....it's not the story of Steve Jobs -- it's something much different than that, Sorkin said. "He's a fascinating guy -- part hero, part antihero."
I like the sound of this.
I agree, Job's life story has now been told many times in films and documentaries, and it's time to focus on the larger issues his life so richly illustrates.
What makes Jobs so interesting, imho, is the larger than life "part hero, part antihero" holistic qualities of his character.
In any story, if the lead character is all good or all bad, it quickly becomes boring. It's the conflicts between good and bad within any human being that makes us fascinating, and creates the necessary story arc.
What makes Jobs interesting is that he was a
BIG person, containing both genius and less flattering qualities in more than ample measure. This is rich material for examining the human condition in a compelling manner.
What would you sacrifice for power and fame, to be creative on a large scale, to change the world, to get really rich?
What price would you pay to get everything you want? These are questions of Shakespearean scale that reflect upon the human condition at large, and help us examine the world that Jobs has created.
These are large questions that go far beyond Jobs the person, because thanks in part to Jobs, all of us are entering a brave new digital world where it will be increasingly possible to get anything we want.
The future that Jobs helped create is not going to be only the wonderful ice cream and cookies that Apple marketing might suggest. It will also be, just as Job's himself learned, full of prices to pay.
Would you give up your first born child to reach your dreams? You won't really know the answer to that question until the Mac experience one day can deliver that which you most deeply want.
Most of us don't even know what we most deeply want, because the limitations of the real world usually make the question irrelevant. The digital world that Jobs helped create is going to change that.
Jobs was sort of the Jesus of our time, setting loose historic forces of good and evil that none of us can yet fully imagine.