Why Whiplash has the “Saddest happy ending ever”

Why Whiplash has the “Saddest happy ending imaginable”

SPOILER ALERT: this article is based around a personal interpretation of the end of the movie, so if you haven’t watched it, I’d recommend you to come back to the article once you finished the film

Hi Charlie,

Today I am going to talk about the movie Whiplash. If you saw this film, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that the final scene is a reflection of success through perseverance, discipline and determination. Well, I used to think that too, but in reality, this iconic final scene may have a totally different meaning which, as described by director Damien Chazelle, might be the “Saddest happy ending imaginable”. When you first watch the scene, you might think that both Andrew Neiman (the drummer) and Terrence Fletcher (the teacher) have reached the culminating point of their careers. They both succeed and reach the most successful moment of their lives and we all have the happy ending we were wanting, right? Well, the reality is quite different. The final scene may be understood as a moment of mutual respect and complicity between Neiman and Fletcher, but when you look back at it, you may find out that it also seems to validate Fletcher’s abusive methods (aka the reason why we all hated him). In fact, Fletcher gets exactly what he wants at the end, and we, as spectators, are rewarding his behavior.

 Quick reminder, Fletcher’s methods have left Neiman bleeding and almost unconscious on stage earlier during the film, and also eventually made him drop out of Fletcher’s program. In addition, during one of the only scenes of the movie where we see Fletcher showing an ounce of vulnerability, we learn that an old student of his committed suicide due to the pressure and stressful environment of his program. Taking account of that, we must assume that Neiman is obviously going to be a great jazz drummer, but he will probably suffer the same fate as this student.

Whiplash as a whole is misleading, because throughout the film, we witness Neiman being absolutely humiliated by Fletcher, which makes the final scene even more satisfying due to the fact that Neiman proves his abusive teacher wrong. This final scene plays like a happy ending, and it kind of is. The issue is that Fletcher’s abusive methods have led to Neiman craving his approval, because he’s been conditioned to do so. This may mean that in reality, instead of being the “underdog” that we all thought he was, Neiman was just proving Fletcher’s point.

This movie is a beautiful piece of cinema that leaves us to have our own interpretation of the ending by showing us the main character succeeding by any means possible and at all costs. This is what makes this brilliant finale even more complex: How do we deal with a teaching style that harms the person, but gets results?

 I am definitely not saying that everything I’ve said in this article is the ultimate truth, it is my own personal point of view and I hope you appreciated reading my analysis. Anyways, I’ll let you think about my last question and I hope you guys enjoyed and will also share your point of view!!

Gabriel