MovieChat Forums > Steve Jobs (2015) Discussion > Aaron Sorkin - what's so great?

Aaron Sorkin - what's so great?

posted 9 years ago by escadamausgaby
7 replies | jump to latest

Another Sorkin product that puzzles me. What exactly makes people like his writing so much? Granted, the dialogue he writes movies is several leagues above drivel like "Deadpool", but that doesn't make it great.

It's just not how people talk. Every line is heavy and overloaded with "meaning". He seems to aim at everything that somebody says to be a profound insight, but that makes his dialogue wooden and hard to feel empathy for the characters.

It's formulaic, too: Everybody is always arguing, but the end of scene always ends on a high note. Cue next scene, more arguing, end on a high note. Rinse and repeat.

It's the layman's idea of "great dialogue" maybe that's why the unbathed masses think he's a great script writer?

[–] FourFiveEight 9 years ago

So, what's your idea of great dialogue? Sorkin is someone who likes the sound of dialogue and his writing reflects this. It's not trying to be clever and full of subtext it's rich and dense with a snap.
There is nothing wrong with a movie which seeks to perfect formula, it's a stage play written for the screen, the scene in the second act with Jobs and Scully is excellent writing scene, he's written an action scene with dialogue.

[–] escadamausgaby 9 years ago

Yes, the dialogue could be called snappy and intense. But at the same time, it's also so pointless and shallow, if you listen to what they actually say.

If you take a step back and compare different scenes, it's almost comical how the dialogue follows a specific "Sorkin-esque" stanza, or formula.

[–] vnth 9 years ago

do you really have to make this many threads of a same complaint? and it's not even a new one. youre not the first to point out that people do not talk like that in real life or how every characters of his sound the same. thats not a fault, thats precisely the thing he is famous for--his brand, so to speak. in all of his works, the dialogue is the main character. his characterization, and sometimes even plot, are achieved almost exclusively through dialogues. it's not supposed to be realistic but rather minimalistic, like stage plays. whether you like this or not is a matter of taste, but there is no debate that it is effective. for instance, you can tell so much more about every character in this movie, or at least how sorkin wants to portray them, than that other garbage jobs movie, even though there is barely any action in this one.

[–] escadamausgaby 9 years ago

I don't think it's fair to say that there can be no debate about its effectiveness. People aren't fed up with Sorkin dialogue for no reason, and the fact that it has become a cliché (rather than a 'brand') speaks for itself. The other S. Jobs movie was drivel but that doesn't make this one better.

The irksome aspect about Sorkin dialogue is that it's loud and big and seemingly important, but only if you don't really listen what people actually say. It's a smoke-and-mirrors way to write dialogue.

And the fact it sounds staged isn't proof it would work in a theatre play. There is no such thing as "a stage play dialogue". Stage plays are written by different people all having their own styles. Some are minimalistic, some not. You are simply repeating some well known tropes about "Sorkin dialogue".

The Emperor has no clothes and more and more people wake up to the fact.

[–] s_obrien1989 8 years ago

I don't watch a Sorkin written film to hear realistic conversation. I go to hear exciting dialogue. To me it's just like going to watch an action movie. Sure, in real life a person couldn't survive all the explosions and falls and bone crunching fights an action hero has over the course of a film, but that's what makes an action movie fun. For me, Sorkin makes an argument feel like a sword fight or a car chase. You know in real life when you walk away from an argument, you always think of the wittiest retorts, the best comebacks AFTER it's already over? Sorkin makes his characters say everything they want to say right then and there, and for me that's the fun of it. I wish I could be as blunt as a Sorkin character in an argument. During the Jobs vs. Sculley argument, I found myself on the edge of my seat with a grin on my face.

[–] evanston_dad 8 years ago

Sorkin reminds me of a modern-day Paddy Chayefsky. The same criticisms leveled at his script for "Steve Jobs" could be aimed at "Network," which is one of the best screenplays of all time. When Beatrice Straight accepted her Oscar for "Network," she thanked Chayefsky for writing thoughts that people always feel but can never articulate (I'm paraphrasing). That's what Sorkin does. He has his characters say the things you would want to be able to say if you were in the same situation. It's not meant to be realistic. But I understand if it's not your thing. It takes some getting used to.

[–] EmmaPopell 8 years ago

Let's read YOUR script, escada-whatever. (cue crickets) Yeah.....that's what I thought. LOL.