Am I the only one who thinks 'Frank' is a largely better film than 'Whiplash'? Maybe not, but the latter is easily the more popular film, and is definitely the one more accessible to a mainstream audience. Because as revolutionary as people claim it is, it still does a few things 'right' to meet an audience's expectations. A young dude who's the underdog, but has something distinctive about him(we're told so by an authority figure, so it mist be right), and is pushed to his limits by some authority figure and finally rises out on top. The ending here is important because it gives us the audience closure and thereby a sense of catharsis. It does not matter if this sense of catharsis is based on a false premise (after all, the protagonist may just die of a heart attack for all we know) but the movie tries its best to inform us that success and good fortune lie ahead for the protagonist. One of the ways we've been acculturated to interpreting and understanding 'art' is by identifying with the 'hero' figure and by sympathizing with him and looking at the world through his eyes. As such, the protagonist's success is ours too. We want to know that in the end, success can be achieved through hard work, and the fact that the protagonist did this seems to provide us with a sense of comfort that could be argued to be a false one.
Just like in 'Whiplash', in 'Frank' too we are shown the world through the eyes of an aspiring musician (a keyboardist/songwriter) and once he gets into the band 'Soronprfbs', he tries to- in his own words- "earn his place in the band". And we see how he attempts to have his songs played in the band, even though Frank appears to be, even to him, a genius songwriter.
To Jon, earning his place in the band is important because of his ego. He wants the band to become famous because he's in it. And like usual protagonist stories, it's likely that you rooted for Jon even though he's not a particularly likable person. He is however, the most sane person in the band and with the most 'normal' sense of music. He still sees music as a combination of chords used in a fixed progression. On the other hand, to Frank, the chords do not matter and he revels in the possibility of dissonance within the music. Because like their dissonant music, Frank and Clara are difficult to make sense of in society. And anything that can't be made sense of is dismissed by society. But in their music, they find solace not because it's great or because it could make them famous, but because it is who they are and they put everything of them into the music.
In the beginning, you must have noticed how Clara is painted as a kind of antagonistic character and the only way Jon is able to interpret her behavior is that she's crazy, not even giving a second thought of why she is the way she is, and chances are you bought his interpretation. This is because Jon like the rest of society fails to try and understand these characters. He's only interested in having his lame and generic crap played by the band. But of course, to understand Jon as a one- dimensional character would be a mistake, but it's easier to identify with Jon in the first place, since he is the protagonist.
However, towards the end, we see how the band starts falling apart. Frank is still interested in being loved and accepted by people unlike Clara and this is why he goes along with Jon to perform in front of all those people. And this seems to be why Frank wears the big head, because he doesn't think people can accept him because of his appearance. He doesn't want this to be a hindrance in how people judge him.
And it's only when Jon starts singing his own song in front of the crowd that Frank can't take it anymore and collapses saying "the music is shit". It's after Frank runs away that Jon's catharsis begins because now we see that he seems to genuinely care about Frank. Perhaps he did all along, in his own narcissistic way. But now, he's able to make sense of Clara's actions as well: she was only trying to protect Frank. Maybe she didn't want Frank to know that they'd never be accepted by society the way they are. And Jon seems to realize this when he apologizes to the band: "I ruined everything". It's self- pity sure, but he's now able to understand the consequences of his actions and with the way he perceived his band members. It was only because he was thinking that these people existed only in relation to his own existence that he acted in a way that ended up causing damage all around. (You can actually see the protagonist in 'Whiplash' act in a similar way as well: he pushes away his girlfriend, acts like a douche towards other drummers in their group, and so on. But the difference is that in 'Whiplash', the protagonist seems justified in his actions because he's able to drum really fast by the end, and obviously that's all that matters!)
In the end, Frank is disillusioned and no longer bothers wearing a mask and we get to see his scarred face. Because wearing the head has lost its significance to him. It's not that society now accepts him: they or rather we don't. But it is that he has realized that his fellow band members who are every bit as weird as him will always accept him regardless of whether he wears a mask or not. Jon realizes why he mustn't stay in the band and why the band needs to maintain a certain sense of exclusivity. And as he walks away, if you're still watching this film as you would 'Whiplash', you feel sorry for him. But if not, you should be able to see that this is Jon being heroic, this is Jon changing. But this causes his ego to take a hit and this is why we don't want this to happen either. We want to be told that he was right, not that he's a better man.
'Frank' is not like 'Whiplash' in the way that it's not about Jon's journey to fame and fortune, but it's rather about his journey to understanding that he's not some main character in a film.
And the more we realize this, the closer we are to accepting those who aren't quite like us. After all, it isn't that when Frank sings "Lonely little carpet tuft", he is doing so without any reason. There are reasons behind the weirdness no matter how strange or unreasonable it may seem or sound, and all we need is a little bit of context to know this to be true.
It isn't brave to think you're the hero, but I think it is to accept you aren't.
On the other hand, in a film like 'Frank' which I would say relies on such a narrative technique so that the audience identifies with the protagonist, we are not left with a catharsis the way we are after a film like 'Whiplash' because 'Frank' portrays the narcissism associated with the very idea of protagonists and the way we interpret them. I don't think that we as an audience want the underdog drummer to succeed because we see something distinctive about him also, but rather because we think we can be him. This does not mean that we want to be good drummers, but it may apply to any field in our lives. What's important to note is that we want the protagonist to 'win' because we want to 'win'. We are rooting for him because we see the world through his eyes and we want the world to conform to, or to justify this perspective. It is the definition of narcissism to think that your perspective is the only one, and that everything else exists only to justify this. I'm not criticizing such behavior in itself, but am only trying to point out the reasons why we interpret such a narrative the way we do. So, it's important to remember that the 'hero' figure does not have to be morally upright or particularly heroic to warrant our unconditional support(it is after all unconditional). He warrants this support simply by virtue of being the protagonist (see any number of antagonistic leads for reference: Walter White, the Taxi Driver(yes, i forgot his name), Batman (don't bother telling me he's heroic), Light yagami from Death Note, and so on).
Unlike 'Whiplash' which can either be interpreted as a somewhat grotesque understanding of music, or an exaggerated critique of the growing sense of elitism attached to Jazz music, the music only exists to show us how 'difficult' it can be. On the other hand, in 'Frank', the music itself tells a story of the quirkiness and a feeling of exclusiveness that exists in any band. and there are multiple interpretations of music shown to us as an audience through the different interpretations of the music the band members themselves hold. And this is why the protagonist's- Jon's- venture into the band causes problems: because he does not understand the varying interpretations of music that exist, and more importantly, how important these interpretations are to the identity of Frank and the other members of the band.
Just like in 'Whiplash', in 'Frank' too we are shown the world through the eyes of an aspiring musician (a keyboardist/songwriter) and once he gets into the band 'Soronprfbs', he tries to- in his own words- "earn his place in the band". And we see how he attempts to have his songs played in the band, even though Frank appears to be, even to him, a genius songwriter.
To Jon, earning his place in the band is important because of his ego. He wants the band to become famous because he's in it. And like usual protagonist stories, it's likely that you rooted for Jon even though he's not a particularly likable person. He is however, the most sane person in the band and with the most 'normal' sense of music. He still sees music as a combination of chords used in a fixed progression. On the other hand, to Frank, the chords do not matter and he revels in the possibility of dissonance within the music. Because like their dissonant music, Frank and Clara are difficult to make sense of in society. And anything that can't be made sense of is dismissed by society. But in their music, they find solace not because it's great or because it could make them famous, but because it is who they are and they put everything of them into the music.
In the beginning, you must have noticed how Clara is painted as a kind of antagonistic character and the only way Jon is able to interpret her behavior is that she's crazy, not even giving a second thought of why she is the way she is, and chances are you bought his interpretation. This is because Jon like the rest of society fails to try and understand these characters. He's only interested in having his lame and generic crap played by the band. But of course, to understand Jon as a one- dimensional character would be a mistake, but it's easier to identify with Jon in the first place, since he is the protagonist.
However, towards the end, we see how the band starts falling apart. Frank is still interested in being loved and accepted by people unlike Clara and this is why he goes along with Jon to perform in front of all those people. And this seems to be why Frank wears the big head, because he doesn't think people can accept him because of his appearance. He doesn't want this to be a hindrance in how people judge him.
And it's only when Jon starts singing his own song in front of the crowd that Frank can't take it anymore and collapses saying "the music is shit". It's after Frank runs away that Jon's catharsis begins because now we see that he seems to genuinely care about Frank. Perhaps he did all along, in his own narcissistic way. But now, he's able to make sense of Clara's actions as well: she was only trying to protect Frank. Maybe she didn't want Frank to know that they'd never be accepted by society the way they are. And Jon seems to realize this when he apologizes to the band: "I ruined everything". It's self- pity sure, but he's now able to understand the consequences of his actions and with the way he perceived his band members. It was only because he was thinking that these people existed only in relation to his own existence that he acted in a way that ended up causing damage all around. (You can actually see the protagonist in 'Whiplash' act in a similar way as well: he pushes away his girlfriend, acts like a douche towards other drummers in their group, and so on. But the difference is that in 'Whiplash', the protagonist seems justified in his actions because he's able to drum really fast by the end, and obviously that's all that matters!)
In the end, Frank is disillusioned and no longer bothers wearing a mask and we get to see his scarred face. Because wearing the head has lost its significance to him. It's not that society now accepts him: they or rather we don't. But it is that he has realized that his fellow band members who are every bit as weird as him will always accept him regardless of whether he wears a mask or not. Jon realizes why he mustn't stay in the band and why the band needs to maintain a certain sense of exclusivity. And as he walks away, if you're still watching this film as you would 'Whiplash', you feel sorry for him. But if not, you should be able to see that this is Jon being heroic, this is Jon changing. But this causes his ego to take a hit and this is why we don't want this to happen either. We want to be told that he was right, not that he's a better man.
'Frank' is not like 'Whiplash' in the way that it's not about Jon's journey to fame and fortune, but it's rather about his journey to understanding that he's not some main character in a film.
And the more we realize this, the closer we are to accepting those who aren't quite like us. After all, it isn't that when Frank sings "Lonely little carpet tuft", he is doing so without any reason. There are reasons behind the weirdness no matter how strange or unreasonable it may seem or sound, and all we need is a little bit of context to know this to be true.
It isn't brave to think you're the hero, but I think it is to accept you aren't.
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