It remains to be seen whether or not “The Social Network,” the highly fictionalized retelling of the origins of Facebook, will be a box-office hit.
After all, although the film, which opens in October, has some notable names attached to it, the phrases “Internet biopic” and “Hollywood blockbuster” aren’t exactly synonyms.
But one thing is for certain: the film is ripe for Internet riffing.
The trailer for the movie, heavily laden with dramatic overtones, the song “Creep” and thoughtful, intense pauses, had its online debut a few weeks ago.
Ever since, it’s been a popular target for parody.
The most recent spoof to hit the Web is a video called “The Twit Network,” that imagines the retelling of Twitter’s genesis.
The short opens showing a slide show of Twitter posts, including one that reads “my hair is sad today.” From there, the video pans to a young entrepreneur discussing plans to build a service that simplifies blogging. “People want to have narcissistic conversations with total strangers about the everyday minutiae of their lives,” he says. “Why not build them a service that does that?” From there, the video only gets better.
One of the earliest parodies to hit the Web was a funny clip video that captured the dawn — and downfall — of MySpace. The video pokes fun at the site’s poor design and its reputation for attracting unsavory people to sign up as members, culminating in the site’s original audience migrating away to other rival social networks.
In addition, a short about the birth of YouTube called “The Video Website” hit the Internet. That video deftly mocks the types of viral videos — think sneezing baby pandas — that are popular on the Web site and jokes about the company’s sale to Google. “This is happening faster than any of us imagined! We don’t have enough adorable laughing babies,” cries the character portraying Steve Chen, one of the site’s co-founders. “Then find more,” roars back the actor playing Chad Hurley, another YouTube founder.
The only question remaining is which company is next in line for a spoof. Foursquare? Tumblr? Hewlett-Packard?