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1-Page Summary of Whiplash
Overview
The movie begins with Andrew practicing the drums. We see him from a distance down a hallway at a conservatory. A man walks into the room and listens to him play. It’s Fletcher, one of the prominent teachers at Shaffer. The next day Fletcher invites Andrew into his core jazz band as an alternate. Once there, Andrew quickly learns that Fletcher demands greatness and uses brutality and physical violence to get what he wants; however, he is also very good at teaching people how to be great drummers by pushing them beyond their limits so they can find new ways of playing music through trial-and-error experimentation until they perfect it (a process known as “Fletcherizing”). Fletcher throws a chair at Andrew and slaps him in order to get him to understand tempo; however, this works well for both parties because when someone pushes you past your comfort level it helps you grow faster than if you were just comfortable all the time without any challenges or failures along the way (known as “The Growth Mindset” according to Carol Dweck). Still, despite being pushed hard by such an amazing teacher who has high standards for everyone around him (including himself), even though this makes things difficult for everyone involved initially—especially during practice sessions where students are often forced out of their comfort zones—in the end it pays off big time because once people realize they’re capable of doing more than what they thought was possible before then those same individuals will work harder than ever before since now their minds have been opened up about how much further they can go with their skills/talents/abilities compared to where others might’ve thought they would stop growing/improving on certain aspects of themselves after achieving some kind of success in life early on in life or something like that I guess?
Andrew is late to the competition and must travel to get his drumsticks. On his way back, he gets into a car accident but continues on anyway. He arrives at the competition covered in blood and dazed, causing Fletcher to kick him out of the band. Andrew attacks Fletcher on stage and is dismissed from Shaffer. Soon after, a lawyer who represents a family whose child killed himself because of Fletcher offers Andrew an opportunity to testify against Fletcher anonymously.
One night, Andrew walks by a club where Fletcher is playing and decides to go in. After the set, Fletcher invites him for a drink. He tells Andrew that he only pushes students because it will make them great drummers.
On the day of the festival, Fletcher tells Andrew that he knows that he testified against him and got him fired. Fletcher then begins to play “Caravan,” but Andrew doesn’t know it. He gets offstage, but gets a wave of motivation and decides to go back on stage and plays “Caravan” without Fletcher prompting him. Andrew’s playing impresses Fletcher so much that they reconcile and become friends again.
Part 1: Andrew
A snare drum begins playing faster and faster as we see a young man practicing in a hallway. A teacher comes up to him, asks his name and what year he is at the school. He’s new, so he doesn’t know who this teacher is yet but knows that he’s looking for players. The teacher then tells Andrew to play something for him, which Andrew does. Afterward, the teacher criticizes and mocks Andrew for how terrible he was on the drums and leaves abruptly after asking Andrew to do various drum fills individually.
Andrew leaves the practice room and walks down a city street. He goes into a movie theater where he meets someone at the concession stand who flirts with him. Andrew sits next to his dad in the theater, telling him that Terence Fletcher saw him play and that it didn’t go well. His father tells Andrew that once he’s older, he’ll have more perspective on things.
