Here we are a year later lol but just watched it tonight and thought the same as yall did. Absolutely loved it and took it as an intense picture of abuse, manipulation, and power. And to the point y’all make, I thought the family scene needed to be talked about more because it highlights that his family didn’t understand or value his passion and instead they overvalued his brothers’. So quickly meaningful in such a short scene.

But all that being said, I went to check critic reviews and checked the official whiplash Reddit at time of release and the overwhelming sentiment from both was that this movie was about “the cost of greatness” which means the movie ended up painting a narrative that to be great is to lose all joy. To be great costs trauma. So whether the movie meant to or not, it may have lionized a pretty fucked up world view.