What is successful enough? Whiplash
Updated: Aug 13, 2022
Drive, ambition and hard work can lead you to your dreams. But what does it take and are your dreams even worth following at all?
If you haven't seen Whiplash you should. It’s about a young student named Andrew who attends Shaffer’s Conservatory, the student is shown as ambitious and proud of the school he attends as it is described as one of the best in the country however it is clear that he is one of the worst there. What follows is a story about how an abusive teacher is able to push this student to his limits to succeed.
Andrew has no family connections to music, with most of his family not understanding how the industry works. He is purely driven to pursue music through his passion for it.
Fletcher (the lead teacher at Shaffer) is shown to be manipulative, verbally and physically abusive to his students. With it being heavily implied that former students have committed suicide in relation to the trauma caused by Fletcher. This creates tension as at any moment he can snap and ban the student from performing which is shown early on. It is only late on in the film that we begin to understand the motivations behind Fletcher in one of the most famous scenes in the film.
"Good job" scene
What makes this scene brilliant is the self-awareness and the understanding behind his own actions. I think this film wouldn't be half as interesting if Fletcher was just a psycho who liked bullying his students, but the fact that he fully understands what he is doing yet because of his warped philosophy and strive to create a great student he still goes through with it. This scene takes place after he is kicked out if Shaffer. It is clear that he knew exactly how horrible and unethically he was treating his students. He justifies his actions by explaining that his job is not to conduct but to push his students to their absolute limits. This is because he believes the next great musician would never be discouraged by adversity or pushed away from music. That a journey of incredible difficulty leads to a strong-willed and determined musician. That to be the best you should never stop pushing for more and that your drive should be so strong that even physical and mental abuse wouldn't stop you. During the scene Fletcher states that "there are no two words in the english language more harmful then good job".Then finally stated that he hasn't had his Charlie Parker (one of the greatest drums players of all time) and was unsuccessful in creating the next best drummer. But that he tried and that's more than most.
Here's the link to the scene:
What is successful enough?
This is really what makes Whiplash brilliant in my eyes and why it is one of my favourite films. The abusive teacher is knowingly abusing his students to push them to be great. The students are choosing to put themselves through this despite it being incredibly damaging to them physically and mentally. This is surprising similar to what many "successful people" force themselves to do to become what they become. Many of the people that we admire and wish to become more like have voluntarily put themselves under immense physical and mental abuse to get their. The film highlights this and shows how this can effect people and that this hustle culture can be so toxic to young people's minds. Many of the most well paid jobs undertake constant stress, adaptiveness and outworking all of the competition. Some of the highest paid and most sort after jobs such as Management Consultants and Business Analysts have notoriously high turnover rates due to the reported 60 hour plus work weeks. Yet these always top the charts for jobs with the most applications simplify because of the money that you can earn from it.
How different industries create different perceptions?
One of my other favourite scenes in the film is at about the mid-way point in which some of Andrew’s family gather for dinner, what goes from a normal conversation about how each of their respective careers are going turns into an insulting match to each other about their ability to reach their dreams which then ends with in a hot debate on whether it’s more important to die young and successful or to live a normal life. For me this scene is all about escalation. During the scene Andrew becomes slightly annoyed at the condescending tone from his uncle, there is a lot more concern when Andrew is speaking and more questions posed to him about his career and future. While for his cousins there is a much lighter tone with more celebrations for arguely smaller accomplishments. The clear singling out of Andrew to be the one most concerned about is apparent and makes him feel alienated. This is common for people taking an unconventional path, others seem to question it almost immediately as if something is wrong. As humans we are naturally opposed to change and things we don't understand due to our survival instants so Andrew's music pursuits make his family more distant and make Andrew have to work even harder to not only validate himself, but the industry he is in to begin with.
Here's the link if you want to watch:
How this applies to our own lives?
These questions can be easily applied to our own lives I am sure we have all met these kind of people. The ones that prioritise career success above every aspect of their lives and purposely disconnect from friends, family etc for this pursuit. The film helps question whether it is even worth it, whether we should try and be great at all. It is clear that Andrew (although close to his father) doesn't see him as successful, he is constantly put down by his other family members and has no power at the dinner table. There is a lack of respect there towards him, never in the film does Andrew's dad seem to have any authority or power. Andrew never asks him for advise or guidance in fact, the one time his dad steps in leads to Andrew getting a coffee shop job he is unhappy with rather then following his dream tp become a drummer. In all aspects, he may as well just be one of Andrew's friends. This can be felt in real life just as much, when a person considered to be "successful" talks or enters the room there is a certain level of attention or interest that is shown to them compared to others, as if what they say is somehow more important or holds more meaning then the next person. I think the problem is in how we define success, for some reason being a teacher and being a CEO of a large company is not considered an equal amount of success, despite the fact that you may have been born wanting to be a teacher or wanting to be a CEO yet social status and money makes one appeared more successful then the other.
Is it worth it in the end?
Bronnie Ward is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She asked them what their biggest regret was in life and the second most common response was "I wish I hadn't had worked so hard". Specifically in men in which every single man that she had worked with said that they worked too hard across their life (also says something about men's mental health and the expectation for men to be successful). Following on from this point there seems to be a narrative that once you achieve greatness/wealth that then you can sort out all the other aspects of your life but by then it already might be too late.
The thing I find most fascinating is that the director describes the ending as bittersweet as Andrew achieves everything he wanted to, but is no longer the same person in the process, he completely neglects his father at the end choosing to go back to the abuser to achieve greatness. With the director stately that he thinks Andrew will live a very lonely life among his great success. But it was also clear that Andrew was unhappy when he gave up his dream and started working in the coffee shop. The message to me is finding the balance, the middle ground between following your dreams and becoming who you want to be while balancing the more normal aspects of your life like friendships and relationships.
Finally the film asks whether this level of success should be targeted at all, where should the line be drawn, as described in the film, many people commit suicide due to the pressures put on them to be "great" and the consequences of pursuing it. It is well known that to be the best or "great" at something you have to differentiate yourself or go "above and beyond" the norms but this can lead to over-working and increased loneliness due to the lack of human connections. At the end of the day it is everyone's own decision on what is "enough" success for them. For some it maybe a Lamborghini or becoming a millionaire, and for others it maybe just to be happy with where you are no matter what you have. It is up to you what is successful enough.
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