What WHIPLASH Is Really About

Awesome acting by Bezos and Zuckerberg

Whiplash is a classic. You're dead on about it being a cautionary tale

Can we appreciate how 1000% perfect that cast of this movie is? JKS and Miles Teller were born to play these roles.

i just noticed that at the dinner with family Andrew aspires to be remembered by people who never met him. But at the dinner date with Nicole he points out the song playing at the shop and knows who the drumer is, but Nicole pays no mind. This shows to me that legacy is not actually promised at all.

I never noticed his father's reaction at the end as being concerned his sons soul died...it's an amazing detail. I could reason that this movie was about an abusive person in power. At the end it was tragic that you see the abused, Andrew, be caught in a cycle of allowing the abuse to continue. The Dad is an extraordinary character. I didn't pay enough attention to his importance in the small interaction.

I think it's important to mention that Fletcher tells him that prolific jazz scouts are in the audience at the last performance. Whether truthful or not, this puts the performance in Andrew's mind as his 'big shot', increasing the stakes even more.

In your 20s and early 30s you tend to fall for this trap cause you're trying to create a path for yourself in a world that seems already crowded with amazing, more experienced people. Some people don't think about the future at all and just live in the present, whereas others forget to live in the present cause they're so worried about the future. I think both ends of the spectrum can make you miserable.

Man, as someone who attempted to unsubscribe from life after failing to reach the standards I set for myself... This film hit hard. Ambition doesn't have to be self destructive, but we are often seduced by greatness and light ourselves on fire in order to fuel our hopes and dreams.

You could also look at the scene where Fletcher tortures the three drummers after the news of his former student's suicide, because he wants to weed out any one who might do the same thing as his former student. In that scene, he is trying to go as hard as possible to force them to leave if they can't take it, to try and weed out anyone else who might later crack under the pressure and hurt themselves. That's what I always thought.

Dude, I remember seeing this movie shortly after it came out, while it is such an amazing film, it literally triggered some like PTSD in me that I had from a super abusive high school basketball coach who did very similar shit to what Fletcher does to Andrew in this movie... Some really heavy stuff that is hard to ever let go of, and for sure a cautionary tale. To this day I still can't rewatch this movie just from how it made me feel the first time

I'm stunned that anyone saw the ending of this movie as "triumphant." Guys like Andrew do end up dead with a fifth of liquor, a bottle of pills, and a needle almost always. They are never, ever happy. Never. The ending was very clear to me, and I think the Black Swan comparison is an excellent one because nobody walked away from that thinking Natalie Portman's character was "triumphant" because her ending was shown. Edit: Oh, and guys like Fletcher live long miserable lives because they are middle men. Managers who never actually do the great things, but pursue them by perverse association. 2nd Edit: Okay. I just watched a clip of an interview with the director. He said the same thing I just did. Andrew ends up exactly as his father said he would.

I know wishing violence on Fletcher wasn’t the point. But maaan, when Neiman tackled him, I wish the directors would’ve given us viewers a few solid blows to Fletcher’s face before Andrew was restrained.

Can’t believe it took me almost 9 years to watch this movie and it’s on my top 3 favorite movies of all time. I was sweating by the end and smiling along with the characters. As a musician it really moved me. Excellent film!

Here's the thing. The next Charlie Parker wouldn't need "motivated" and especially in this manner. He chased his CP away a long time ago.

Fletcher is particularly disgusted. He is so vile about making the best in stead of becoming the best himself. He’s taking his self loathing out on others. He knows he doesn’t have what it takes so he’s crushing others, proving nobody else has what it takes either. Even if he did find the next Charlie Parker, he’d be sure to destroy them. He’s a sick man.

Whiplash does not seem to ask if greatness is worth it. It's more like a cautionary tale about confusing being harsh with being demanding. Greatness does not require harshness, it requires commitment, perseverance, passion and more so inspiration. The movie shows the trap of underestimating the importance of kind support and meaningful art. It also shows the ego-rooted part of it, the sterile obsession, celebrating other's failures instead of pushing the art further together, drying every other aspects of life that are supposed to enrich it. Fletcher and Andrew are interpretative performers, it raises the missing creative part of this approach. It's quite ironic that the true moment of magic happens when Andrew disobbeys Fletcher's lead and starts playing Caravane. Both things maybe suggesting that the artist should get closer to a composer, not a soldier.

I interpreted the dads expression in the finale act as him realizing that his son is great, at the dinner table seen they all wrote his profession off thinking it lesser then football but seen is son rise to the occasion he truly sees that he is not his youngest son but probably the greatest son

As a drummer I could relate to this film. This is probably the only film that takes drumming and drummers seriously. This could also apply to any co-dependant and abusive relationship. Yearning for validation and being manipulated and gaslighted into doing anything just for the hope of pleasing the abuser. Abusers will pull you away from everyone who might save you from the abuser. The leaving then going back is also part of the unhealthy dynamic. The film is less about music and greatness and more about the need for validation and belonging at any cost and the willingness to debase and demean oneself for the scant hope that you will win the approval of others.

The crazy thing is is that the director of whiplash said that Andrew would die in his thirties of drug overdose just like his dad told him

a friend pointed out the in the scene where we see only fletcher's eyes during andrews solo, fletcher is saying "good job"