Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki – senior contributor
Slider photos: Neshan H. Naltchayan
Lots of people love him for the way he uses words; some people love to hate him for the views he lays out, but for all – it’s hard to ignore the achievements of Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin is renowned for his flowery dialogue and signature walk-and-talk moments that have defined TV hits like The West Wing, Sports Night and most recently HBO‘s The Newsroom. Sorkin spoke to an eager audience last week at the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) after a screening of the most recent episode of The Newsroom.
Actor Jeff Daniels
This season, the HBO drama has centered its action around a legal proceeding over a controversial news item being pursued in the plot, and this seventh episode exposed a major climax to viewers. Sorkin said that the controversy of this second season gave him the much desired thread to connect all the episodes rather than just going event-to-event. He described how he chose the deposition setting (as he has in the past for movies like the Social Network) because it allows an insider look at the thoughts of a character and allows the insertion of narration to cut through the action. “I love the dynamic between the lawyers and the people they are interrogating. You don’t have to deal with good morning, how are you,” he said.
Aaron Sorkin
Sorkin has been accused of interjecting his Hollywood critique on the media through The Newsroom and a cast of characters who are seemingly always ahead of the news cycle, but he stated it is the opposite; “it was absolutely not designed as a critique of the way journalism operates. The show is set in the recent past for 2 reasons.” He continued that making up fake news would remove the viewer from reality too far and that he likes the idea of the viewer knowing more about the stories than the characters. “I’m more interested in the appearance of reality, than reality.”
Aaron Sorkin and TNR literary editor Leon Wieseltier
Sorkin was candid however on a few thoughts about the way the media works these days. He noted that entertainment has made its way into the media sphere with bolder headlines that will lunge as far forward as needed; “anything to get a click.” He jabbed that “new media has become an umbrella term you can hide under if you have no credentials,” describing how the internet has made aggregate opinion more powerful at times than expert; all of this opening the door for some light natured ribbing at The New Republic owner (and Facebook co-founder) Chris Hughes who was among the audience.
Most apparent when listening to Sorkin is that he speaks like his characters, and while some call the poetic exchanges unrealistic, he admits that he understands his own style’s place in reality. “I do like somebody’s mind working faster than their tongue will allow them to speak. And that’s sorta my nod to how people speak. It’s to how people really speak as to how the lighting that we get is to how people are really lit.”
You hear things like that and Sorkin comes off a bit like a modern philosopher translating human interaction for those who don’t see it. He continually approaches a behind-the-scenes look of critical settings and exposes a human side that brings it back down to earth. While Sorkin acknowledged that his work and writing is entertainment, he said he’s really doing more; he’s aiming higher with an effort to “define a generation” even if that’s unwriteable.
