Aaron Sorkin Versus the Internet ⇥ newyorker.com
I like Aaron Sorkin’s work,1 but his tech-centric biopics — of which there are now two — blur an interesting ethical distinction between the impression of truth and the actual truth.2 Richard Brody, in a terrific review of the new Steve Jobs film for the New Yorker:
The problem with “Steve Jobs” isn’t its departures from facts about Jobs’s life that can be rapidly gleaned from a glance at Walter Isaacson’s biography of him. […] It’s the fact that the fictionalized elements of the movie don’t produce increased insight into Jobs, and don’t lead to a grasp of Jobs’s spirit in exchange for the reportorial letter of his life story.
John Gruber’s quip is equally punchy:
It’s not really about Steve Jobs at all — it’s an engaging story about a Steve Jobs-like figure and his estranged daughter.
Despite Brody’s review, I still want to watch the film. Even if it isn’t a dissection of key moments of Steve Jobs’ life, perhaps it will be a worthwhile exploration of a fictional tech company CEO who really enjoys black turtlenecks.