It's not very often that I don't understand the moral of a film, nor is it very often that I disagree with the moral of a film. But what doesn't happen at all, for me, is when I don't understand the moral of a film that conveys a clear, transparent, harmful message, completely misinterpreting its subject, and it is nominated for the Oscars because of it.
I've only watched this film because it was part of my GCSE Film Course so this isn't a film that I just watched for the hour and a half run-time and then just forget it. I had to watch this out of obligation and have had to come back to this film time and time again to analyze and pull-apart aspects of the film. So as you can understand, I, unfortunately, have this very engrained into my brain and ironically, this is a film that to this day I just don't understand.
Whiplash is a film that attempts to be Rocky, an underdog story where the main character starts from the bottom and succeeds to greatness. Except, this film fails to understand even this basic story concept and instead demonstrates a far, far greater harmful message compared to what Rocky was successfully able to achieve in its morals.
The premise of Whiplash is that our student, Andrew (Miles Teller), desires to be 'One of the Greats' in Jazz Drumming, and will do anything to achieve his dream. His aspirations however are shrouded by his tutor, Fletcher (JK Simmons), whose method of teaching musicians is portrayed as a violent drill exercise to make them great music machines, rather than music performers. Despite the toxic, verbal, physical, and mental abuse he receives from his psychotic teacher, Andrew fights on until he is finally validated by Fletcher in the final scene of the film. The moral is that through sacrifice, effort, sheer willpower, determination, and a lot of abuse, you can achieve your dreams.
There's a lot wrong with this plot and it genuinely baffles me how this film has such high praise from critics and viewers; It's not deserved in my opinion. This film essentially tries to be the 'Boot Camp of Music', as stated by another reviewer and I can't agree more. I have never taken music classes nor have I ever known the struggles of mastering instruments, but as a college student in a creative arts academy, I'm pretty sure that our courses and projects are not treated like competitions and physical torture. You don't need to be in the art industry to know this isn't how they operate. I've read reviews here that are written by Jazz tutors and musicians who denounce the inaccuracy and misunderstanding of the art. If that doesn't highlight the flaws, I don't know what does.
None of the characters are likable and I struggled to align with any of them or understand their motives. Andrew is just a sad, sorry excuse of a "main character". I didn't feel much sympathy for him after the 'Not My Tempo' scene purely because of how empty his motivations afterward felt, though I will say he's far more redeemable than Fletcher, who instigates the entire conflict, to begin with. Fletcher's motives are so revolting and bizarre to me: That 'Abuse and torture will push those you teach into becoming the best they can be' is quite possibly one of the worst morals I have ever seen demonstrated in a film. Fletcher's justification is that saying 'Good Job' isn't enough. That having a kind and supportive tutor and student relationship isn't enough and that bullying, belittlement, and abuse are the only way to create Charlier Parkers; it's just not true.
What hurts most about this is that people just seem to gloss over these toxic morals. People just ignore the clear signs of wrong in this film and praise it as the best thing since sliced bread. Any competent person will tell you that if you treat others lesser than yourself and behave abusively around them, you are not improving them or their skills, you are making it worse, and quite possibly sending them down a path of abusive behavior to others and themselves as well.
Whiplash is a film that just misses the point of its subject: Jazz, a calm, passionate, and incredibly organic form of music built upon experience, support, dedication, and passion, is completely tarnished to portray it as nothing more than the competition; a way for tutors to use their students as tools for their egotistical benefit and nothing more, pitting them against each other and watching them crumble.
I genuinely don't understand the crew's motives with this one. If this was a comedy with the ridiculousness of how far people define 'success' being the main focus, I would've given this 10 stars. But this film takes itself seriously, and because of it feels incredibly inauthentic and unbelievable. Jazz being treated like a military exercise is just not a realistic scenario to base a story around the struggles of passion in art.
If people want a film that is truly about the demonstration of the struggles of being an artist and being passionate about what your love, then watch Pixar's 'Ratatouille'. A film made several years earlier and excels at delivering a far more mature and realistic portrayal and moral of the hardships of art.
This review has gone on for long enough so I'll end it here. Overall, Whiplash is a film that that glorifies the idea of bullying and crushes all hopes of creativity and passion in what it's trying to represent, effectively sucking the soul out of the characters and the viewer. It's either a film I just haven't understood or Chazelle fails to understand what the art of Jazz is.
This isn't a film I'll be coming back to any time soon.
I've only watched this film because it was part of my GCSE Film Course so this isn't a film that I just watched for the hour and a half run-time and then just forget it. I had to watch this out of obligation and have had to come back to this film time and time again to analyze and pull-apart aspects of the film. So as you can understand, I, unfortunately, have this very engrained into my brain and ironically, this is a film that to this day I just don't understand.
Whiplash is a film that attempts to be Rocky, an underdog story where the main character starts from the bottom and succeeds to greatness. Except, this film fails to understand even this basic story concept and instead demonstrates a far, far greater harmful message compared to what Rocky was successfully able to achieve in its morals.
The premise of Whiplash is that our student, Andrew (Miles Teller), desires to be 'One of the Greats' in Jazz Drumming, and will do anything to achieve his dream. His aspirations however are shrouded by his tutor, Fletcher (JK Simmons), whose method of teaching musicians is portrayed as a violent drill exercise to make them great music machines, rather than music performers. Despite the toxic, verbal, physical, and mental abuse he receives from his psychotic teacher, Andrew fights on until he is finally validated by Fletcher in the final scene of the film. The moral is that through sacrifice, effort, sheer willpower, determination, and a lot of abuse, you can achieve your dreams.
There's a lot wrong with this plot and it genuinely baffles me how this film has such high praise from critics and viewers; It's not deserved in my opinion. This film essentially tries to be the 'Boot Camp of Music', as stated by another reviewer and I can't agree more. I have never taken music classes nor have I ever known the struggles of mastering instruments, but as a college student in a creative arts academy, I'm pretty sure that our courses and projects are not treated like competitions and physical torture. You don't need to be in the art industry to know this isn't how they operate. I've read reviews here that are written by Jazz tutors and musicians who denounce the inaccuracy and misunderstanding of the art. If that doesn't highlight the flaws, I don't know what does.
None of the characters are likable and I struggled to align with any of them or understand their motives. Andrew is just a sad, sorry excuse of a "main character". I didn't feel much sympathy for him after the 'Not My Tempo' scene purely because of how empty his motivations afterward felt, though I will say he's far more redeemable than Fletcher, who instigates the entire conflict, to begin with. Fletcher's motives are so revolting and bizarre to me: That 'Abuse and torture will push those you teach into becoming the best they can be' is quite possibly one of the worst morals I have ever seen demonstrated in a film. Fletcher's justification is that saying 'Good Job' isn't enough. That having a kind and supportive tutor and student relationship isn't enough and that bullying, belittlement, and abuse are the only way to create Charlier Parkers; it's just not true.
What hurts most about this is that people just seem to gloss over these toxic morals. People just ignore the clear signs of wrong in this film and praise it as the best thing since sliced bread. Any competent person will tell you that if you treat others lesser than yourself and behave abusively around them, you are not improving them or their skills, you are making it worse, and quite possibly sending them down a path of abusive behavior to others and themselves as well.
Whiplash is a film that just misses the point of its subject: Jazz, a calm, passionate, and incredibly organic form of music built upon experience, support, dedication, and passion, is completely tarnished to portray it as nothing more than the competition; a way for tutors to use their students as tools for their egotistical benefit and nothing more, pitting them against each other and watching them crumble.
I genuinely don't understand the crew's motives with this one. If this was a comedy with the ridiculousness of how far people define 'success' being the main focus, I would've given this 10 stars. But this film takes itself seriously, and because of it feels incredibly inauthentic and unbelievable. Jazz being treated like a military exercise is just not a realistic scenario to base a story around the struggles of passion in art.
If people want a film that is truly about the demonstration of the struggles of being an artist and being passionate about what your love, then watch Pixar's 'Ratatouille'. A film made several years earlier and excels at delivering a far more mature and realistic portrayal and moral of the hardships of art.
This review has gone on for long enough so I'll end it here. Overall, Whiplash is a film that that glorifies the idea of bullying and crushes all hopes of creativity and passion in what it's trying to represent, effectively sucking the soul out of the characters and the viewer. It's either a film I just haven't understood or Chazelle fails to understand what the art of Jazz is.
This isn't a film I'll be coming back to any time soon.