Character Analysis: Carl Tanner from Whiplash
I wrote this a couple of months ago. Enjoy...
Do you guys remember in the movie, how the camera shifts to Carl when Fletcher says to Andrew, "The only reason you are a fucking core is because you misplaced a folder."
But oh man how I wish we were given the context.
*Long essay diving into Carl's character/journey, and a bit into Fletcher's and Andrew's incoming, bear with me*...
In the script; Carl actually "smiles" at Andrew getting roasted by Fletcher. This smiling occurs after Fletcher says "Johnny Utah" (Ryan) will be given the part, not Andrew.
After having had to endure the humiliating words Fletcher vomited at him, for example about how his father will look like a success story and all, the script says Andrew is now "beat".
Then, after seeing Carl smiling at the back, Andrew turns to Fletcher and confidently talks about it is my part and I will be the one on the stage.
The reason is, when you read the script, you can see that Andrew and Carl actually had some rivalry going on between them.
I've seen Whiplash just last week for the first time. I had heard Whiplash this, Whiplash that but I had never decided on to sit down and watch it. Then I saw the IG story of a Marine Biologist I follow named Poyraz Sinangil (he goes by the name Köjira on YT), and there was something related to Whiplash. I decided to give it a try and see what all that hype was about.
Although I remember I got real bored while watching Act I, it became my favourite movie and I'd seen more than 300 movies.
(For the record, I don't get bored while watching Act I of it anymore. And I've watched Whiplash more than 5 times already)
Why did I write this? It's because although Whiplash is my favourite movie, I still prefer its script to the masterpiece of a movie we got. Though, I admit there were some decisions made that I prefer the movie did better. Such as omitting the part during the dinner with the relatives scene where Andrew suddenly goes 🤓☝️ "In 1967 a scientist named....." 🤓☝️
It would have been better if they changed how Andrew delivered it and made it sound less nerdy, but I'm fine with how it was omitted from the movie altogether.
Though again, one of the scenes that I wish wasn't omitted was when Fletcher gives a speech to the audience, then he turns to his band and says "You guys mean the world to me, you know..." and he turns back to the audience and says he sees them as his own kids, as his family, and treats them the way his father treated him...
Anyways, now back to Carl vs Andrew rivalry, we got a couple of scenes in the script that was necessary to understand what was going on between them that Carl smiling after hearing Andrew won't get a chance to play, made Andrew even more determined that he will be the one playing on the stage, not that "Johnny Utah" (Ryan).
After the lost folder incident, we all know Andrew got to play instead of Carl. Upon this, Carl even lost the core drummer position.
The script says Carl was "burning holes with his eyes" while sitting behind Andrew who was playing the drums. I think the actor, Nate Lang, conveyed this very good during that scene even though he wasn't on the focus of the camera but still, it didn't feel like a rivalry so passionate. Until I read the script, I wasn't even feeling like there was even a rivalry between the two.
When Andrew was at the bus, while watching a Buddy Rich video, he got a text from Nicole and this was also in the movie. However, the movie decided not to let us hear the crucial voice message Carl had sent to Andrew at that exact time.
It goes as this:
"Neiman... You lost that folder on purpose. You *knew* I didn't know the chart by heart... *Answer* me... I've been core for *two years*. I've been drumming since I was three. I *earned* my spot you asshol-"
Then Andrew just hangs up.
Why was this crucial?, you may ask. Because right after Fletcher's speech to the audience is over after the band was done playing and winning after the lost folder incident, it was revealed that it was indeed because of a janitor that the folder was lost.*
Meaning it was pointless for Carl to even doubt Andrew and send that voice message.
But he did.
Carl saw Andrew as a threat. I'll explain it further.
*: It is not 100% certain if it was because of a janitor. The stage hand who approaches Carl and Andrew says, "I think".
It could have happened because of Fletcher as many people say. Fletcher might have hid it and test Carl's confidence to see if he would be OK playing without the chart, to see if Carl could be the next Buddy Rich/Charlie Parker...
It was *the* turning point for Carl and also for Andrew as well...
After losing the position as the core drummer, the script says these:
"Finally, Carl slides off, stunned, as Andrew takes his place... And, calmy tossing this off even though he knows how much it hurts..."
Right after this scene, the "hurt" Carl sends that voice message.
We had read that Carl's reaction to the reveal of the lost folder was only looking behind at Andrew. I wish we got more reaction from him though, to fully understand why he still doubted Andrew and continued to bash at him.
Why could it be? He didn't want to feel like he was at the fault for blaming Andrew?
We read that Carl graps a band member and says "Neiman lost my folder" to which the grapped member says, "Serious? Fletcher's going to *flip*."
We knew this too because Fletcher literally said he will stop being so polite if he sees one of those folders lying around unattended again.
And what happened to that folder? It was left unattended when Andrew decided to get some coke.
Also, before the second set, we read a quite annoyed Carl while playing. In the movie, these interactions were rushed and it was before the actual playing began. We only got to watch the band play, no words, anything.
Carl to Andrew:
"Stick Bag."
...
"Hurry Up."
...
"Hurry Up."
...
"*Page*".
"Damnit..."
Then, Fletcher approaches and whispers:
"Get it together, Tanner, I swear to God."
We read that Carl is "pissed" at Andrew.
This makes me wonder, how in the *flying fck* could Carl even think of handing the folder to Andrew?!?!? 😭🙏
He literally just witnessed Andrew wasn't helping quickly, he got a warning from Fletcher because of that exact reason,
he knew Fletcher would be angry if he saw an unattended folder and yet he handed it to Andrew, a 1st year (Freshman) student whom he most probably belittled/regarded not as high. Their first interaction is literally Carl demanding Andrew to tune the set and turn his pages. It says Carl "couldn't care less" about his name upon Andrew saying his name after Carl asked if he was the new alternate.
Now, let me write one more scene to see the rivalry between Andrew and Carl, and also to understand how Carl indeed saw Andrew as a threat that he was smiling when Fletcher scolded Andrew and told him he won't be playing on the stage.
This scene was half-omitted from the movie. I actually was about to flip when I read it. It literally *shows* you everything you need to know about the relationship and character dynamics between Carl, Andrew and Ryan.
So, Andrew gets on the stage after the car crash. Covered in blood and has broken fingers.
He tells Ryan to get off the fck1ng set. Ryan looks at Fletcher, Fletcher nods, almost smiling. It writes, "Seems he's having fun with this." 💀 Huh-
We read how much of a pain Andrew is in. He closes his eyes. "Tries to black out the anxiety... The pain... The stress that just keeps mounting and mounting..."
It writes that his ears literally started to ring and his left hand is barely keeping up.
Then his stick goes flying and slides under the hi-hat pedal.
In the movie, Andrew gets his stick by himself and so this problem is solved quickly.
It doesn't quite go like this in the script.
Andrew says "Stick..." but Carl stays still...
Andrew looks at him but Carl won't move.
Andrew panicks and turns to his old Nassau Band peer- Ryan.
Ryan at first hesitates. He doesn't want to think of himself as a saboteur. But then he looks at Carl, Carl looks back at him... and right then and there he makes his choice.
Andrew then literally begs to Ryan, says him "Please..." but neither Carl nor Ryan moves.
Then Andrew gets his stick by himself. His finger cracks and the bone is bent 90 degrees. He GASPS, almost cries out in pain.
Has to hold it in...
😭😭😭 OH MY FCK1NG GOD WHAT A SCENE WHAT A SCENE!!!! 👏👏👏
WHY WAS THIS NOT IN THE DAMN MOVIE?!?!?!
First, we see that Andrew is determined to see the good in people even though he has unintentionally and intentionally harmed them some way or another (especially after he knew he was literally seen as a saboteur in Carl's eyes because of that lost folder incident, and after he shouted at Ryan, saying fck u and to turn his pages and pushing him in front of the whole band, plus getting his place as the drummer on the stage) and still expects them to hand him his stick, is panicked when it turns out they won't budge.
We understand that Carl wants Andrew to fail (When you watch the movie that feeling isn't quite conveyed, I talked about this above. Though, I remember I read somewhere that him wearing green is a symbolism of his jealousy for Andrew, if so, that's pretty good thought of) we understand why he smiled when Andrew was told Ryan would play instead of him. (This also conveys that Ryan wasn't even deemed a competitor for Carl. This is also supported when Fletcher later says to Andrew that Ryan was just his (Andrew's) incentive. Ouch.)
We understand that Ryan actually felt bad (for his statues, not because he cared or pitied for Andrew, even though they were "old band peers". In the movie after Andrew tackles Fletcher to the ground, Ryan is one of the people seperating Andrew but in the script it writes security guards pulled him off, so we can conclude he continued to sit besides Carl), and he even considered helping but Carl manipulated (?) him into not doing so with just a look!
This also shows even though Carl didn't help Andrew and even prevented the help Andrew would possibly get, he didn't straight up sabotaged his playing.
(Most possibly) Because he had other options (aka Med School), opposite to Andrew, who literally asks "What do you mean?" when his father told him he still has other options besides jazz drumming. He just doesn't want any perspectives...
This story is such a tragedy for Carl. When Andrew asks what happened to Carl at the same scene where Fletcher says Ryan was just an incentive for him, he says Carl switched to Pre-Med. With a hint of smile, he adds, "I think he got discouraged."
Fck1ng bst/rd.
Carl was a 22 years old (meaning Senior? At his last year?) core drummer with 19 years old experience playing the drums. All his hard work paid for nothing just because this time Fletcher had found his real potential Buddy Rich/Charlie Parker and wanted him to push himself beyond his limits.
He sacrificed one student for this, played the other two like a pawn and f1cked up many others.
While talking to Andrew at the Jazz Club, he says, "... Maybe I seem to think my style is normal, but believe me, I don't."
He says this after they talk about how he got fired (?) upon how some kid exposed not so nice things about him.
So, by style, I reckon he means his teaching style.
So, that means he KNOWS what he has been doing is NOT normal. (By normal, I assume it means the ordinary/ubiquitous teaching styles, thus; the OK ones). He probably understood this when the news of his former student Sean's suicide came to him. (We know how the student had problems with anxiety and depression starting from the years when he was a student of Fletcher, so maybe Fletcher blamed himself for this?)
When Andrew confronts Fletcher after the call, it says that Fletcher was more *desperate* than angry when he got that news.
Why desperate?
BECAUSE HE LOST HIS FIRST (?) POTENTIAL CHARLIE PARKER!!!!!
HE WASN'T BLUFFING IN FRONT OF THE AUDIENCE AND THE BAND WHEN HE SAID THEY MEANT THE WORLD TO HIM!!!!
HE LITERALLY SAYS HIS AIM IS TO CREATE THE NEXT CHARLIE PARKER AND WHO'S GOING TO BE THAT? SOMEONE FROM HIS DAMN BAND!!!!!
He most probably knew Sean would do something like this, so he had already started to mold Andrew to be his next potential Charlie Parker WITHOUT changing his (teaching) style!
Andrew asks Fletcher what if the next Charlie Parker would be discouraged, there must be a line. (Most probably referring to teaching methods/style)
Fletcher answers "...The next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged."
Why do you think he smiles when he said Carl got discouraged!?!?!?!
This story.... Oh my god... The antagonist wins and creates the next Charlie Parker, his *only* Charlie Parker WITHOUT having to have changed his (teaching) style which we understand he had been doubting.
Fletcher is an antagonist with a strong flat arc. What do characters with a flat arc do? They change their world instead.
He wins, he will always think he won (as the director said) so he realizes his doubts on his (teaching) style was not necessary.
He got in the way of Carl, who gave up. Maybe he wouldn't have become the next Charlie Parker but who knows, maybe he could have become the figure that the next generation Jazz teachers would try to create; the next "Carl Tanner" they would say.... Maybe I'm exaggerating here but you got my point.
I like to think that (this is my headcanon) Carl was a better drummer but Andrew wouldn't be discouraged, Andrew also wouldn't cause Fletcher to change his (teaching) style. Look at it that way and see why Fletcher said Ryan was his (Andrew's) incentive, instead of for the both. (Andrew's and Carl's)
You may ask if Carl would ever cause Fletcher to look inwards and cause his style to change, I would answer yes. I know it seems for the past 4 years Carl was a student of Fletcher (it's not certain i think if Carl was always his student btw) and it seems there hasn't been any change in Fletcher's style (from what we hear from the lawyer lady whom Andrew and Jim talks to) but we know he became desperate and to me, almost vulnerable after hearing the suicide of his student Sean; Andrew sees Fletcher's eyes watering up. He doubted his style there.
And we know Carl was discouraged. So, Fletcher would think what has been going wrong with his students and would realise the problem was himself, his methods, his style... So maybe Carl could change him that way, opposite of Andrew who would push himself (harder) despite/due to the humiliation and anxiety he was facing and would continue to face in response to/because of Fletcher's style. (And thus, that way Andrew erased Fletcher's doubts about himself, preventing him from having a possible positive arc) Every student is motivated differently.
Oh and Andrew, our sweet Andrew... He also wins but hey- does he lose at the same time as everyone says he does?
The director said Andrew would be a sad, empty person and would die in his 30s of a drug overdose. He likens him to Charlie Parker, who had the same faith (he died aged 34, had mental health problems and was addicted to h.ro1n) but he is remembered as one of the bests. So it implies Andrew will also be remembered as one of the bests.
Although it may seem like a bittersweet or even a bad faith, wasn't this what he said he'd prefer to having lived a happy, long life but not being remembered?
Also, he was already a sad, empty person to me anyways. (Debatable, I know)
He had no social life, no friends. He thinks his relatives didn't understand him but Fletcher did (...bro💀 Also, Fletcher said to Andrew "Good job" after having a rehersal when Andrew accepted to play for his band in Act III (?). We were not sure if at the ending scene of the movie while Fletcher was smiling, he said these words or not but in the script, he did, so do whatever you wanna do with this fact.)
He dumped his girlfriend because of reasons, and he said he didn't know that man (referring to his father) when his father ran to him and the stage hand asked whether he knew that man or not. I wish this scene also could have found its place in the movie. It shows how Andrew saw the loser of a man he would have become had he not turned back on the stage and play further. (We saw some bits of how Jim was a "loser" such as him giving up on his dream of being a novelist; becoming a teacher instead, or how he said "Sorry" to the man who had bumped into his head with a popcorn bag)
And you see, he was chill lacking these social factors in his life. Although he tried to get his girl back, he didn't flip when he learned she had a new boyfriend, meaning possibly she wouldn't be coming back.
(Also, do you remember when I wrote that Andrew believed either Carl or Ryan would pass him his stick even though he was seen as a saboteur in Carl's eyes and even though he shouted fck you and said turn my pages at Ryan and pushed him and also got his place as the drummer on the stage?
It is nice to see the continuity that Andrew sees the good in people even though he has unintentionally (sometimes intentionally) harmed them some way or another. He most probably thought Nicole would give him a "second chance" even though he literally dumped him and acknowledged when Nicole said Andrew would treat her like shit and she is just some girl who doesn't know what she wants and will be forgotten.
I swear I'm not sure if Andrew is just innocent, an optimist or a fck1ng mörön.)
So, I would say that it seems our homeboy got a happy ending, even though it doesn't correlate with what I and what the overall society regards as "happy" :)
If you read this so far, thank you, and sağol. Whiplash deserves far more attention and analysis. I love everything about Whiplash and I want to add that I adore the fact that in the movie; only two brands of cymbals, both being Turkish 🇹🇷 brands, were used.
One being "Bosphorus" (the name of the strait seperating between European Istanbul and Asian Istanbul) which was used throughout the movie and the other being "Istanbul Agop" which was used only in Act III during the scenes of Caravan. (And Upswingin', of course)
It's like the placements of the brands were decided intentionally.
Throughout the movie, Andrew and Fletcher were at conflict with each other, they were seperated through conflict. There was the *Bosphorus* between them.
This peaked during this climax, the Caravan part, but right at the end, both were smiling and were happy with what they had achived. The conflict was over at the resolution. Both were happy they were "connected/not seperated", having overcome the conflict which objectively had driven both of them mad.
Thus, the Bosphorus was no more and finally, there was just the city, *Istanbul* .
Or maybe I'm just diving too much into this because of spare time. You never know.
Man.... I should have turned this shi into a video essay 😭🤣
It took me hours to write 💀
It seems I indeed have that spare time dawg 😭🙏 Whiplash deserves it ngl, it could drain all of my life energy and I'd still say thank you G
