Whiplash Has a Happy Ending (And That Rules)

A lot late to this, but I'd see that its more ambiguous, its happy in the sense they both got what they wanted but wa sit really in the right way? I think its really questioning if tough love really is the best when it meant neman lost everything else in his life to get this one thing. I wouldn't say its a distraction from things for him but that the movie is more looking at the relationship between him and fletcher and the ambiguous nature of that. Is it right we break human beings to bring out the best in them? What if he just broke instead? Is that abuse granted if he does become great? And what about the kid they mentioned that offed himself becuase of fletchers influence? I think its easy to see it in a strictly good or bad ending but what gets me is that we'll never know and just have to question it.

When I was in art school I had a number of lecturers who did this to me. I studied animation film making and wanted to be an animator, but this was back before CGI, so you had to be an astonishing draftsperson and a great actor in order to get work. Of the 150 students I started with, only 12 graduated four years later, and 25 years after that there are fewer than 5 of my graduating class still working in film. I credit those hard nosed lecturers with whatever success I’ve had. If they’d have held my hand and stroked my hair like students today seem to expect, I would probably be working at ihop today.

Patrick Collins

ahahahahaha how embarrassing :)

Thia

I love this comment, but you mean James Baldwin :)

I agree with this take. I thought the real victory of the last scene was that Neiman takes control of the band and his own playing, decides for himself that he is going to play drums regardless of whether fletcher gives him permission. And fletcher of course takes credit for this - we see his glee at the prodigy he has “created” - but if neiman really did what fletcher wanted he would not have been on that stage, playing those songs, or playing at all. I thought the point was more about the relationship between coaches and creators - artists, athletes, academics, or what have you - and how fletcher continually talks about how all his “abuse” is necessary to “create” a great musician. But Neiman was going to be great anyway. He got hit by a car and he still kept playing the drums. He was already practicing his ass off in the first scene of the movie when we meet him. Fletcher actually tells him no, tells him to get off the stage, but he fucking keeps playing anyway. And that’s the moment where he finally becomes great. Fletcher says that “the real next Charlie Parker” wouldn’t be discouraged by abuse. But also “I’ve never gotten a Charlie Parker.” This is the point. If fletchers techniques were responsible for greatness, he would have produced a great musician by now. Charlie Parker will be Charlie Parker if you hurl a cymbal at his head. Or if you don’t. His singleminded dedication to greatness is that strong. And Neiman is responsible for his own success in the end.

Kayleigh Milano

I immediately saw it as a revenge movie of sorts. Someone who gave up so much control wrestles it back in the end and manages to achieve an autonomy and agency that no one would or could give him. He completely commandeers the stage for the finale and forces Fletcher to bend to his will. The satisfaction is that he owns what he’s become, despite everything in his life attempting to compromise his goals and take pieces of the credit for his transformation. I definitely found it gratifying, but I don’t know if it’s happy exactly.

Yeah the protagonist of Whiplash is one of those characters that doesn't actually have that much going for him outside of his one particular talent. He's a major dick, he doesn't show interest in his family or girlfriend, he has no friends, he doesn't seem to have any hobbies or interests outside of drumming. Even though the ending is kind of a win for his awful abuser, it's also the only possible win for himself.

helen sinning

Glad I’m not the only one who thinks it’s cool that the protagonist achieved a major breakthrough as a musician and made his dream come true. Sure it’s sad for his family and girlfriend to “lose” him, but I’m not his girlfriend. Why should I care. As someone who also plays instruments and has a lot of artistic pursuits, I actually got a bit jealous of the protagonist at the end. I kinda sorta also want to make this deal with the devil. Does this make me a bad daughter to my family? Maybe, but you win some you lose some.

Hannah Q.

I thought this was gonna be about the roller derby movie and boy was I in for a surprise

RebeccaC

Great one BJ, love your seductive cadence <3 ;)

I think this is the best Whiplash take I've ever seen. I think the message it offers is basically, "sometimes people are kind of shitty, and their lives are hollow and uninteresting, and so they choose to cut themselves off from their humanity in pursuit of a goal that may not be worth attaining, but also, what would they even do otherwise?" I guess I'm not sure I'd classify that as a happy conclusion? I think part of watching Whiplash is that you constantly hope, on some level, that this kid will find something that saves him from this utterly wretched--yet exceptional--existence he's determined to carve out for himself, and that hope dies slowly over the course of the film. You're functionally placed in the position of the father; and at the end, all you can do is go, "Well, I guess he got what he wanted." And sure, I feel... sort of happy for him? But I also feel pity, and discomfort, and even... like, I think it's kind of bleakly funny? Like, the movie could keep going, and show you how Neiman never finds lasting happiness and probably goes on to abuse other people, and then it would be a cautionary tale; but instead, it ends on his greatest triumph. That's kind of funny! Great analysis, though. Whiplash rocks; it's such a weird, doomer film, and it makes no apologies for telling this horrible little story. It doesn't soften it at all; it doesn't really question Fletcher's worldview; it wants you to feel it, too. It actually reminds me of a lot of James Baldwin's fiction, if you've read any of that. I remember finishing Giovanni's Room, which ends on this viscerally hopeless note, and the sense of tragedy is ameliorated by the fact that every character's humanity has just been... stripped away, either literally in death, or figuratively, through complete emotional annihilation. And like in Whiplash, you're not sure it ever could've gone another way.

Thia

I think *you* kinda rock, Big Joel! :-)

Isaac Samuel

I think it's also important to note the cinematography in the final scene. The fact that the lights go out on Fletcher and the spotlights go on Neiman. A testament to the fact that Neiman has transcended the abuse and is allowed to embrace his drumming for what it is: his passion. We could go on and on about how art is not in black and white and there's lots of gray yada yada, but I think that final moment where Fletcher stands in awe and is removed from neiman's grandstand is what really makes it a happy ending.

Shiznot