Applying Lacan to Film

Lacan's theory of lack can be applied to this particular scene in whiplash, we see the protagonist wants to achieve his goal so much that he becomes obsessed and takes up repetitive practice in order to achieve his goal of being a perfect drummer. We see this when close ups of the drummers face and hands whilst playing the drums, quite literally producing blood sweat and tears. Also in this scene we see the camera tracking along the drums, this helps to promote the high speed intensity of the drumming and the speed in which he is playing at, by doing this it helps to show his determination and how much he wants to succeed. We also see how much the protagonist wants to succeed and meet the demands of his mentor when we see him smashing symbols and throwing equipment about. As the tension in the scene builds this is shown via the use of diegetic sound, the tension continues building until the diegetic sound stops, this helps for us to go inside the mind of the rummer and feel the intensity of the drumming.