Who wins in the ending of 'Whiplash'?

Character analysis of the lead roles:

Andrew, the main character whom the story is mostly about, is hard-working but doesn't appreciate what his conductor-cum-teacher, Fletcher does with him. He feels like he's on top of the world when Fletcher chooses him but finds it amusing and insulting when Ryan, the new substitute is chosen.

Towards the end of the movie, he gets insulted again by Fletcher on stage because that cost him his job at Shafer. But he gets back to Fletcher by being one of the greatest drummers of that time, by insulting him and starting without his cue. Big mistakes that Andrews commits is that he doesn't confirm with his bandmates what is to be played at any rehearsal or premiere.

Fletcher, to begin with, is over abusive. It's granted that a teacher is supposed to push their students ahead but that doesn't mean that the teacher gets over abusive. Abuse can be fine up to a certain extent with adult students as long as it's done on a personal basis but not socially. Once again, that's only if that particular student and teacher are pretty close to each other.

He always thought that Andrew is another person who can get easily discouraged, but even after he was insulted by Andrew, he finds a shine in him and guides him towards making that night a beautiful one.

Winners of the Wit:

Since I saw Andrew motivated towards his goal from the very start, along with Fletcher being a strict and stern teacher, both of them won the battle of wits in the end.

Andrew practiced really hard for what he was and Fletcher used his words very wisely towards Andrew.

Hence, it's quite clear that both the characters were appreciated.

A Personal Review from a Musician's Point of View:

This definitely comes from a teacher that tells his students to practice a lot and probably this is what I mean (at least in the funniest manner). Not a 100% sure about jazz, but conductors are usually a bar ahead than the musicians, and hence improper research was done.

Music isn't about high speed but the ability of the person in front of you to understand what you play. The bleeding- why would a music major in drums, ever bleed from the roughness of a stick? It's obvious for a musician to begin playing slow and then build up his or her speed in a song/ piece. It's very rare for a drummer to bleed because of the friction between his fingers and the sticks.

The fingers leaving the stick to show tiredness- It just makes the performance of the drummer less accurate and softer.

-By Kevin D’souza