Are Homophobic Slurs Motivating? - Whiplash (2014) Discussion

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] roflwaffle357 9 years ago

yes? LOL maybe in the 50's.

Well Tony, nobody wants a war. If we can't do business why we'll just shake hands and that'll be it!

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[–] Pianohero4 8 years ago

Despite what film and public school would have you believe, people still think rampant HIV rates and self induced genetic extinction are bad things.

Please excuse any typos, this was typed on an iPad

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[–] roflwaffle357 8 years ago

what is rank ant?

Well Tony, nobody wants a war. If we can't do business why we'll just shake hands and that'll be it!

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[–] whynot2 8 years ago

I believe it's a soldier ant that has no hope of getting a commission.

Apparently, dogs are wolves with Williams-Beuren Syndrome.

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[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] roflwaffle357 8 years ago

you sound upset about something. not sure what it is, but maybe you should go for a walk to clear your head so you can start saying things that make sense. i'll be here when you get back, brother.

Well Tony, nobody wants a war. If we can't do business why we'll just shake hands and that'll be it!

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[–] filmguyCI 9 years ago

Wonderful post. I get that the guy was abusive but the constant gay insults were unnecessary

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[–] goldgoldgold (84) 6 years ago

It was all unnecessary. That was the point. He was a giant asshole.

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[–] The_Film_Addict 9 years ago

I got the feeling Fletcher was gay, so I don't think the derogatory terms had the weighted meaning that someone committing anti-gay acts would have.

What Fletcher was doing was dehumanizing them. He was trying to crack them the way a drill sergeant would. There's nothing wrong with being gay, but a man's pride, ego, being--if you will, is threatened by the suggestion that he is gay. It's human nature I suppose.

"I wish I wasn't afraid all the time, but I am."
-V for Vendetta

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[–] vpking77-276-694061 9 years ago

I don't think Fletcher was Gay. If you saw how he interacted with the person he was talking in the hall and was very affectionate toward the young child. There were two parts of Fletcher one how he interacted with his students and the other how he interacted with people not in his music class. He is perfectly normal except when it came to his students. I see him as man who might have been divorced not Gay. Could he have been Gay seeing how he had no problem demeaning the Gays in his class, yes but one can't say for sure.

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[–] HalBanksy 9 years ago

I don't think Fletcher was Gay. If you saw how he interacted with the person he was talking in the hall and was very affectionate toward the young child.

Because OBVIOUSLY if Fletcher really was gay he would have immediately shagged the man in the hall, while simultaneously punching the little girl in the face. I mean it's impossible for a gay person to have a normal conversation with another adult and be affectionate towards a child without ulterior motives.

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[–] Persian_Goddess 9 years ago

hahahahhaa seriously

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[–] jgroub 9 years ago

LOL! So true!

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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[–] Pianohero4 8 years ago

yeah, there's nothing wrong with HIV or genetic extinction. Why would a species develop aversions to such things? I mean, it's the current year, and like OMG I can't even.

Please excuse any typos, this was typed on an iPad

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[–] Howlin Wolf 8 years ago

Genetic extinction is not even a concern, since only about 1 in 10 people are actually gay... Homosexuality occurs in nature. Also, straight people get HIV, too. Wake up to the real world.



"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

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[–] Educator07 8 years ago

Homosexuality occurs in nature.

That's one animal expressing dominance over another. Like guys in jail.

SuperGirl loves Black men! Capt. Marvel dates Rhodey! Black guy!

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[–] Henry_Framus_Valentine 8 years ago

1 in 10 people are actually gay

I`d sure like to see the raw data that supports that claim!

🇺🇸 Liberty • E Pluribus Unum • In God We Trust 🇺🇸

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[–] Howlin Wolf 8 years ago

I did say 'only about' - It was a guess... A quick Google shows it to be 'around' 4%... Nobody can say for sure, but it's the best guess. Here's the source:

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-22/americans-vastly-overestimate-size-of-lgbt-population

Regardless, it STILL isn't high enough for 'genetic extinction', so the figures don't invalidate anything I was saying in the conversation you responded to. 



"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

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[–] Henry_Framus_Valentine 8 years ago

4% seems more like it. I just get a little squeamish when folks start throwing around big numbers that seem unlikely to me. Like the old cigarette ads, "Four out of five doctors smoke Camels!"

You`re right about the genetic extinction argument. Highly flawed.

Here`s one: How many "transgendered" people are genetic females who identify as males as opposed to genetic males who identify as females and should the figures be approximately equal?

🇺🇸 Liberty • E Pluribus Unum • In God We Trust 🇺🇸

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[–] liscarkat (17125) 8 months ago

"straight people get HIV, too."

A tiny minority, compared to homosexuals. Men ass-fucking each other is the number one way it's transmitted.

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[–] lordjames-1 9 years ago

I guess you think they should retract that Queer Palm award nomination for this movie then? Fletcher's dehumanizing insults need to have no boundaries to make him truly threatening. The movie is clearly not homophobic. And, I would argue even Fletcher is not homophobic. Fletcher is merely using every tool at his disposal to mentally break down his students. Any weakness or insecurity you might have, Fletcher will try to exploit. Nothing is off limits. Sexuality. Family. Ancestry. Just be glad we never saw him go after one of the black kids.

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[–] DorkoTheDorkLord 9 years ago

But you were perfectly OK with the weight-based, racist, and misogynistic insults?

The entire point of Fletcher hurling insults is that Fletcher is an irredeemable s%&tlord. The anecdote he uses to justify his behavior is actually false, and even if it were completely true it wouldn't justify his methods - Charlie Parker got a cymbal thrown at his head once and got fired, not physically and emotionally abused for months on end. The homophobic insults are there for the same reason as the the other vile insults, for the same reason that he set Andrew up to be publicly humiliated at the end of the movie - because he's a dick and a subversion of the "crusty but loveable mentor" archetype.

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[–] neclord2k-1 9 years ago

Who cares what he says, all he says are insults, it doesn't matter what "kind" they are
because insults shouldn't be categorized, stop being a *beep* and just accept it for what it is, motivation for the characters on screen.

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[–] mec_os 9 years ago

it kinda matters. why didn't he ever use the n word?

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[–] neclord2k-1 9 years ago

Probably because the people he was insulting most of the movie weren't black.

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[–] HalBanksy 9 years ago

They weren't gay either...

I guess 'being gay' is just so disgusting that it's insulting to even be associated with it. But using 'black' as an insult is just beyond the pale? Right?

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[–] realbullet 9 years ago

They weren't gay either...

I had the feeling that the senior drummer was a homosexual. It seemed like that was the root of the insults.

👿 I know something you don't know ... I am ambidextrous!

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[–] skorkk 9 years ago

Well there lies the problem. If one of the actors was black would the writer have had the balls to throw a derogatory racist term in there? Doubt it.

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[–] goldpink23 9 years ago

@skorkk.

If one of the actors was black would the writer have had the balls to throw a derogatory racist term in there? Doubt it.

I have a strong feeling they would've.Nothing was off limits and nothing should be off limits when it comes to a character like Fletcher and his only goal for being at that school is to find his Charlie Parker.Obviously Fletcher doesn't care about people being butt hurt over his insults.

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[–] wooody 9 years ago

"NOTHING should be off limits when it comes to a character like Fletcher and his only goal for being at the school is to find his Charlie Parker"...really...nothing.

So it would be acceptable behavior for Fletcher to threaten Andrew with harm to his father unless he improved his drumming by 10%.... or if Fletcher actually did do harm to his father just to motivate Andrew to rise above?? nothing?

NOTHING??

Wow...

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[–] skorkk 9 years ago

"Butt hurt" isn't a term I'd personally use to describe the offence that might be caused by a black student being racially abused by his white teacher.

Secondly he'd have a tough time finding his "Charlie Parker" without a job, which is something a teacher wouldn't have if they were fond of yelling racist remarks at their students. It's already far fetched enough that he kept a teaching job as long as he did in this supposedly prestigious school.

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[–] realbullet 9 years ago

Secondly he'd have a tough time finding his "Charlie Parker" without a job, which is something a teacher wouldn't have if they were fond of yelling racist remarks at their students.

Despite his words that he wanted to find the next "Charlie Parker", that was not the character's goal. This was his excuse to use as an outlet for sociopathic tendencies. His goal was to abuse his students in whatever way he could. As long as he had this reputation as a misunderstood musical genius, he could get away with the abuse.

Did he really strike you as someone who seemed threatened for their job? If he had a minority student who seemed sensitive to racist remarks, he would have poured salt in that wound as long as he could. If anybody challenged him on it, "Charlie Parker would never have been intimidated by racial slurs."

👿 I know something you don't know ... I am ambidextrous!

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[–] skorkk 9 years ago

Are you asking did he care about his job? Probably not but he was clearly very bitter about losing it, and that's not what I was referring to anyway. Whether he cared about his job or not doesn't make it any less far fetched that he managed to keep the job for as long as he did in the first place.

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[–] realbullet 9 years ago

Are you asking did he care about his job? Probably not but he was clearly very bitter about losing it, and that's not what I was referring to anyway. Whether he cared about his job or not doesn't make it any less far fetched that he managed to keep the job for as long as he did in the first place.

Fletcher is a sociopath. His goal is to use his position of authority to control others. Of course he wants to keep his job -- without it, his reach is not as great.

If you read the book "The Sociopath Next Door", the author discusses a number of sociopathic tendencies that you can run into -- and I knew someone just like the description in the book. It's a game to them to see how easy it is to destroy other people's lives without triggering the sort of scrutiny that would get them fired. Sometimes they fail -- but they believe most people will rationalize his behavior as something more normal. A typical Sociopath builds himself up by tearing others down -- not by accomplishing things on their own.

Charlie Parker is just an excuse that Fletcher uses to rationalize his behavior. He sets Charlie Parker as an idea standard that he realistically expects nobody could meet. In that way, he never has to congratulate somebody for doing a good job, and he never has to throttle down on his sociopathy.

👿 I know something you don't know ... I am ambidextrous!

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[–] Howlin Wolf 8 years ago

There are plenty of racist terms used in films that deal with race, so I don't see why not...



"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

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[–] gohmifune 9 years ago

It wouldn't make sense. Racial slurs aren't about one's behavior or nature, they don't reflect on one the same way as the other things Fletcher was saying.

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[–] gohmifune 9 years ago

A couple of thoughts:

Is the idea of being gay so disgusting and embarrassing it automatically makes you try harder?

Calling someone the F word isn't a necessarily a comment on who they are, but what they do. Associating a person with negative behaviors encourages a person to consider themselves negative, without you actually commenting on their nature.

Here it's like the only way you can motivate males is by questioning, demeaning or insulting their sexuality. Why is that?

Because it is the thing Males are most insecure about?

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[–] TheManInOil 9 years ago

For a certain type of person it certainly is.

I see some people responding saying it was 'unnecessary' and that they 'get it' without the insults. Really? How do you get it if he doesn't utter the abuse?

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