Whiplash and the Surprising Importance of the White Male Privilege Film

(Contains spoilers for Whiplash)

Seeing a film for the first time in a long while is a strange thing. I first saw Whiplash way back in May 2014 at Cannes, and proceeded to spend the next eight months shouting things like "it's amazing!", "a game-changer" and "that ending!" at anyone (aka no-one) that would listen. After a second viewing I can confirm that yes, Whiplash is still great. Only this time I found myself liking the film for reasons that I hadn't noticed before, reasons that I'm not even sure director Damien Chazelle meant to be in the film. Whiplash is a great film because it, just like last year's Nightcrawler, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Social Network, or even films as far back as Altman's The Player, states a fact that is obvious to all of us but that we politely deign to mention for fear of upsetting their fragile egos - if you are a middle class white man, there is little to nothing that will stop you from getting what you want, no matter how many people you have to manipulate, trample, rape or kill to get it.

Why then, you may ask, does that make Whiplash such a good film? Aren't there enough films out at the moment about white men trying to reach for the American (or English, if you look to The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything) Dream? Should I just go see Birdman or Foxcatcher instead? Well, let us propose something that has long been stated by theorists - cinema is a mirror that can be used to view ourselves and our society. Just like looking at yourself in a mirror after a long cry or a heavy night, it's not always particularly flattering. What do we see when we look through the cinematic mirror? We see a complete lack of diversity, and white men dominating the scene (both on and off-screen) just because they're white men. And another thing - cinema is supposed to be more than an just artform. Isn't cinema is a device to change the world? Has it done much changing so far? Hell no it, but maybe one day it will. So, the more films we make about the type of guy that saunters into a job interview, raises one eyebrow because he knows he's earnt it and ends up running the country within a year get made, the more we'll start to think that hey, isn't this a little problematic? Maybe we should question this, not just in our cinema, but in our society. It's worth pointing out as well that this is the inherent difference between films like Whiplash and Nightcrawler and films like Birdman and Foxcatcher - the directors of the former give us films filled (perhaps accidentally but nevertheless effectively) with the inevitability of white male privilege, whereas the latter try to convince us that oh, isn't life such a struggle for the white man? How will this famous actor manage to put on a play? Foxcatcher is a little different in terms of Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum's characters as there is actually a serious element of win or lose when it comes to wrestling, but the idea of the white American Dream is still there first and foremost.

A counter example of this is a film I haven't written about for a while, (so I'm going to be indulgent and do so here) Inside Llewyn Davis. Oscar Isaac's Llewyn is talented, and he sure as hell knows he's talented. Just like Miles Teller's Andrew, he treats people like shit because he thinks he's "better" than them due to his talent. So what's the difference between Teller's Andrew and Isaac's Llewyn? It's the colour of his skin of course. In reality, Isaac is Latino, and in the film he's Italian American. In one memorable scene, after F Murray Abraham's Bud Grossman rejects him as a solo singer, he offers him two pieces of advice for blending into the background and making it as part of a bland trio: "don't go in the sun, and shave your beard into a goatee". Due to his ethnicity, Llewyn's only option for stardom is to blend in and conform. Andrew on the other hand, can make it on his terms thanks, once again, to his established privilege.

The last scene of Whiplash is a solidification of all I have been talking about above. Throughout the film we are lead to believe that Andrew is a big bright shining star, and while it's exhilarating to watch all the highs of his talent, its also a little satisfying to watch the lows. So when you see him be beaten yet again by his ex-teacher and antagonist, you think it's finally all over. Forget talent, it's all about who has the bigger balls, and who can pull one over on who. That is, until he comes back out onto that stage, and begins his tour-de-force, an ace class in how to manipulate people in order to get what you want. By forcing his teacher to go along with him and help him give the best performance possible, Andrew starts once again to ascend to the top. J.K Simmons's character in Whiplash is certainly not perfect - far from it in fact, he's a homophobic (pretty much all kinds of phobic to be perfectly honest) bully. But it's a little disheartening to see what was once such a strong character be completely pulverised by his protégée and turning into a smiling, encouraging put upon helper. But hey, that's just the way it goes isn't it? Just like the phoenix, you can only keep the privileged white man down for so long - it's their destiny to ascend from the ashes to restore the status quo of society.

Grace Barber-Plentie

Alternative Oscar Categories 2014

Whether you find them joyous or soul-destroying, I'm sure everyone on the planet can agree: The Academy Awards are Kind of a Big Deal. There's just a few hours to go to see if the Academy will inevitably mess up and give out the wrong awards to the wrong people, but in these tense moments, we should relax, unwind, and just accept that everyone in Hollywood is rich and powerful and we are not therefore there is nothing we can do. Instead, while you're praying for 12 Years to luck out or crossing your fingers for Gravity, you can regale yourself with some of the categories that we think the Academy should consider adding to their ceremony, and their very deserving winners.

Best Hair

Lea Seydoux - Blue is the Warmest Colour

Javier Bardem - The Counsellor

The Cast of Anchorman 2

Amy Adams - American Hustle

I spent the whole of American Hustle mesmerised by Amy Adams's curves. And no, perverts, I'm not talking about her T and A here, I'm talking about the perfect curl of her ringlets. Seriously, her hair in this film is how I dream my hair will look when I get out of bed every day. (Instead, I end up looking more like Christian Bale, minus being balding with bits of fluff glued to my head) Adams's hairstyles in the film vary from soft waves to the volcanic eruption of curls pictured above, and pulls each of them off with ease. 

GBP

Best Inappropriate Relationship

Mia Wasikowska & Matthew Goode – Stoker

Jonah Hill & his cousin – The Wolf of Wall Street 

Benedict Cumberbatch & Julianne Nicholson – August: Osage County

2013 was the year of a lot of incestuous relationships in film, a worrying amount in fact. In Stoker it’s creepy; in The Wolf of Wall Street it’s funny and in August: Osage County it’s just plain sad. But, let’s face it guys Benedict Cumberbatch looks inbred-y anyway so the big twist *SPOILERS* that he’s actually been shagging his sister isn’t that shocking but we’ll award him it anyway.

BJ

Best Soundtrack

Her

Only Lovers Left Alive

Drinking Buddies

Frances Ha

Inside Llewyn Davis

It's a draw! The soundtracks for the new Coens and Baumbach films are so different, and yet both so perfect. With Inside Llewyn Davis, the soundtrack is a core part of the film. Without it, it would just be a sad film about a man and a cat. The music of this film - actually performed by its cast by the way, which adds another reason to a very long list of why Oscar Isaac is the best person ever - is glorious, and also helps give the characters an extra level of depth. Plus Oscar Isaac has like, the dreamiest voice ever. PLUS ADAM DRIVER AND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE DO A SONG AND IT IS PERFECT.

Moving on to Frances Ha - which coincidentally, also stars Adam Driver - which has a more mixtape-like approach when it comes to its soundtrack. Just like ILD, music is crucial to the film, and not just any music, but music from other films. Baumbach was inspired by the French New Wave when he made the film, hence why he uses the infamous music from The 400 Blows in the film. And in one of the greatest scenes in the film, Frances skips and twirls across the street to David Bowie's Modern Love - a cheeky and accidental reference to Leos Carax's weird and wonderful Mauvais Sang. It also features Hot Chocolate's second finest song, played oddly enough during a montage of Greta Gerwig loafing around Paris.
GBP

Best McConaughey 

Matthew McConaughey – Mud

Matthew McConaughey – The Paperboy 

Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Matthew McConaughey – The Wolf of Wall Street 

What a year for Matthew McConaughey. Once the go-to lead for rom-coms, he’s now the front runner for Best Actor tonight. Although it’s not the film he’s nominated for, his improvised chest pumping scene from the Wolf of Wall Street is one of the most memorable of the year. It’s also his own personal relaxation technique that he does before scenes and he has even said he’ll probably be doing it tonight on the way to the Oscars. 

BJ

Best Actor Not Nominated

Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis

Ethan Hawke - Before Midnight

James Mccavoy - Filth

Sam Rockwell - The Way, Way Back (and like everything he's ever been in EVER)
Joaquin Phoenix - Her

The fact that Joaquin Phoenix wasn't even nominated for his modest, quiet turn in Her this year is completely beguiling. Even in years where he was pretty much guaranteed to lose - such as last year for The Master up against Daniel Day-Lewis - he at least garnered a nomination, but this year, The Academy just chose to ignore him. This could be in part due to the fact that he pretty much said he doesn't give a shit about the Oscars, or partly due to the strong contenders already in that category. Nevertheless, his performance is as usual, pretty damn flawless in a film that I do not mind pointing out has a fair few flaws. It's easy to forget how a Joaquin Phoenix can be simultaneously funny and heartbreaking, subtle and powerhouse, but luckily he's here to remind you just how good he can be.

GBP

Best Actress Not Nominated

Paulina Garcia - Gloria

Greta Gerwig - Frances Ha

Julie Delpy - Before Midnight

Adele Exarchopoulos - Blue is the Warmest Colour

Brie Larson - Short Term 12

Short Term 12 basically doesn't exist in Academy terms, as it managed to gain an impressive amount of... ZERO nominations, however for a little indie film it's really great, and manages to be absolutely devastating without falling into cliched melodrama territory too much. Like Phoenix, Brie Larson manages to keep her performance low-key, and it's only towards the end of the film that we actually find out what's going on in her head. Were she nominated for an award, or had she gone on to win one, this could easily have been the type of performance that could've turned Larson's career into something incredible. Sadly it looks like we'll have to wait a few years for her inevitable award-winning film.

GBP

Worst Accent

Shia LeBeouf

I haven't even seen Nymphomaniac yet but just judging by this clip from the film's trailer, we have a winner! Yikes. Nothing is gonna beat this.

GBP

Best Facial Hair

Joaquin Phoenix - Her

Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave

Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis

James Mccavoy - Filth

George Clooney - The Monuments Men

Precise, defined, sophisticated - Clooney's moustache is pretty much everything that his film sadly wasn't. Compared to Fassbender, Mcavoy and Isaac's wonderful array of beards, (extra kudos must go to Mcavoy for the brown hair/ginger beard combo) this moustache isn't extravagant. It doesn't want to draw attention to itself, and it doesn't need to - just look whose face it's sitting on. I bet it took you a while to even realise Clooney had a moustache in that photo because you were too busy swooning.

GBP

Best Performance in a Bad Film

Dane Dehaan - Kill Your Darlings

Gaby Hoffman - Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus

Bradley Cooper - American Hustle

Kristen Scott-Thomas - Only God Forgives

Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine

Otherwise known as the "being slightly controversial just because it's Awards season and I'm bored" award. I'm SORRY but I personally didn't think much of any of these films, and while I've picked out Blue Jasmine as the winner of this award, it certainly isn't the worst of the bunch. In fact, Cate Blanchett's superb performance in it almost tricks you into thinking it's wonderful - it's only afterwards that you realise it left a slightly bad aftertaste in your mouth. Cate Blanchett is wonderful because she's a heavy drinking neurotic mess, which is pretty much everything you would imagine Cate Blanchett isn't. I would be more than happy for her to receive the Oscar for this performance... it's just a shame that it has to be for this film. (Also, because I'm sure people will confused about this - Bradley Cooper is on the list because I thought he was really surprisingly good in American Hustle? Maybe it's because I find him a little too convincing when he's playing absolutely pathetic slimeballs....)
GBP

Best Effort

Leonardo DiCaprio -  The Great Gatsby

Oh poor Leo. I’m sure he thought that playing the lead role in an adaption of a classic was sure to be the one. Too bad the release date got moved from last award season to summer blockbuster season. And so, for second year running our pal, Leo takes the award for Best Effort.

BJ

Worst Effort

Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Real talk here: do you really believe that playing a drug taking, rich, partying, generally corrupt, shagging dickhead is a stretch for Leo? COME ON! All he does is shag young models and play about on his yachts! Him and his friends even named themselves the Pussy Posse! 

BJ

Best Overlooked Film

Before Midnight

Short Term 12

Blue is the Warmest Color

Inside Llewyn Davis

Were I a Harvey Weinstein-like figure in Hollywood, (A girl can dream I guess) Inside Llewyn Davis would definitely be the film that I would be plugging during Awards season. Really, the fact that I have anything left to say about it after ranting and raving on social networks and to my peers astounds me. But it is just so good, a quiet little gem of a film that sadly justifies the fact that it was snubbed at the Oscars purely because it's about a guy who's pretty much walked out of Beck's much beloved 1994 classic. The soundtrack, beards and performances I have already briefly mentioned, but there are so many other elements that go towards making this such a great film, cinematography and art direction being just two of them. (Also, Adam Driver. Singing Cowboy. Just gonna keep pressing that.) I saw it three times in the cinema - the first time I liked it, the second I loved it, and the third I adored it. Every time I watched it, I found something else in it that I'd never noticed before, and I can't help but think that maybe the Academy skipped the rewatch (probably due to the length of Wolf of Wall Street?!) and took it at face value.

GBP

Grace Barber-Plentie and Beth Johnston

Film and Feminism: January Edition

There are two things that I am able to get well and truly passionate about, and have the ability to rant about for hours - film and feminism. Because of this, I've decided to bring the two together to provide a round-up of each month's key film releases, providing a handy summary for those people who are interested in how women are portrayed in cinema in 2014. Does it pass the Bechdel Test? Is it out and out feminist? Find out here.

January was a simply brilliant month of cinema, leading to an even better year if we're lucky. We've seen new releases from some of the true giants and geniuses of cinema, such as Scorsese and the Coen Brothers, and new kids on the block like Steve Mcqueen. There were a lot of films covering race and masculinity out last month, but how have the females fared? 

American Hustle - 1st January

What's it about?

A Scorsese-esque tale of a group of con artists trying to survive by hustling both their hapless victims and each other. Check out our review here.

Decent Female Characters?

Yep. Thought it's easy for them both to have been broad stereotypes - the mad wife and the sultry mistress - both Adams and Lawrence's characters have moments of humour, sadness, and downright awfulness. Just like the men in the film, they're never just "good" or "bad", making them interesting, well-rounded characters. 

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes. Lawrence and Adams's characters talk to each other, (and um, have a quick kiss) though this is mainly about a man, and Lawrence has a conversation with a politician's wife about nail varnish and weird smelling perfume.  

Worth seeing?

Depends if you want to see Scorsese-lite or the real thing - if it's the latter, see Wolf of Wall Street instead. The female characters here are good, just be prepared to see about as many leery shots of their breasts and bums are you do their faces.  However the film looks amazing - even if everything good about it is style over substance.

12 Years a Slave - 10th January

What's it about?

Yet another true story of horrifying discrimination based on race. Freed man Solomon Northup is tricked and sold into slavery for 12 years. 

Decent Female Characters?

Absolutely. While all the male characters in the film are interesting and brilliantly acted, one name and character stands out from the rest - Lupita Nyong'o's Patsey. Played with such force and passion that the film's director Steve McQueen thanked her for being born and Michael Fassbender described her as his "peer", Patsey is one of the most sympathetic and interesting characters of the year. And though their roles are smaller, Adepero Oduye and Sarah Paulson also deliver wonderful performances as a slave whose children are taken away from her and a hardened wife of Fassbender's sadistic slave-owner.

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Yes. There are various conversations between slaves and their mistresses, none of them particularly pleasant, mind you.

Worth seeing?

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees. 12 Years is one, if not the most important films of the year, depending on how awards season goes. While the film's focus is of course on the main character of Solomon, as previously mentioned, the female characters in this film are rich, interesting and heartbreaking. And even if you're not fussed about the plight of the women in this film, it's still a must-see, a wonderful horrible and most importantly much needed film about race and slavery.

The Wolf of Wall Street - 17th January

What's it about?

The rise and fall of real-life Wall Street stockbroker Jordan Belfort, as he goes from a nobody in Queens to a life of excess, only to find it all coming crashing down.

Decent Female Characters?

This is one of two films seen solely through the eyes of its protagonist, (see Inside Llewyn Davis, below) so the way that we see women is the way that Jordan sees them. Therefore, all the female characters in this film are rubbish. There's potential with both of Jordan's wives, his secretary and another woman at his work, but all of these women just turn into rushed caricatures. And let's not even get started on how every female character is presented in the film - if you thought the way Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence were filmed in American Hustle was gratuitous, you'll have a heart attack watching this.

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

Surprisingly yes. Jordan's trophy wife, Naomi has conversations with her friend Hildy about her aunt's death, and with the maid to make sure her child is okay.

Worth seeing?

I personally was VERY disappointed with the film, which I had been looking forward to for months, but I know a lot of people disagree with me. If you're a Scorsese or DiCaprio fan, you're definitely going to want to see it. It's the sort of film that, regardless of whether you actually want to see it, you'll end up going to just to see what all the hype was about. 

August: Osage County - 24th January

What's it about?

After the patriarch of the Weston family disappears, his daughters gather from across the country to look after their sick, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed mother. Needless to say, things do not go well. 

Decent Female Characters?

It totally depends on your definition of "decent".  Strong, noble female characters? Nope. Shrieking, sad, messed-up, pill popping opinionated women of all ages? You bet. This is a rare film where female characters are allowed to just as flawed and messed up as their male counterparts - more so in fact in this film, as the men of this film are relatively more together than the women - and it's a joy to behold.

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

100 percent. The Weston women do talk about men and relationships a lot, but they also talk about a variety of others topics too.

Worth seeing?

The film as a whole is average, one of those that feels very static and long, which is understandable considering that it has been adapted from a play. But as I've said before, it is wonderful to see such a variety of female characters, and in all honesty, anything with Meryl Streep in is always going to be at least a little bit watchable.

Inside Llewyn Davis - 24th January

What's it about?

The film follows musician and general sad-sack Llewyn Davis through New York and beyond as he attempts to make a name for himself, return his friends cat to them, and find a couch to sleep on. 

Decent Female Characters?

Tough one. Coen Brothers films, Fargo aside, tend to have male main characters with supporting female characters who range from very good (see Raising Arizona, True Grit, The Hudsucker Proxy, Intolerable Cruelty) to a bit stereotypical or whiny. (see O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Big Lebowski) This is the case here. As the title suggests, the film is all about the inner world of Llewyn Davis, and therefore we see women the way he sees them - shrewd, mean, and trying to stop him achieving his goals. Carey Mulligan's Jean is kind of a one-note character, but the way that she's played suggests there's something more going on within her.

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

No. Though Llewyn interacts with several women, this is always through one to one conversations or in the presence of other men.

Worth seeing?

For a cinema-goer? Yes, absolutely. The Coens almost always get it right, particularly their period dramas, and Llewyn Davis really is up there in their best films. If you're looking for a piece of cinema with female characters? It's still worth it just for Carey Mulligan's rants, but you may be a little disappointed.

Grace Barber-Plentie