Analysis of the Movie ‘Steve Jobs
The movie, ‘Steve Jobs’ is an American drama film written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Danny Boyle, depicting the heroic biography of Steve Jobs (The Telegraph, 2). The film of ‘Steve Jobs’ is a classical structure, with three scenes, though it fails to adhere to the linear cradle to death biography. The three scenes in the film summarize 14 years (1984-1998) of Steve’s before establishment of a main product Apple Macintosh, next computer, and iMac G3. The movie therefore is classic structured as it highlights a hero’s journey and emphasizes major aspects of his life.
Sorkin’s initial plan was to have the movie run in three scenes for 30 minutes each by showing the real life of Jobs (The Telegraphy, 5). The unorthodox methodology depicts the real life without any time cuts and just before the product launch. These three separated scenes are essential as they enable the viewer explore Steve’s life, his legendary career and his life after resignation. Sorkin’s choice of structure is relevant in this movie as it relates with the complicated personality of Steve Jobs. This modification facilitates painting of Job’s life as heroic and minimized criticism, which would rather have highlighted his weaknesses. According to Sorkin, judging the life of Steve would lead to biasness in the movie, as he would focus on some weaknesses he had, yet he desired to introduce him as the hero the world was acquainted with.
The plot can be described as experimental as the writer was unconvinced of the reaction of the public with the three scenes of such a hero (Chitwood, Para 7). This made him take three years to record the movie and produce the play as he lacked the initial creativity of turning the long biography into a illumine movie and was irresolute of the studio’s reactions. When the director agreed to publicize the movie, Sorkin’s immediate reaction was a surprise. His uncertainty is the reason behind the movie being set backstage before its official launching. Sorkin applied a weird structure with few scenes to capture all the varying aspects in the real life of the hero, who was known as a very layered and complicated person. The long and common films on biographies would have been unconventional. The biopic is therefore unique and inventive to tell the story at large. The structure is besides of great essence in attracting the Apple customers and fanatics who were looking up to Jobs to invent some new models of devices. With the unique structure, the audience is maintained and they are able to focus on the future of the company in the absence of their hero. Additionally, to capture the feeling and represent the current and future generation, Sorkin had to create the movie that would still linger in the minds of the public and remain irreplaceable. For instance, to capture the 1984 era, he researched on the vintage synchs and included old generation music of the former generation.
From the structure of the film, the movie can be classified as classic as it highlights the theme and attracts the intended audience. Since Steve Jobs was a hero, the director ensured that the movie focused on his greatness and hence, even though the structure differs from the normal, the movie’s plot majors on the hero’s journey. Despite its length, the movie is objective and standard in relation to the biography and the personality displayed.
Works Cited
Chitwood, Adam. “Aaron Sorkin Reveals Unique Story Structure for Steve Jobs Biopic; Film
Will Be Made Up of Three 30-Minute Scenes.” [Updated with Video]: Collider. 2012, November 15th
The Telegraph. Steve Jobs film to have ‘real time’ structure. 2012, Nov 16th