Facebook, by this telling of its creation myth, was started because the nation's most prestigious university made one edgy student feel left out of an even more exclusive interior space. His revenge was a juggernaut that allowed half a billion people to be connected, while leaving him essentially friendless.

In a normal year, a well-made Hollywood product that is not a toy spinoff and actually says something about the human heart would be the odds-on favorite for Best Picture.

But this year, "The King's Speech," concerning a monarch with a stammer, seems likely to win. And here's the surprise: the period drama with Brits born on third base is a more compelling story of class mobility than the tale of America's young elites inventing something that changed the world.