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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Terence Fletcher: I told you that story about how Charlie Parker became Charlie Parker. Andrew Neiman: Jo Jones threw a cymbal at his head. Terence Fletcher: Exactly. Parker's a young kid, pretty good on the sax. Gets up to play at a cutting session, and Jones nearly decapitates him for it. And he's laughed off stage. Cries himself to sleep that night. But the next morning, what does he do? He practices. And he practices. And he practices with one goal in mind. Never to be laughed at again. And a year later, he goes back to the Reno, and he steps up on that stage, and he plays the best solo the world has ever heard. So imagine if Jones had just said, "well, that's okay, Charlie. That was all right. Good job." When Charlie thinks to himself, "I did do a pretty good job". End of story. No bird. That, to me, is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. People wonder why Jazz is dying. I tell you, man, and every Starbucks jazz album just proves my point, really. There are no two words in the English language more harmful than “good job”. |
„ |
| ~ Terence Fletcher rationalizing his abuse to Andrew Neiman. |
| “ | Not quite my tempo. | „ |
| ~ Terence Fletcher's most famous quote. |
Terence Fletcher is the main antagonist of the 2014 psychological drama film Whiplash.
He is the maestro of Shaffer Conservatory's prestigious studio jazz band. Despite his distinguished reputation, Fletcher is actually an abrasive, unsympathetic, vulgar, and ruthless instructor who is capable of issuing severe psychological abuse to students for even the most minuscule mistake and putting on charm to hide his true nature.
He was portrayed by J.K. Simmons, who voiced Kai the Collector in Kung Fu Panda 3, and General Wade Eiling in Justice League Unlimited.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- While his main goal is to bring out the best in his students, regardless of how harsh his methods are, this doesn't make him an extremist as this was for his own intentions of making them good in his eyes while being willing to ruin their lives to make them live up to his standards.
- Despite the scripts revealed that he had a father who's implied to have passed down his abusive and perfectionist tendancies to him, this doesn't make him tragic nor do it justify any of his actions, plus there's no indication that he did this to honor his father, meaning he doesn't care for him.
- While some of his insults can be funny as they are over-the-top, it's only for the audience as he's taken completely seriously in-universe.
Whiplash[]
- He shouted at a student by body shaming his weight, and removed him from first chair, because he didn't know if he was out of tune or not.
- He hurls a chair at Andrew and mercilessly berates him just for being slightly off tempo, while hurling various slurs and insults at him. What's worse is that before this, Fletcher acted like an amiable and understanding teacher to Neiman, only to just completely tear him to shreds afterwards.
- He forces the drummers to play an extremely fast section for five hours straight, until 2 a.m., and left the other musicians in the building for the same amount of time. He didn’t care that the drummers were becoming exhausted or that their hands were being injured from playing for so long.
- He doesn't show concern when seeing Andrew's bloodied hands from forcing him to play as such a high tempo.
- His abusive teaching methods was so bad that it drove one of his former students, Sean, to commit suicide, and according to Sean’s parents, he gained depression and anxiety during his time as one of Fletcher’s students.
- While he does seem to be polite with his former student and even offers his daughter to join his band when she grew older, this was only Fletcher being manipulative to hide his monstrous nature. Not to mention, even if she did join his band if she grew older, he would no doubt relentlessly abuse her like the rest of his students without a care in the world.
- He lies about Sean dying in a car crash, as revealing his suicide would raise suspicions about his cruelty.
- While he did appear to cry whilst talking about Sean’s “death”, these were more so tears of self-pity, as Fletcher only mourned the loss of Sean's talent as a trumpet player, with Fletcher losing the closest thing he had to his "Charlie Bird".
- Moreover, the fact that he goes on to cover up his crimes further proves that Fletcher never valued Sean as a person.
- He let Neiman play the drums, in spite of his grave injuries from a car accident, and when he plays poorly, Fletcher coldly told him that he is done, prompting Neiman to go through an angry breakdown and attack him.
- Out of spite against him for getting him fired, he tricks Andrew into joining his band for his public concert and humiliates him by having the band play a song that he did not practice for at all, causing him to screw up with him hypocritically telling him in the aftermath that he doesn't have the skills he assumed he had.
- While Terence seemed to finally respect Neiman during his improvised solo at the end of Caravan, and even helped pick up his Cymbal, and later gave a nod of acknowledgement as the movie ends, considering the character of Terence Fletcher and in his vain obsession of creating the next greatest Jazz player, this was more so him finally being content and satisfied with himself for finding the new "Charlie Parker" to replace the one that he lost.
- According to Word of God, Terence will forever believe he is in the right, and due to his countless abuse, Andrew would get an overdose at 30, in which Terence will insult and make fun of him during his funeral eulogy.
- He's ultimately a Karma Houdini, and the only thing come close to karma is being fired after his responsibility to Casey's suicide was uncovered.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He ultimately suffers from Fridge Horror, as while it is said that the accumulation of the abuse Sean suffered from Fletcher caused him to commit suicide, there isn't much information given around the specifics of the abuse that turned Sean this way, not to mention, Fletcher doesn't actually intend for his students to die. In addition, while it is implied that he would continue to abuse many more students after the movie's ending, it is never specified how many more students would suffer the same fates as Sean and Andrew.
External Links[]
- Terence Fletcher on the Villains Wiki
- Terence Fletcher on the Hate Sink Wiki
- Terence Fletcher on the Main Light Horse Wiki
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 Near Pure Evils
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