West Wing Reflections: Aaron Sorkin’s sharp dialogue conveys relationship between partisan division, media

Garnering 95 Emmy nominations and 26 wins in its seven seasons, “The West Wing” is an NBC television drama that depicts an era in which the president of the United States is a Catholic Democrat and Twitter does not yet exist. Though it premiered back in 1999 and ran until 2006, columnist Alex Driscoll dives into various episodes of the series, putting a twist on a typical review with analysis on how the show reflects today’s political climate.

Like the initial flame after a good first date, the pilot episode of “The West Wing” lures viewers in, presenting a dynamic display of the Washington D.C. political scene.

Featuring the day-to-day lives of fictional White House staffers, executive producers Aaron Sorkin and Thomas Schlamme threw their audience into the world of American politics right from the opening scene, and they did so with linguistic poise. From battling disinformation with the press to communicating modern themes of media bias and political polarization, the series’ pilot episode effortlessly keeps viewers engaged through its well-paced tension and witty dialogue.

Within the first ten minutes of the pilot, viewers are immediately introduced to the key players in “The West Wing.” With Rob Lowe’s portrayal of the dreamy Sam Seaborn – the deputy White House communications director – and John Spencer’s domineering screen presence as the president’s chief of staff Leo McGarry, each cameo reveals a snippet of their personalities, humanizing an altogether closed-off job description.

But it’s Bradley Whitford’s charming performance of Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman who instigates the first of the show’s many political firestorms. His misstep on a political talk show with a conservative religious pundit leads to a tense conversation about the role that Christian megachurches play in politics. His claim that “the God you pray to is too busy getting indicted for tax fraud” sits poorly with the conservative guest and with much of the president’s constituency on the show.

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In the wake of Josh’s Freudian slip, Schlamme, who directed the episode, crafts the stylistic shot known as the “walk and talk.” With various characters weaving in and out of one continuous scene, the show’s articulate cast shines bright against the hectic background of the West Wing, making it one of the most memorable moments of the episode. The “walk and talk” is a powerful evidence of why the show works so well despite its large cast: It fosters a sense of teamwork in a setting that can often feel closed off to the public eye.

Another striking aspect of the show’s pilot episode is how the writers deliberately introduce President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) in its final minutes on air. Rather than centering on the easily discernible role of the president, the format highlights the behind-the-scenes roles each staffer plays. While real-life media outlets often focus primarily on covering the president rather than the entire staff of the executive branch, “The West Wing” provides a refreshing twist on the true nature of the White House and the many facets it requires to stay running.

But aside from how the episode is structured, what helps make the pilot feel relevant right now is the contentious dialogue Sorkin writes for Josh. His harsh remarks toward Christianity highlight the growing divide between the conservative right and the progressive left even two decades ago. Behind closed doors, Josh and his coworkers compare stereotypical comments that belittle family values while calling conservative religious leaders the enemy.

Much of this discourse feels familiar today, except more and more politicians have taken to expressing their views on social media rather than keep them between colleagues. The media has long been the fourth estate of American government, but as social media platforms and the internet continue to grow in popularity, so does their power.

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As the era of new media shifts towards a shorter news cycle and format, John Branstetter, a political science lecturer at UCLA said the rise of the internet has created a profound shift within the media today, fundamentally changing the scope of what can be said politically.

“With Twitter, you can do political discourse but completely in the absence of any sort of alternative point of view,” Branstetter said.

While the political arguments that take place today are more prevalent on Twitter than on a fictionally reproduced talk show, one remaining constant is the necessity to spin a news story along partisan lines. It’s noticeable that Josh struggles with his conservative counterparts over a makeshift truce, and the desire to toe the party line reveals an underlying hostility. Rather than apologize and move on, the dramatized efforts of the characters in “The West Wing” articulate how partisan politics influence human decency.

With public perception being critical on both sides of the aisle, the new era of media has found success in targeting implicit bias through partisan news outlets and 280 characters of baseless internet quarrels. According to a 2015 article on media bias in Austria from the journal Communication Research, partisan voters are more likely to reject information that goes against their own political preferences, especially if that information comes from media sources that they consider to be politically biased.

In today’s political climate, it’s common for voters to selectively expose themselves to media sources aligned with their own political ideology. Social media’s targeted dissemination of information regardless of its veracity is a harrowing reminder that partisan users will often see only what they want to see, and dismiss the rest. Media bias pervades all aspects of society, on old television shows, the news and even the devices used to read this article.

“That change in the media environment, along with the internet, has really made it easier for people to completely ignore the other side of an argument,” Branstetter said.

It is easy for politics to feel disconnected from the broader public perspective, both in the ’90s and in the present day. But with “The West Wing” becoming a cult favorite of politicians and typical television viewers alike, its writers have proven that politics are worth paying attention to, regardless of what decade it is.

“One of the great things about the show is that it really captures this world (behind the Washington political scene), this very self-contained space where everybody knows everybody,” Branstetter said.