What Actually Is Whiplash

[Eugene Aubry]

Spoton, sir. Agree on all points. You clearly received the message and are rightfully offended by suggestions that placed a wonderful educator like you in that light for others to suspect may occur.

Having acknowledged that, something I took away from this film not mentioned in your post, was the personal message that abuse and exploitation happens at all levels and situations in life, love, career, adulthood and childhood.

To the abused audience, it can send a message that you are not alone in your situation and that you do have the ability to overcome - if not from the way the director presented - from at least the notion that you can possess the power, spirit or even assistance in many situations to even contemplate such as the smallest start.

Hopefully, it made the parent, guardian, mentor or educator aware of even the slightest of similarities in abuse traits they may possess and be a mirror for their own contemplation for positive change, as I believe the story tellers eventually did in this movie.

An elegant home run with all that? Perhaps not.

A serious piece of writing and cinematography where bullying, power, exploitation and all their related verbs and adjectives were designed to pierce your ear and retina? Without question, and clearly not meant to glorify such. I can't recall the number of times I winced.

This was one of the most difficult, upsetting and ugly watches I have experienced yet, somehow, came to appreciate enough to say it was actually well done... from perspective.

Neil, you bring up a great point about the perspective of the abused. I really was so busy being upset as a music educator that I didn't really think of other perspectives as an audience. Although I have to disagree with you, I think that it really did glorify the awful behavior of Fletcher, as it was presented (at the emotional climax of the film) as a win for him. Maybe not "Glorify" by at least justify. Either way, it was WILDLY inaccurate in it's depiction of music education, jazz festivals, the business of making a living as an artist, etc. Also, what kind of insane board of regents or dean allowed this psychopath to teach? And why was he so revered? Ridiculous. So many things I couldn't get past. And I so badly wanted Andrew to tell him off, or throw him under the bus at that jazz competition, but they didn't do anything with it. As always, I enjoy discussing film with you!

Appears to me we actually agree.

This was a movie about abuse of power, not music or its teachings and we both got the message. Could have been a movie about sports, science, technology or innovation with the same result - but perhaps not the same reaction from you.

Perhaps Chazelle eventually realized such as well by following up with La La Land. ;)

Absolutely. I was regarded with incredulity when I said I disliked (hated, in fact) this film. I found it profoundly awful and felt it applauded bullying as a 'means to an end'. Sometimes teachers need to be tough, yes, but physically abusive? Never. That's not a teacher - that's a sadistic pervert.

Imagine being so self obsessed that you somehow make the movie about YOU just because you're in the same profession as one of the characters.

That's a level of narcissism you don't see very often.

I heartily agree with everything you said. The movie is nothing but lies. I'm so sick of Hollywood made movies that offer nothing but scintillating drama at the expense of truth. The movie is lie after lie after lie. The greatest that jazz has produced, and for that matter, music, comes from intense commitment, inspired by all consuming passion and dedication. Through it all is an excitement for joy and beauty. And careful guidance towards the sublime. I teach drums for a living, and the number one experience I aim for with the students is enjoyment. If you're not enjoying getting better, you're not going to keep doing it. And my great aunt was lucky enough to study with the very greatest piano teacher in Europe of practically any era. Ecstatic results emerged from profound love and support. I hate lying, and this movie propagates lies too many to count.

you're all misinterpreting this film. it wasnt an attack on music teachers, ya insecure bastards lmaoo. the ending is not a justification for the abuse, thats just how fletcher sees it. andrew is fucked in the head by the end. regardless of whether he achieves his goals or not, thanks to fletcher. andrew would down the line probably meet the same fate as sean casey. this movie is not celebrating fletchers abuse, its about andrews tragedy. this movie is not an attack on all music teachers, this movie couldve been about dancing or sports or anything. it doesnt matter. it was a criticism of overworking and abuse.

I really don't think that's true at all. I don't think the film is saying that greatness is only achieved through abuse and therefore abuse is justified. In fact, I think it's saying the exact opposite.

The film is saying "hey, all of those times people have achieved artistic greatness through abuse (because it has happened a lot, doesn't mean it's the only way of achieving artistic greatness) is it really worth it?"

Totally agree. I watched it at home and I even stopped watching it half way through because I hated it so much. I hated the teacher I hated the approach to learning (it was like a marine boot camp). And I'm a former drummer so I should love a rare movie about a drummer, right?

The term whiplash is actually a generic term that we use for injuries to the neck caused when the neck is suddenly and/or violently jolted in one direction and then another, creating a whip-like movement.

Whiplash injuries mostly result in sprain-strain of the neck. The ligaments that help support, protect, and restrict excessive movement of the vertebrae (your spinal bones) are torn, which is called a sprain. The joints in the back of the spine, called the facet joints, are covered by ligaments called facet capsules, which seem to be particularly susceptible to whiplash injury.

As always, these breakdowns contain SPOILERS, and are only recommended if you've already seen the movie. You can check my introduction to these breakdowns, to get an overview of my process and philosophy.

1. **Opposed Goals**: This is where we have mutually exclusive goals. One character wants one thing, and the antagonist wants the other. Only one character can get what they want. For example, in Harry Potter, only Harry or Voldemort can win; they both can't get what they want.

2. **Different Goals**: Here, our characters want different things, and because they want different things, they may come into conflict. One may become antagonistic to the other because they want something different, but in the end, they can still potentially both get what they want. It doesn't mean they will, but they can.

3. **Complementary Goals**: In this case, the two characters want the same thing but may be in conflict over how to get it, where it will happen, or why it might happen. We often see complementary goals in romantic comedies where two people want to be together but can't quite figure out how to be together.

What's really interesting about Whiplash is that, on the surface, it feels like the goals are opposed. When you look at the character of Fletcher and the character of Andrew, they seem to be in total opposition. Their conflict is very high; they are constantly butting heads. Fletcher treats Andrew in terrible ways, so everything about that relationship feels like their goals are opposed. What's really interesting, though, is that they are not. They actually have complementary goals. It turns out they really want the same thing. Andrew wants to be the best drummer he can be; he wants to impress Fletcher and potentially be one of the great drummers. Fletcher wants Andrew to be a great drummer, potentially one of the greatest drummers of all time. They both want the same thing. Where they come into conflict is in how to make that happen, specifically in the ways Fletcher pushes Andrew and the methods he uses. At the end of the movie, Andrew seems receptive to those things, rises to the occasion, and it seems like they will both accomplish their complementary goals as Andrew rises to the trap that Fletcher has set for him at the JVC concert.

Our second observation is about relationship goals. Generally, we have an external goal and an internal goal in movies. Oftentimes, if we have a relationship goal, it is an internal movie-level goal. For example, we might have a protagonist trying to defeat an antagonist and also have an internal goal to satisfy or be in a romantic partnership or relationship, trying to get that to work. Its success or failure is often dependent on whether they will succeed or fail at this broader external goal they are trying to achieve.

What's interesting about Whiplash is that it does have some relationship goals, but they never rise to the level of movie-level goals and really don't become internal goals for our main character, Andrew. Specifically, Andrew starts a relationship with the character of Nicole. He meets her at the movie theater, asks her out, and they go on a couple of dates. It really feels like it's setting up that a relationship with Nicole is going to be the internal relationship that drives the internal goal that Andrew is interested in. But Andrew ends up breaking up with Nicole because, in his view, Nicole is getting in the way of his pursuit of his external goal of becoming a great drummer. So, even though we have what's set up as what seems like a typical relationship internal goal, that goal kind of falls by the wayside, and eventually, Andrew is the one who rejects it.

We can say the same thing about Andrew's relationship with his father, Jim. Jim plays a part in a couple of scenes, and we might posit an internal relationship where Andrew has to come to peace with his relationship with his father. That is kind of there; it's a bit of an internal goal for Andrew, but like the relationship with Nicole, it really gets pushed down and only plays out in three or four scenes across the whole movie. Although it does play a part at the end because Jim is at the JVC concert, he sees how Fletcher baits and traps Andrew and expects Andrew to walk away, but Andrew doesn't. In the end, Andrew sort of chooses Fletcher over his own dad. But again, that relationship goal doesn't play out in the typical internal kind of setup that we're used to seeing in Hollywood movies. So, it's a really fascinating way that both the relationship goals with Nicole and Jim don't quite rise to the level of movie-level goals but are still there and still provide subplots for the movie.

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