Reflective Portion
Whiplash (2014) is a superb story depicting the efforts of an ambitious, 19-year-old drummer, Andrew Neyman, to become one of the greatest musicians ever. He attends one of the best conservatories in the United States, the Shaffer Conservatory based in Manhattan, where he gets noticed by jazz guru, Terence Fletcher, during one of his practices. The movie further portrays Andrew’s life, the complicated choices he makes, and his obsession and dedication to prove to Fletcher that he is worth being called an outstanding drummer (Whiplash 2014).
What I observed in this movie was how desire and drive can change a life, and that it is nearly impossible to determine whether these changes are negative or positive. The first thing I saw while watching the motion picture was the dedication of both Andrew and Fletcher to what they loved and wanted to get the hang of. Another observation is the obsession with reputation and the fear of destroying it because of other’s mistakes.
It perfectly characterizes Fletcher, who is ruthless in his teaching techniques because his students are the foundation of his reputation. Next, there are perseverance and dedication to a dream those of Andrew, who wants to impress Terence. Finally, there are hints of romance and family relations depicting Andrew in his everyday life. However, they are on the back burner because Neyman chooses to drum instead of love and family.
The initial observations become somewhat deeper once thoroughly analyzed. There is something that hides behind the evidence. For example, what can be seen behind Andrew’s devotion? I believe that there is nothing less than the blind obsession to impress Fletcher. The way he chooses to reach his goal is astounding – what is left in his life is music. Andrew breaks up with his girlfriend, he sleeps a couple of hours a day, listens to the audios of drum sections all the time when he is not practicing, he even makes it to the concert after a serious road traffic accident and rehearses till his arms bleed and the drum is wet from his sweat.
However, what, in fact, is hidden behind his devotion is not only the desire to impress Fletcher or himself but to prove his family that he is not a looser and can become successful. There is a scene in the movie depicting a family gathering together for a dinner where they discuss the latest news. Andrew starts telling that he has become a part of the best orchestra in New York when his brother enters the room. What then occurs is that all attention is switched to his brothers, and family members point out that Andrew’s talent is not especially noteworthy because he has not received acknowledgment yet or any kind of material remuneration.
What, in fact, is meant by his family is that music cannot be taken seriously because it is not sports or international relations that Andrew’s brothers are involved in. The finale of the movie depicts Andrew absolutely ignoring Fletcher’s instructions but, at last, proving him that his efforts were not for nothing, and he has reached his initial goal, perfection in drumming showing that devotion can be satisfying, but not revealing what is left once the goal is achieved.
What, I believe, Fletcher sees in Andrew is not one of those outstanding musicians he mentions all the time throughout the movie, but himself when he was young. He does not want to help Andrew become a successful drummer. Instead, Terence desires to turn him into something like he is – the person whose only passion is music, which is absolutely isolated from others, and sees no sense in human relationships. If we take a closer look at Fletcher, we will not see a happy person. We will see an individual who traded small mercies of life for desolation and blindly following a dream of creating a new jazz star ignoring the price it might cost to his students because many of them sank into depressions and gave up music forever.
What others might see in Terence Fletcher is the source of ruthlessness. Even though he believes that the only way to unlock talents is to humiliate and physically assault people because a true original would never give up, he does not take into consideration the fact that sometimes he just goes too far in his educational practices. Although Andrew later proves that this technique might be fruitful, it is not, in fact, Fletcher’s strategy that gained tractions but Neyman’s perseverance and rigidity. The only thing that drives him is the desire to preserve his reputation as one of the greatest jazz musicians and teachers.
As of the family and romance, they are shown only as of the factors that preclude from becoming outstanding. Recall the scene of a breakup when Andrew tells that he cannot become the best if he spends time with his girlfriend. Her question, in fact, is the primary question of the whole movie: how can love and relationships with other people keep back from becoming great? The answer is simple – there is no way to draw the negative link between the two because love could serve as an inspiration.
However, Andrew is too blind to realize it. What meant everything to Andrew (his desire to impress Fletcher) was absolutely misunderstood by his beloved girlfriend and family members and seen as a passing fancy that is not worth the cost.
Furthermore, what can be seen behind Andrew and Fletcher’s obsession? Is it the desire to change the world? Or maybe they strive for leaving their marks in history? The longing to become history? The hunger for fame and acknowledgment? I believe that their devotion has nothing to do with living out their dreams. To me, it seems more like a way to fill the emptiness inside their souls. I believe it is so because Andrew is in sore relations with his family members, who definitely make orts of him. As of Terence, we know nothing about him and his personal life except for the fact that he is single and has no one to dedicate his life to.
The effect these reflections had on me is complex and dubious. On the one hand, I realized that finding a real passion in life is beautiful, and it makes you feel alive. On the other hand, this movie made me think that the balance between genius and insanity is too delicate, and it is easy to lose everyone you love in the blind pursuit of the shadowy dream.
Remember, when Andrew finally understood that he has made a mistake breaking up with his girlfriend, but it was too late to have her back? I do not want to say that it is bad to have a dream and follow it; all I want to stress on is that it is crucial to set the right priorities in life and not let one sphere of life extinguish all the others because only a combination of all of them can create a beautiful melody.
Conceptive Portion
This conceptive portion of the paper will focus on motivation and personality and the ways they were depicted in the movie with a special attention to Andrew Neyman. Motivation is a drive to act in a particular way or achieve particular results of an individual’s activities. It may include different constituents such as a need, purpose, desire, attitude, dream, recognitions, and the very sense of achieving something. Motivation can be justified by both material and psychological factors (“Motivation,” 2013) because money is not always the desired outcome of particular activities or work. The same can be said about emotional satisfaction.
Efforts are imperative constituents of motivation. Generally speaking, motivation is an urge to reach a particular outcome that separates people from animals (Onuf, 2009). What is inalienably connected to motivation is reinforcement whether it is negative or positive. Negative reinforcement implies punishment or any other undesired consequences while positive reinforcement is about reward or any pleasant outcomes. There is one more classification of motivation: internally applied that refers to an individual’s set of character traits and his or her personality and externally applied that has to do with laws and obligations.
What is usually known as personality is a person’s unique style of response to particular events, his or her distinctive style of emotions, thoughts, and reactions, the way he or she usually adapts and behaves. In general, it makes it possible to predict what might be an individual’s reaction to new people or some events and changes both negative and positive (Meera, Retzer, & Sikabofori, 2015).
Personality is formed under both biological and environmental factors. Biological factors include genetic information of every person while those known as environmental ones include everything from upbringing and carrying out definite social functions to the surrounding of an individual (Roberts, 2009). Personality is based on five constructs that are generally referred to as ‘the big five’ that involve agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability, openness to experience, and conscientiousness (Cobb-Clark & Schurer, 2012).
Agreeableness is about being cooperative and helpful for the sake of moving along with other people. It means that an individual does everything that is possible to be accepted in personal relationships and develop them. Extraversion refers to being communicative and talkative for the purpose of gaining higher social status and having good moods. It generally means that a person is open to new acquaintances because he or she realizes that they might bring positive emotions and experiences.
Emotional stability is also known as neuroticism. It implies that an individual is emotional, sometimes has difficulties with coping with stressful situations, but, for the most part, is stable in controlling his or her feelings and does not burst out.
Openness to experience is as simple as it sounds. It means that an individual is creative and gladly embraces new possibilities that might help him or her in gaining new knowledge and finding out new things. Finally, conscientiousness is about being perseverant and hard-working. Developing this trait is beneficial for organizing the workflow and being able to predict the outcomes of one’s carrying out tasks (Komarraju, Karau, Schmeck, & Avdic, 2011). Another significant constituent of personality is self-esteem that, in general, is a positive self-image.
Motivation is brightly depicted in the chosen movie. Basically, it is about Andrew and his desire to prove Fletcher and his family members that he can reach success in his drumming practicing. What has driven his was the strive for acknowledgment, i.e. he was possibly reinforced, and his objective was moral satisfaction rather than material. What should be mentioned is Fletcher’s educative technique.
For the most part, it included humiliation and, sometimes, physical assault. For this reason, what can be said is that there was also some negative reinforcement. It does not mean that Andrew’s motivation was to avoid punishment; it just means that his primary goal was not to be humiliated, especially within the sight of his classmates or, what is even worse, at the concert when many people were watching him. In fact, he had such experience when he was replaced by another drummer – a decision that, as Fletcher later acknowledged, was made to drum Andrew up. In addition to it, recollect, for example, the final scene when Andrew ignored Fletcher’s instruction.
He realized that if he stopped, Terence would mock him, and that it was his only chance to prove him that he has reached perfection and become great. Moreover, think of the way he breaks up with his girlfriend. He believes that relationships would be disadvantageous for his drumming practice, i.e. breakup is a positive motivation because it would lead to the desired result.
A few words can be mentioned about Andrew’s personality. First of all, because he is 19 years old, his personality is still developing. Nevertheless, it can be analyzed. The most obvious feature of Andrew’s personality is that his self-esteem is low.
Remember the way he behaves at the beginning of the film? He is shy and afraid to speak with the girls. When he tells his dad that Fletcher has noticed him, he is sure that nothing special happened, and there was not a single chance that jazz guru liked his playing. However, when Fletcher invites Andrew to become a part of the orchestra, he becomes more confident – he goes and asks out the girl he likes and speaks openly to his family members that his occupation is prestigious although they do not take it seriously.
What can also be said about Andrew is that he is emotionally stable and perseverant. Even though Fletcher humiliates him, Andrew does not give up at his dream and does not react aggressively to his teacher’s methods. However, he cannot be considered extravert, agreeable or open to new experiences. Once he got involved in relationships, he decided to get out of them because believed that it would cramp his development.
It means that he decided not to embrace the new possibilities and experiences this acquaintance might have brought him. Moreover, what can be said about Andrew is that he is somehow limited because he isolated himself in his little world of music and does not want to let other people in. However, because his personality is still developing, we do not know what happens to him next and whether he turns into Fletcher.
References
Brill, J. (Executive Producer), & Chazelle, D. (Director). (2014). Whiplash [DVD]. Los Angeles, CA: Sony Pictures Classics.
Cobb-Clark, D. A., & Schurer, S. (2012). The stability of big-five personality traits. Economics Letters, 115(1), 11-15.
Komarraju, M., Karau, S. J., Schmeck, R. R., & Avdic, A. (2011). The big five personality traits, learning styles, and academic achievement. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(4), 472-477.
Meera, R., Retzer A., & Sikabofori, T. (2015). Personality development and intellectual disability. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 28(1), 35-39.
Motivation. (2013). In G. Kurian (Ed.), The AMA Dictionary of business and management (pp. 188-189). New York, NY: AMACOM, Publishing Division of the American Management Association.
Onuf, N. (2009). Motivation. International Relations, 23(1), 143-148.
Roberts, B. W. (2009). Back to the future: Personality and Assessment and personality and development. Journal of Research in Personality, 43(2), 137-145.