Does The Film Whiplash: What Does It Mean To Be Truly Successful?

The film Whiplash directed by Damien Chazelle explores what it means to be truly successful. The film follows the protagonist Andrew Neiman in his pursuit to achieve greatness. Throughout his journey, he is brutally pushed along by his Music teacher Terence Fletcher, who believes humiliation and suffering is what creates a successful musician. Chazelle employs techniques to demonstrate that excessive obsession and suffering ultimately results in isolation and destructive behavior, taking Neiman away from what he truly desires, success.

In the film Whiplash, Chazelle explores that there is always some amount of suffering, and certain sacrifice one has to make to become successful. Throughout the film, Neiman endures a constant battle of bullying

Neiman in the film is depicted as a man that is so obsessed with becoming great that he ultimately sabotages his own goals. Neiman almost dies foolishly in a car crash trying to make it to a performance. In the scene, Chazelle utilises the frame of a close up of Neiman's blood covered face, to a quick edit of a close up of the car clock, demonstrating that his only concern is getting to the performance on time. When a bystander asks if he is okay, he can only respond with "I gotta get my sticks," further emphasising that his obsession has gone too far, as he leaves the scene running covered in blood. Throughout the scene of his performance, Chazelle employs close up shots with quick edits, to display the pain Neiman is enduring just to fuel his obsession of wanting to be great. Ultimately, Neiman has sabotaged himself as he does not satisfy Fletcher's expectations and is forced to relinquish his position at the prestigious Shaffer Conservatory. The event was avoidable if Neiman just let go of his obsession and accepted that he was unfit to

Director Chazelle utilizes mise en scene to depict Andrew as an isolated figure, demonstrating that his determination to be successful has resulted in a single-minded attitude, with only success in mind. The idea is demonstrated through the relationship of Neiman and Nicole. In the scene of the first date, the pair seems to be having an enjoyable time and connecting, shown with Chazelle's use of intimate medium close-ups. When Neiman uncovers that Nicole doesn't have a major in college, it contrasts with Andrew's single-minded obsession, seen in the editing with a cut to a wide two-shot that emphasizes the physical distance between the two characters. The couple's breakup is what truly depicts Neiman as a man who is no longer a human being. Neiman's voice and eyes are expressionless, and no emotion can be seen on his face. Similarly, in the scene where Neiman and his family are gathered around the dinner table, Neiman's behavior displays that he is isolated from his family as he is diminishing their accomplishments. When Neiman listens to his aunt talk about his drumming as an afterthought in regard to "the talent at this table," he becomes defensive. He insults his cousins and belittles their accomplishments before saying that he would rather "die broke and drunk at 34 and have people talk about (him), than live to be rich and sober at 90 and