The purpose of using the movie Whiplash is to demonstrate the dissemination of the presence of Jazz as a staple in artistic entertainment culture. When looking at movies in particular, it is interesting to note that the first “talkie” film was actually named The Jazz Singer. Although a lot of its plot focus the larger issue of race conflict in the United States as seen within music, it did provide Jazz with a platform in a form of media that was not exactly music (Snider, MTV). Being the first movie of its kind, it set a unique pathway for the genres of film to follow, similar to Jazz as a genre of music.

Within this movie, we see a dichotomous nature of Jazz. At the beginning, we see Andrew Neiman hop on a drum set and let his hands and soul carry him through going through some casual practice play that turns into a demonstration of his skill. This results in a band instructor, Terence Fletcher, to test him and we can quickly see that at this institution there are requirements from a technical standpoint (rudiments and being able to play double time swing, for starters). Throughout the movie, we see Neiman grow not only as a musician through his practice of notation and score in class, but also at home when he studies the greats like Buddy Rich and plays relentlessly in order to better himself from what seems to be like an institutional point of view, but indirectly amplifies his personal passion for drumming. The movie concludes with a performance of “Caravan”, which Fletcher intends to follow the sheet music on to demonstrate the endless hours of grueling practice his Studio Band has put in. Neiman takes the piece into his own hands, however, and decides to stray from the score and show off what he has to offer as the drummer. He takes complete control of the piece and initially startles everyone, but given that he has become so skilled in learning “Caravan” as well as how to improvise in ways that is appealing, he leads with his musical liberty and freedom of artistic expression not even allowing for Fletcher to finish the formal introduction of the song. Making the performance his, just like the “greats” that he aims to be one of, this freedom to play what he wants and how he wants it provides a culmination of his development as a student in Studio Band. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie poster for Whiplash.