51 GREATEST FICTIONAL BAD GUYS

#33 TERRENCE FLETCHER from WHIPLASH

Whiplash is sort of the antithesis to the “mentor/student” genre made big in the 1990s.  It’s GOOD WILL HUNTING if Robin Williams was a manipulative rage demon who threw objects and homophobic slurs at Matt Damon for two hours.  Now that’s my idea of a reboot!

A really good villain worth his salt should be a metaphorical reflection of something impacting our society or the current zeitgeist.  Enter Terrence Fletcher, who sees any helicopter parent that over-adulates their kid and firmly says “fuck you”.  In Fletcher’s point of view, greatness can only be acquired by seeing your limitations and then surpassing them.  Anything short of that is a waste of not only the student’s talents but the teacher’s as well.  The way he goes about doing this, however, is by wearing you down physically, emotionally and psychologically to the point where even Rihanna would leave.

It’s a really, really fine line.  We’ve all heard the stories of Millennials bringing their moms to job interviews, or whining their way out of work so they can take a week to build a treehouse in their backyard.  Or demanding they be in charge just “because”.  No one wants to live in a society where any kid able to find his mouth with a spoonful of Cheerios gets them a ticker-tape parade.  Most of us realize we were built on moments of strife, looking down alone into the abyss.  In our own personal Hell, we’ve all found out who we really were.  What our own voice is, what makes up our character.  I think what Fletcher does is wrong (he is a very, very scary man), but there’s an argument to be made that the “good job” mentality is as equally damaging to someone’s growth as an artist, a citizen and a human being.  

It’s a quandary I have as a parent to my two children.  I have no desire to ever see them treated horribly or in emotional turmoil caused by others — only to fully understand my own moral code for mutual respect, social justice, and self-worth was born because of it.

Fletcher: “Nieman, you earned the part. Alternates, will you clean the blood off my drum set?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDAsABdkWSc