A Man of Many

Aaron Sorkin, a man of many in the film and television scene. He has written for movies and created television series where both have won awards. Aaron has worn many different hats while in this business and he has a few “trademarks” that he is know for throughout all of his film and television series. Those “trademarks” are known as thematic motifs in the television criticism world and we are going to take a look at three that Aaron Sorkin is known for using. Before I dive into Aaron’s thematic motifs, let’s first get to know him.

Aaron was born on June 9th, 1961 in Scarsdale, New York. In high school he was involved in the drama and theater club and got his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater from Syracuse University. In 1989 Aaron won an Outer Critic Circle award as Outstanding American Playwright for his stage version of A Few Good Men which was later turned into a movie. He wrote the movie The American President and is in pre-production of the movie Social Network. The movie is about the guy behind Facebook where Aaron wrote the screenplay and is an executive producer. He also created the television series Sports Night, West Wing, and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. (Aaron Sorkin)

Now that we know a little more about Aaron lets dive into his thematic motifs. The first thematic motif that I want to talk about is how Aaron creates television series that deal with the idea of behind the scenes. All three of his television series dealt with the idea of behind the scenes whether it was behind the scenes of a sports cast, the inner workings from within the President of the United States’ office, or the hassles and headaches of putting a comedy show together. In the first scene of the show Sports Night we see the control room and the cameras and all of the people who are working to get the show on air. In the first scene of West Wing we see the chief of staff walking around to all of the areas of the west wing and we even get to go inside the oval office. On the opening of the show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip we get the all access pass to behind the scenes of the comedy show and see the set and the lighting and the people running around before going live on television. The people the were in the sports show and the comedy show were all dressed pretty casual and that was in contrast to the people who were in the political show were dressed up in suites and business attire. All of those examples help to illustrate how Aaron has a thematic motif of behind the scenes.

Another thematic motif that Aaron Sorkin is known for is the quick banter that happens between characters. It is seen in all of the shows like the scene in Sports Night where the workers are trying to figure out where a town is located or in the scene for the West Wing where the chief of staff is walking around and will stop and talk to someone and then move on and talk to another. The scene from Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip shows us different characters talking to others and we learn from them talking what is going on and then it cuts to another conversation. In all of the shows the character’s body language and facial gestures helps to tell the story and move the story along. You can see the frustration on the faces when they are trying to figure out where the town is ore what skit to put on air.

The final thematic motif that I want to talk about and Aaron is known for is the use of walk and talk. In all of his shows and in some of the movies, the characters will walk and talk with each other. The most obvious scene to watch this in is from the West Wing when the chief of staff is walking and then and advisor starts walking with him and the speech writer joins and then the press secretary. They are all walking and discussing what is happening at that moment. This is seen a lot in this show and is truthfully the way it is. They advisor may be walking with the president because this is the only time to get a few minutes with the president or may be the only time to brief him before and interview or press conference. They have to get as much information squeezed into that short amount of time as possible. The actors do a really good job of getting that point across. The camera had to have been on a dolly or track system to watch the characters walk through rooms and hallways.

Aaron Sorkin is known for many more things then what I pointed out but these are some of his biggest. He is a many of many and has conquered many things in his life. The television series, and movies for that fact, have had some hits and misses but when he hits, he hits gold.



Work Cited:

"Aaron Sorkin." The Internet Movie Database. 8 Oct. 2009. .

West Wing Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRwaKAJOTc

Sports Night Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKaO-hsb3vM

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc1Ti-ehJ00

Television Criticism, Really?

When you think of television, you think of the great shows- or the not so great shows, the television actors who you seem to know like they were your friends or even the cartoon that makes you laugh even when you’re an adult. All of those things are true but why do we like what we watch or why is our favorite character this certain person? Who knows? It just is. Television criticism isn’t just about why or why not you like a program or an actor but is about more than that. Through this I want to be able to show what the goals of television criticism are, what my view of television is as an object of study, and finally to try to relate to everyone reading this and invite feedback to not only see what I may need to explain more but to also answer questions that may arise.

First off, what is the goal(s) of television criticism? Well, television criticism has many goals, some of which you may have thought of and others that I didn’t know until further readings. Two goals of television criticism brought up by O’Donnell (2007) are, one, of persuasion. Persuasion is, to me, an obvious goal because what we say is what we are trying to get our readers to follow along with and agree to and as O’Donnell points outs we may be advocating for a program or for a network, so persuasion is a huge goal of television criticism (7). And two, the goal is to get a deeper understanding of our culture (3). Television programs reflect a society’s values, norms, and practices (8) and if you understand that then you can criticize the television program for its good and bad reflections on our culture but only after you get a grasp on our culture and what makes it tick. Sillars and Gronbeck (2001) say that a goal of television criticism would also be the text and the break down between epistemological (how we view knowledge) and the critical/cultural view (15).

Why study television? We can learn a lot from a television show and what the deeper meaning of the show is trying to get to; don’t get me wrong, I love television and I love to just watch it and not try to find a deeper meaning from the show. However, television has changed and I think has changed for the better. Corner (1999) tells us how television has changed and that now television gives us meaning to cultural ideals that may not have been given in print media. Corner does say though that not all of us who watch the same program will get the same message and use that information to better ourselves, we may watch one program and learn new information but never use it and watch another program and go out and use all of the information learned (6). This interests me and I am interested in why. Are we that selective that we can tune out an entire hour long show on one important topic and tune in for 30 seconds to another show to catch up on what our favorite celeb is up to.

I want feed back from you, the reader. I want to know if what I say is what you think or am I totally off base. Also what you watch I want to know because if we watch the same things it will be interesting to see if we pick up on the same things or if we see the show from two totally different points of view. Like I said before, television is all about what you think the meaning is and by sharing that, we can learn from each other.


Works Cited
Corner, J. (1999). Critical Ideas in Television Studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
O’Donnell, V. (2007). Television Criticism. New York: Sage.
Sillars, M. O. and Gronbeck, B. E. (2001). Communication Criticism: Rhetoric, Social Codes, Cultural Studies. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

Some of my favorite scenes from FRIENDS