The newly released film Steve Jobs, directed by Danny Boyle, has been met with widespread critical acclaim, but is facing large controversy over its depiction of the man its title bears.
The film is a dramatic account of three different Apple product launches, centering on Jobs’ complicated relationship with his co-workers, friends, and family. According to these co-workers, friends, and family, however, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has taken major liberties in dramatizing and fabricating the life and personality of Jobs.
“Sorkin and his fellow moviemakers are taking advantage of the feelings people have for the real Steve Jobs to sell tickets, yet the Steve Jobs he created is a complete figment of his imagination. It’s a con,” New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, a friend of Jobs, said.
Perhaps more jarring are the claims made by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, a main character in the movie as portrayed by Seth Rogen, that the film has no semblance of reality.
“Everything in the movie didn’t happen. Every scene that I’m in, I wasn’t talking to Steve Jobs at those events,” Wozniak said.
Wozniak was quick in his own rebuttal, however. “I was shocked and amazed at how good it was in the sense of professional filmmaking,” Wozniak said.
This begs the question: is it okay to change history for the sake of better filmmaking? Or should a movie marketed as someone’s life be true to their story? To Aaron Sorkin, the movie is not meant for audiences to take as fact.
“I think they [Those critical of the movie’s historical inaccuracy] are underestimating the audience in terms of being able to tell what's a painting and what's a photograph, what's art and what's journalism. I'm saying we're doing a painting, not a photograph. We're not doing journalism or a documentary,” Sorkin said to CNET Magazine.
Audiences may have the ability to differentiate between fact and fiction, but that does not clear up the moral dilemma here. Audiences know when a movie is not accurate, but that does not mean they think it is right.
“It is both upsetting and degrading to society how an identity of any importance can be altered for these purposes [Making a better film],” Newtown High School junior Robby Laporta said.
This is not the first time that Sorkin has come under fire for his depictions of real people. With the release of The Social Network in 2010, a similar movie about Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook, Sorkin was criticized by Zuckerberg and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin for making up entire events and blowing the two founders’ real life drama out of proportion.
“They just kinda made up a bunch of stuff that I found kind of hurtful,” Zuckerberg said.
Where Steve Jobs and The Social Network differ, however, is the fact that Zuckerberg was alive to defend himself against his portrayal.
Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs’ widow, has reportedly fought against production of the film in fear of it tainting her late husband’s memory. Powell Jobs has declined to make any comments regarding the issue.
“I feel for them [Jobs’ family]. He is gone, and this movie can hurt his legacy,” Newtown High School film production teacher Stacy Stamm said.
Despite its controversy, Steve Jobs has seen huge box office returns with the biggest opening weekend of the year thus far. It is expected to continue this revenue trend with strong critical reviews and a widening release.