10 Shocking Examples Of Gaslighting In Movies
4. Whiplash
Damien Chazelle's debut film was a small indie film called Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench, a quiet film about two wayward lovers, singing and dancing their way through a complicated romance. Five years later, Chazelle's sophomore effort put him on the radar of everyone in Hollywood. Whiplash received critical acclaim, including a Best Supporting Actor win for J. K. Simmons.
Beyond the stellar acting, a large part of the success of Whiplash is a surprisingly suspenseful story given that many of the stakes are so low. But Simmons' performance as Terence Fletcher, a hard-nosed, abusive music teacher propels this film to heart-pounding heights. He mistreats his students, and especially those who show the most talent.
The drum phenom Andrew shows early success at the prestigious school early, which puts him on Fletcher's radar. Fletcher abuses Andrew constantly. Verbally. Driving Andrew to practice until his hands bleed. He berates him and tells him he's an awful drummer.
He says Andrew plays at the wrong tempo - that it's not "his tempo". He challenges Andrew to answer if he was rushing or dragging. But was Andrew doing either? To the listener's ear, Andrew is performing fine. But Fletcher, in his mind, has to break these students down to the point of insanity, makes them doubt their inborn talents in order to drive them to work even harder for the sake of their music.