20 Things You Didn’t Know About Whiplash

Early on in the film, Fletcher recounts the well-known (at least in jazz circles) tale of legendary drummer and bandleader Jo Jones hurling a cymbal at Charlie Parker for making a mistake during practice. This in turn pushed the renowned saxophonist to refining his craft to an obsessive degree.

This interaction foreshadows what Fletcher would eventually do to Neiman, but beyond that, is completely false. While Jones did throw a cymbal at Parker, he threw the instrument at the latter’s feet. This was done to tell Parker to get off the stage because veteran musicians were not keen on his improvisational style (something he later became popular for).

This mistaken recounting of history (plus Andrew’s own false beliefs about the jazz legend) might showcase the student and teacher’s warped perspectives on perfection and how to achieve it, or was simply an error that no one set noticed/bothered to correct.