to make sacrifices?

No. We pretty much stayed the same. Nothing has changed and we will wail and weep at our plight, but have done nothing to add balm to long ago open wounds.

So will Social Network allow us to see a generation become totally dependent on the internet as a form of conscious expression and conduit for financial wealth and social power? Yes, but I don't think we'll really do anything about this.

We won't stop using Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. We won't throw away our iPods, iPads, or iPhones. People cannot, we will not unplug.

I mean Citizen Kane forewarned, through looking at a man's life, how ideology can turn the most innocent into the most ruthless. Will Social Network detail the cyber perils of socializing and living our lives online? I hope so, but let's be honest: We don't look at movies for messages, to change our lives, we look at movies to be entertained -- nothing more and nothing less.