Whiplash (2014) is memorable because of its atmosphere. Itās all about the tension and moment-to-moment. And those moments are overwhelmingly anxious.
I recently caught the 10th anniversary re-issue of Whiplash with a group of friends, one of whom I hope to see more movies with in the future. Because he gave the worst opinion on Whiplash. This is not up for debate or a matter of art being subjective. Because there is no worse opinion on Whiplash. I am now grossly curious how he processes other movies and art and how this guy can exist in the world with such terrible opinions, like, this is an actual human who I had previously thought was a completely normal guy who goes to the store and works a job and is completely integrated with polite society and he has the single worst opinion on Whiplash.
So after seeing Whiplash, he was the only one in the group that didnāt like it. And we asked why. This is what he said:
āToo much drumming.ā
We asked him to elaborate.
āThe guy just played the drums the whole movie. Nothing happened.ā
Wow. Thatās awful! Thatās it! Thatās the worst opinion! I know this movie says you shouldnāt be a bullyā or maybe its good, actually, and bullying will push you to greatness, but, like, at what cost, man? Itās nuanced, dammit. Maybe itās not even about bullying, maybe itās more about passion and drive and ego. Thereās a lotta hot takes on Whiplash, it was The movie to make a video essay on back in 2015 (one guy in the group said he hadnāt seen it, but was lubed up for this theater trip because he recently watched EmpLemonās video on villains). I donāt know shit about morality but I know about the vibes and the vibes in this movie are crazy, bro. And I see the irony (by āironyā I mean ājerkass behaviorā) in watching a movie that has a lot to say about bullying then turning around and going āget a load of this guy.ā
I get a lot of joy out of hearing outlier opinions. This isnāt some drum-circle āletās all hold hands and get along.ā I mean I seek out anti-health fat activists and flat earthers so I can hear someone I fundamentally disagree with. In those specific instances Iām not trying to Know Thy Enemy or even snark. Iām delighted to explore the mindset of someone I know thinks differently from me. So yes, Iām going āget a load of this guyā but it comes with the territory of trying to find the outliers (and I want to find the weirdos because I am one), and this golden egg of an outlier randomly spawned into the movie club.
After the movie, the Whiplash Hater became the center of attention. We needed to find out why it didnāt click for him.
He said heās:
not a āmusic guyā
by that he meant he doesnāt play an instrument and doesnāt want to learn an instrument
heās never had any fun when he sat in on his friends band practice
he reminded us that ānothing happenedā in the movie, before, finally,
reiterating and insisting that heās Not A Music Guy
We let him present his case, before (perhaps tragically) revealing that no one in the groupās a Music Guy. And besides thatā No one hereās loved anything as much as JK Simmons character loves verbally abusing children! We didnāt wanna roast the fella too hard so we dropped it, but, like, cāmon. Itās not about the music! How could anyone miss the point so hard! Unbelievable. Looking forward to seeing him next week.