Whiplash ending (spoilers)

quote:

---

At the start of the performance:

quote:
JK was trying to destroy Miles just out of petty spite

---

To the point of taking the risk of torpedoing his own career and those other musicians on the stage? Man, he was even colder than I thought he was.

The ending was why that movie was not nearly as great as it was made out to be. Typical copout from a studio that had no clue whether it had a winner or not.

quote:

---

That was the beauty in the ending. Despite his own feelings toward the kid he could not deny the greatness in the performance and was jacked about it.

---

Because he turned him into his next project...a drummer boy...

quote:

---

So...do we think that JK was trying to destroy Miles just out of petty spite, or was he hoping for some version of the reaction he got from Miles?

---

In the end? Yeah he was trying to take him. He wrote Miles off after the big incident and the attorney meeting.

Once he saw that he had it...THEN he was cool. It was what he was hoping for all along and then thought it would never happen. So when it did, he was pumped.

quote:

---

At the start of the movie:

quote:
he hoping for some version of the reaction he got from Miles



At the start of the performance:

quote:
JK was trying to destroy Miles just out of petty spite

---

This

He obviously treated his students like shite in hopes of getting an all-time great but whatever he was doing at the end of the movie was just to make a living so he wasn't pushing those players. He invited Miles to play so he could destroy any chance of him becoming a professional musician and ended up getting what he always wanted.


And idk why people think Miles turrible performance on the drums would wreck the career of every other musician on the stage. His frick ups were obvious and you can't blame them on anyone other than himself or maybe the conductor, who didn't give a shite at this point and was the one orchestrating the disaster (no pun intended)

He knew it was him.

On the other question:

quote:

---

So...do we think that JK was trying to destroy Miles just out of petty spite, or was he hoping for some version of the reaction he got from Miles?

---

I've heard superb reasoning, both ways, in several different ways off several reviews and also blog type debates. That's what they intended with the ending. For the person to say it was a cop out, that's pretty insane. The ending was clever in that it leaves so much open to debate.

Personally, I thought he did it out of spite, but once he realized he had actually Dr. Frankensteined up a monster drummer during the solo, which Fletcher was not expecting to happen, he went along. You did notice Fletcher did tune the drum set there toward the very end for him when he walked over to him?

quote:

---

he hoping for some version of the reaction he got from Miles

---

You got me thinking about something that could give a clue. After Miles walks off the stage, gets a hug from his father and walks back out on stage, JK was about to begin the next song. During that time frame, they never show another back up drummer take the stage nor do they show one waiting in the wings. You would think that since it was an important festival and if JK's plan was to destroy Miles, he would have had a back up drummer for when Miles failed. So due to the lack of a back up drummer, possibly JK knew Miles was going to finally be pushed to the point of his full potential.

Just an observation. For all I know it could have just been an oversight by the movie makers.

quote:

---

You got me thinking about something that could give a clue. After Miles walks off the stage, gets a hug from his father and walks back out on stage, JK was about to begin the next song. During that time frame, they never show another back up drummer take the stage nor do they show one waiting in the wings. You would think that since it was an important festival and if JK's plan was to destroy Miles, he would have had a back up drummer for when Miles failed. So due to the lack of a back up drummer, possibly JK knew Miles was going to finally be pushed to the point of his full potential.

Just an observation. For all I know it could have just been an oversight by the movie makers.

---

This.

I trend towards the "plan all along," crowd.

quote:

---

This.

I trend towards the "plan all along," crowd.

---

See, I think it was quite the opposite. Fletcher had every reason to hate Andrew. Every reason. As I recall, Andrew got Fletcher fired from the conservatory. Even it was supposed to be anonymous, Fletcher found out about it. And Fletcher's character appears to be a vindictive bastard. His feelings for the kid who killed himself appeared to me to be hollow. Everything the guy had done in the movie was for himself to find the next great talent because he knew that he himself wasn't that guy. The only way he would achieve true greatness was by being associated with it.

At the end, Andrew has his epiphany. He can run back into the warm embrace of his father and be comfortable, but unhappy, or he could face his personal demon and puppetmaster, cut his strings, throw him the finger, and get after it, all while understanding that without having been pushed to his absolute brink, to the point where he has that moment with his father, where he could give up and no one would blame him, he wouldn't be as good as he is.

Fletcher clearly wanted to create, by chipping away the fat, his masterpiece in the form of a truly great artist. Andrew was that for him. But at the end, I don't think he had any idea what was happening. The expression on his face said it all. He was as astonished as the rest of the band. Of course, at the end, they both got what they wanted. Andrew finally shed all human connection to become a force of music and Fletcher found his star to which he would hitch his wagon.