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Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#31

Post by drzaiusapelord »

exodust wrote: post #2

How many Jobs/Apple movies do we need? Seems to be nothing more than cashing in on the iPhone generation's obsession and hype with one particular brand. Why don't we have a decent Tesla movie? His life and events surrounding his inventions are remarkable, truly engrossing. World-changing in a way that blows Apple Computers or any internal corporate bullshit story or personal Steve Jobs issues out of the park. Yet, wh…

>How many Jobs/Apple movies do we need?

One good one I suppose. Made for TV movies and low budget cash-ins don't count. I love the 1980s tech era and would love to see more films handle that. Not sure if this film goes this far back but the rise of mobile is just as good of a story, and probably more relate-able to modern audiences.

>Why don't we have a decent Tesla movie?

Honestly, because it would be terrible. Tesla works as a backdrop to Edison's success but he's a bit player in almost every way. This is like asking why we don't have a Paul Allen movie. Sure, those would be interesting, but not $50m plus dollar investment interesting for a risk-averse Hollywood system.

Also, general audiences won't be too impressed with the guy who failed at a lot of things even though his technical achievements are impressive. Tesla is also a very unlikeable person from the writings we have of people who have met him. He doesn't have the Jobsian charm we're going to see in Apple movies. He doesn't have a Jobsian narrative. He was a stern and asocial weirdo and most likely would be somewhere on the autism spectrum today. It also doesn't help that his ideas went full wack-town towards the end. In a desperate attempt to make money things like death rays, perpetual energy, bullshit medical devices, etc became his norm. Not to mention his vision of wireless energy was ultimately a non-starter as it would pollute the spectrum enough to make things like TV or cell phones impossible.

On a related note, I think creatives struggled with telling Alan Turing's story, but at least with Turing we have all his influence, published papers, his victimhood, and his amazing WWII experiences. Even then, the Imitation Game wasn't very historically accurate. Tesla doesn't have any crowd-pleasing themes of overcoming adversity and his dark side is really dark - endless advocating eugenics, wanting to sterilize the poor, never having any sort of romance, becoming bitter, ultimately failing at his dreams, etc. He isn't this kindly grandfather type his fans make him out to be. He's a mess, honestly. A smart mess, but a mess nonetheless. I think any movie that makes him look relatable or a "hero" would ultimately be dishonest. By the business standards of the time, he was treated fairly. He just couldn't launch his own businesses successfully.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#32

Post by throwaway1967 »

jwdunne wrote: post #9
veidelis wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, that's how it works. I felt that death of D. Ritchie was overshadowed by that of S. Jobs. It seems that some heroes have to accept the role of doing the "dirty" work.

I remember a meme going around that compared the two's achievements. Quite popular amongst programmers on Facebook. My response was something along the lines of everybody can understand Steve Job's achievements because he was a public-facing sales/showman. Dennis Ritchie's achievements certainly did help Job's achievements in a massive way, like any other publicly reknowned figure in computers as opposed to a reknown…

The public at large are indirect users of D.R.'s achievements but they are direct users of S.J.'s achievements.

There are no blockbuster movies about plumbers but they are the backbone of civilization and utterly thankless.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#33

Post by Zuider »

Vexs wrote: post #24
dagw wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any Tesla movie would probably be depressing as fuck. Kid genius comes to America to work for his hero, but decides to strike out on his own to change the world after a disagreement over money. Ends up failing miserably and being crushed by his former hero and employer. Slowly goes insane and dies poor and largely forgotten.

No worse than the Turing movie with Bernard Cumbersnatch. Tragedy is great movie material.

"Bernard Cumbersnatch"? I take it that you are referring to celebrated British actor, Humperdinck Rumblebum? Or was it perhaps, Twiddleplink Cucumberpatch? I can never get these British names quite right.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#34

Post by Zuider »

01Michael10 wrote: post #21
dagw wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any Tesla movie would probably be depressing as fuck. Kid genius comes to America to work for his hero, but decides to strike out on his own to change the world after a disagreement over money. Ends up failing miserably and being crushed by his former hero and employer. Slowly goes insane and dies poor and largely forgotten.

Don't forget Tesla had zero known love interests and never married (possibly gay).

Gay like Alan Turing? Don't worry, given Hollywood's penchant for choosing drama over historical verisimilitude, Thomas Edison could be recast as a fading opera diva on whom Tesla had a boyhood crush.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#35

Post by Zuider »

Roodgorf wrote: post #23
Joeboy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is as much "is there an established audience" as "could the story be dramatised". I probably have a biased perspective because Turing, Hawking and I are British, but my guess would be a lot more people at least recognise their names than would recognise Tesla's (aside from as an electric car).

Really? I feel like most people outside of CS/Mathematics have little to no idea who Alan Turing is. Tesla, on the other hand, has a seemingly large cult following due to the strange, almost mythological details of his life and inventive process. I've known plenty of people who knew more about who Tesla was than they even did about Hawking.

I think most people would at least have heard of the Turing test.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#36

Post by jwdunne »

throwaway1967 wrote: post #32
jwdunne wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember a meme going around that compared the two's achievements. Quite popular amongst programmers on Facebook. My response was something along the lines of everybody can understand Steve Job's achievements because he was a public-facing sales/showman. Dennis Ritchie's achievements certainly did help Job's achievements in a massive way, like any other publicly reknowned figure in computers as opposed to a reknown…

The public at large are indirect users of D.R.'s achievements but they are direct users of S.J.'s achievements. There are no blockbuster movies about plumbers but they are the backbone of civilization and utterly thankless.

This is a good succinct summary. I'll remember this, thank you :)

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#37

Post by Roodgorf »

Zuider wrote: post #35
Roodgorf wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I feel like most people outside of CS/Mathematics have little to no idea who Alan Turing is. Tesla, on the other hand, has a seemingly large cult following due to the strange, almost mythological details of his life and inventive process. I've known plenty of people who knew more about who Tesla was than they even did about Hawking.

I think most people would at least have heard of the Turing test.

I don't know, I recognize that this is purely anecdotal but I still feel like more people are familiar with things like the Tesla coil, I mean there was even a fairly popular hair band named after him.

In my experience advances in the field of AI have only in the past 10-15 years shown a noticeable rise in awareness of the Turing test. Am I in some sort of minority and haven't realized it?

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#38

Post by croon »

teh_klev wrote: post #4
exodust wrote: post #2

How many Jobs/Apple movies do we need? Seems to be nothing more than cashing in on the iPhone generation's obsession and hype with one particular brand. Why don't we have a decent Tesla movie? His life and events surrounding his inventions are remarkable, truly engrossing. World-changing in a way that blows Apple Computers or any internal corporate bullshit story or personal Steve Jobs issues out of the park. Yet, wh…

>How many Jobs/Apple movies do we need? I know, and mostly agree with your sentiment. But I think this one has been in the pipeline for a good while (four years [0]), and is probably the one I've been waiting for because of the Boyle/Sorkin collaboration. The others seemed rushed out just to cash in on Job's life. That said I'm still particularly fond of "Pirates of Silicon Valley"[1], I thought Noah Wiley as a young…

The Boyle part I can get on board with, but I have a hard time coming up with a more overestimated writer than Sorkin. All of his characters are the exact same person.

Agreed on the Pirates... movie though, it was a great effort for a DTV movie.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#39

Post by Turing_Machine »

Joeboy wrote: post #8
ZenoArrow wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "That isn't a story they want to tell. __period__ Why would they? What benefit of mass entertainment would it serve? Hint: Look at the etymology of `entertain`." Tesla was an interesting character and had an interesting life. If you're concerned about whether his story could be dramatised, it's worth remembering we had films about Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing last year, both of which were successful at the box o…

The issue is as much "is there an established audience" as "could the story be dramatised". I probably have a biased perspective because Turing, Hawking and I are British, but my guess would be a lot more people at least recognise their names than would recognise Tesla's (aside from as an electric car).

Hmm... there was a successful movie about John Nash, and I'm pretty sure that Tesla is more widely-known than Nash.

Re: Steve Wozniak on Steve Jobs Movie

#40

Post by exodust »

digi_owl wrote: post #27
exodust wrote: post #2

How many Jobs/Apple movies do we need? Seems to be nothing more than cashing in on the iPhone generation's obsession and hype with one particular brand. Why don't we have a decent Tesla movie? His life and events surrounding his inventions are remarkable, truly engrossing. World-changing in a way that blows Apple Computers or any internal corporate bullshit story or personal Steve Jobs issues out of the park. Yet, wh…

As many as they feel like, clearly. Here is the thing, its not just about iPhones. Apple products have, since the early Mac, had a oddly special place in media production. I have seen a national broadcaster decide to standardize their production chain on Apple hardware and software, when the rest of the nation is basically in Microsoft's pocket. Frankly i think Apple would have been long dead, and both the iPod and i…

The endless articles are nothing more than echo chamber journalism. We need more comparative analysis and critical evaluation of these devices. There's too much "assumption of awesome".
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