Whiplash and the Purpose of Movies

A look into what we should expect from a good Movie.

INT. ZANKEL HALL - JVC COMPETITION

After thirty minutes of intense battle for power between Andrew and his teacher, Fletcher, on proving who’s the boss here, we are now in the final scene. Andrew is giving one of the best performances anyone has ever seen. Fletcher realizes that he has got his ‘Charlie Parker’.

Andrew is at the peak of his performance. Suddenly, it all becomes silent. We can only see Andrew’s eyes in a close-up. He is looking at his teacher, seeking approval. His eyes lit up and he smiles from the bottom of his heart. He has got the one thing he wanted the most in his life, Fletcher’s approval.

FADE TO BLACK

THE END

What an excellent way to end a movie. One of the best ending I have ever seen. Now it is time for some reflections. What was the movie all about? What is the message? Let’s look at the ending. Andrew got what he wanted, to be counted in one of the greats of drumming. Fletcher, too, got what he wanted, his ‘Charlie Parker’ and to be called one of the best teachers. It’s a happy ending. But what about all the bullying, berating, and harassment that Andrew suffered from Fletcher in the name of training. And Andrew, too, was no innocent. He was self-centric and hyper-competitive. So what is the message here? Are they saying that ‘THE END JUSTIFIES ALL MEANS’?

I am confused. I loved the movie, but it all doesn’t match up in my head. They should have been more explicit about the message. What is the point of making a movie if the message that you are trying to convey isn’t clear? I feel cheated. I think about it for some more time. But now, there is a new question coming into my head. Why do you make a movie? Or what should you expect from a good movie?

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Andrew Neiman, a 19-year-old boy, dreams of becoming one of the greatest drummers of all time. To achieve this goal, he joins Shaffer Conservatory, one of the US's best music institutions. There he meets Terence Fletcher, a conductor of the best jazz band of the Institute, and the Hero’s Journey starts.

But before we dive into the movie, let us first consider some basics about a Teacher-Student relationship.

Role of a teacher

You are curious about the role of a teacher. To satisfy your curiosity, you search it on google. The result shows, ‘The role of a teacher is to inspire, motivate, encourage and educate learners.’ You close the tab. You are satisfied with the answer. At least the world has not become as bad as everyone thinks.

But the real question is - How do you do all these things? What strategies should you follow? Is the path taken to achieve the goal important? Or is the saying “The End justifies all Means” true?

The movie Whiplash forces us to think about all this. We are introduced to Terence Fletcher at the beginning of the movie when he comes into the room where Andrew was practicing drumming. And only by looking at Andrew’s face, you can tell how important is he to Andrew.

FLETCHER - The truth is I don’t think people understand what it is I did at Shaffer. I wasn’t there to conduct. Any idiot can move his hands and keep people in tempo. No, it’s about pushing people beyond what’s expected of them. And I believe that is a necessity. Because without it you’re depriving the world of its next Armstrong. Its next Parker.

What a beautiful line he said, right? But how did he do all this ‘pushing of people’?

By torturing students with shouts, toxic comments, and throwing chairs at them because they didn’t quite match his TEMPO.

Terence Fletcher is a very complex character, perfect to be an Antoganist in a film. He is no black and white type but has many shades of grey in him. He is a tyrannical teacher, and he can really take you deep into the abyss if he doesn't get what he wants from you.

Fletcher constantly puts Andrew in impossible situations to mess with him and to show off his powers. But Andrew is equally determined to take on whatever he throws at him. Because he is mad about becoming the greatest of all time. He is extremely competitive with his band member on the race of becoming the core. And he thinks of less ambitious people like dirt. He is embarrassed about his father as he gave up on becoming a writer and settled for being a school teacher. He breaks up with his girlfriend because he thought she would just come in his way of becoming great. He did everything he thought was right for his dream.

But he reached his breaking point when the car accident happened, and even with a determined attitude, he couldn’t play the drums at the concert and when Fletcher told him - “You’re done.”

The question that the movie raises is - Till what length can you go in the name of becoming great, and is it really worth it?

Fletcher - There are no two words more harmful in the entire English language than “good job”.

ANDREW - But do you think there’s a line? You know -- where you discourage the next Charlie Parker from becoming Charlie Parker?

FLETCHER - No. Because the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged.

This conversation with Fletcher at the bar changes Andrew’s whole perception about all he suffered. We, too, got invested in the conversation, and for a moment, our perception of Fletcher’s character changes. We think that maybe he is right. His method might be questioned, but we feel connected to him for a moment. What if we are really depriving the world of geniuses by not pushing people ‘enough’?

Purpose of Movies

The final scene of the movie starts, and our perception of Fletcher changes again. We get to know that all those sweet pep talks were just a facade. The real motive was to take revenge on Andrew. To destroy his remaining hope of becoming a drummer. But the irony was that Andrew did indeed take all the talks given by Fletcher seriously. And became the next Charlie Parker.

So the question that it all comes down to is – What was the purpose of the movie? What was it trying to prove? And the answer is – I don’t know. It depends upon how you take it, or maybe that too is not true. We always try to find meaning in art or, to say - Search for the story's moral. Movies were never made, in the first place, to teach you life lessons. It’s just a medium to tell a story. And stories don’t always have life lessons. Stories are there to open a whole new dimension of possibilities for you that you didn’t know existed. Stories are there to make you think about stuff. Stories are not there to teach you. If they do teach you something, that’s a bonus, but that should not be the aim in the first place.

In every scriptwriting book that you are ever going to read, you’ll find one thing in common - The concept of Need vs. Want. But what they don’t tell you is that more than often, the need is not clear. You never know what you need in life. You only know what you want. And if someone is telling you what you need, they are only telling you what THEY want from you. That is the reason why the ending of Whiplash is the perfect ending for any movie. The filmmaker is not imposing His moral and ethical beliefs on us. He is just working as a journalist, presenting this fictional story in the best way possible for him and letting us decide whether what happened is right or wrong. And you are free not even to do that much. Sometimes all you need is to sit back and enjoy the movie. Why? Just for the love of movies.

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I have got two questions for you - Should the teacher ever try to force a student beyond what we can call satisfactory, and if yes, what is the limit to that? Second, what’s YOUR take on Whiplash?

Let me know in the comments and follow the link to the discussion thread.