Last week, I had the pleasure of watching Whiplash for the first time. It is a dramatic film that captures the human capacity of obsession and displays how far someone will go to pursue their dreams. Andrew is the main protagonist of this story, but one character in the film steals the show in every scene they are in. That would be Terence Fletcher, who is masterfully played by J.K Simmons.
Fletcher makes the movie for me by being the most realistic manipulator that I’ve ever seen to this day. His goal in the film is to emotionally break his music students into becoming the greatest players in jazz, and he achieves this by playing on Andrew’s passion for drumming.
We start off knowing Fletcher when he invites Andrew into his jazz conservatory. He comes off as just a strict teacher at first but quickly shows his rage and kicks someone out for playing out of tune. He then reveals that he knew it wasn’t that person, but he still kicked him out anyway. This is his true nature first revealed, which we see more of when he seems to single out Andrew specifically.
Andrew is berated and humiliated by a perfectionist, which is ironically the opposite of the kind of chaotic style that jazz is known for. Every detail of Andrew’s life Fletcher learns about is used against him.
This eventually ruins Andrew’s relationship with his family and girlfriend, as he dedicates himself to drumming so that he can impress Fletcher. In the end, Fletcher gets what he wants, but at the cost of Andrew’s mental and physical health.
Andrew’s transformation throughout the film is tragic and hard to watch at times. This film managed to conjure the worst-case scenario for the victim of manipulation, while also manipulating the audience to believe that the ending is a happy one. I highly recommend this film.
