Whiplash Alternate Poster(Redbubble)
My goal in these posts is not just to share movies I enjoy. We've all done the obligatory icebreaker of sharing our favorite movies with others. It doesn't reveal all that much about a person besides the broad strokes of their personality. In these blog posts my intention is to share what about this movie makes it so important to me so that perhaps someone will discover a movie and take away something of their own from it. This week I have chosen to share my thoughts on the film Whiplash. A story of a drummer and his teacher that falls into chaos and obsession. The relationship and their two distinct views on excellence in art form the central conflict of the film that I find fascinating to break down.
The protagonist of the film is Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a shy and unconfident first year student at the Schafer Conservatory studying drumming. His path changes when Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) pulls him up from a lower level band to join the competitive studio band. While there he is berated by Fletcher for poor performance and dedicates himself to becoming "one of the greats". His confidence grows, leading to him asking out his crush who works at the local movie theater and assert himself where previously he had been more passive. These changes may seem positive, but with them comes Andrew's growing arrogance and obsession that alienates those around him. In one scene at dinner with his cousins Andrew gets into an argument saying "I'd rather die drunk, broke at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remembered who I was."
This toxic mindset is admittedly one I used to subscribe to. I didn't want to feel left behind or that my life was meaningless, so I believed that you should ignore everything else in pursuit of 'greatness'. Later on, I realized that this thinking is what leads to Andrew being forgotten. During the movie as he focuses on being great he alienates his peers, family, and even breaks up with his girlfriend to focus on drumming. His callousness oscillates between deliberate and accidental, but serves to make him little better than Fletcher's constant put downs in their rehearsals. When Andrew fails in his objective he cannot handle it, attacking Fletcher on stage before being kicked out of the conservatory. He finds redemption with Fletcher, but it lacks the earnestness that characterized his early journey. Instead, Andrew enters his final performance with little to no support from anybody before giving his magnum opus. That, however, is due to Fletcher's rather than Andrew's philosophy.
Terence Fletcher, Andrew's abusive instructor, is by all metrics the antagonist of the movie. He sets everything in motion by plucking Andrew from obscurity and bringing him into his studio band. He verbally, emotionally and even physically abusing his students for shortcomings. He wins competitions, but at the cost of students comfort and safety. This intensity and singular drive may seem similar to Andrew's, yet Fletcher is a frustrating enigma for most of the film. His motivations and reasoning is not revealed until the final act in which he states that his goal was to find the next Charlie Parker or other great musician. His goal was to push someone beyond what they believed they could be to achieve art that he thought could change the world.
In recent years, I found myself empathizing with Fletcher more and more. At the end of the film he has been fired (justifiably so) and left conducting a small band. Yet, his intentions were far more pure than Andrew's. For Andrew the pursuit of perfection or excellence was about personal prestige. For Fletcher it was about his love for the art form. He offers himself up as a sacrificial figure as he does horrible things that he feels are a necessary evil to bring about growth in the music he loves, and he succeeds in the end in pushing Andrew to his highest highs by forcing him to play for something beyond prestige.
Neither of these characters are good men. Their actions cannot be justified, but their intense flaws and how they complement one another showcase a wonderful character study to beg the question: When it comes to what you care about most, what are you willing to pay for perfection?
Hey Jacob, I enjoyed reading your exploration of "Whiplash" and its central characters as both thought-provoking and intriguing. It seems like an emotional rollercoaster of a film that delves deep into the complex world of artistic excellence and obsession. I liked how you integrated your personal connection to the story adding an extra layer of relatability, making me even more curious about the movie. To answer your question, In my opinion I wouldn't pay anything for perfection because I don't think anything is truly perfect.
ReplyDeleteI love this movie! I always viewed it as the masculine version of Black Swan. Both protagonists are idealistic, talented youths who are warped by obsession with artistic perfection and proving something to their mentors. I like that you pointed out how the increasing confidence is initially a good thing before it is taken to an extreme. It is not having confidence that makes Andrew warp but rather a lack thereof that makes him overcompensate. Fletcher’s repeated jabs at Andrew serve to shame him into motivation, initiating a toxic cycle of Andrew self-harming for his achievements.
ReplyDeleteI think that, cliché as it may sound, movies like this reinforce the fact that we all just want to be recognized and loved. I think most people in a modern, post-capitalist world feel pressure to compete for attention and worth. The rat-race isn’t just about productivity but about us tying our value to productivity, an unfortunate cycle that Andrew falls into. Andrew, seeking validation outside of himself, begins to base his value on the opinions of a person who never cared for him in the first place. The tragedy of this tale is that Andrew doesn’t realize what he has until it is gone, once he has already pushed everything away.
Something I thought was interesting was your opinion that Andrew’s pursuit was more selfish than Fletcher’s. I don’t know if I agree or disagree with this. Personally, I think there is no justification for the abusive strategies used by Fletcher; I think pushing Andrew to the brink was not an act of love in any capacity. This is a great post, and it totally made me want to watch the movie again! – Saedy McCoy