Film Analysis Essay of Taxi Driver

The New Hero of the 1970s in United States Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver is clearly a character-driven film, in which we explore the world through the perspective of the protagonist Travis . Without a clear story line, the film flows with his character development. As the film progresses, we witness a new story archetype forming under the specific historical context — the story of a new hero. In a traditional story, the conventional hero starts from an undesirable situation, goes on an adventure, faces the challenges, and eventually transcends to be ideal and perfect. On the other hand, the new hero also starts from a dissatisfied place, and goes through some challenges; but what is different here is that the character does not transcend to a real heroic figure. In Travis’ case, he is a new hero who starts as a taxi driver wandering on the streets, and still ends in the same situation. Although seen by the community as the “hero” who saves Iris, Travis’ only buries his anxiety and depression deeper in his heart, without confronting his mental problems. Instead of transcending into the hero who protects the community, Travis becomes a “timed bomb”, waiting for the next explosion of violence. The story of the ironic emergence of the new hero then forms a much broader observation of the despair and hopelessness in the society of the 1970s in the US. The age I am referring to is the chaotic and directionless era after the Vietnam War. Although the Vietnam war is seldom mentioned in the film, we see that the protagonist has been deeply traumatized by the war, which is revealed by his own narration and behaviors. The only time the war is referred in the film is at the beginning, when Travis applies to become a taxi driver. As Travis mentions his military experience in marine to the manager, the manager responds that he has the same experience. The shared experience among the two is a plot device, establishes the overall historical context of the film. The coincidence of these two random strangers sharing the same war memory indicates the widespread impact of the war. Standing in front of the manager, Travis talks about his army life calmly, as if he is never affected by the war. But Travis later admits that the war is his primary reason of becoming a taxi driver, that he works long hours in the night because he cannot fall into sleep. But his attempts are in vain, as he still cannot sleep after long working hours. Travis knows that the traumatization from the war is impossible to be cured, so he can only repress his anxiety, which eventually leads to an explosive and devastating outcome. As he becomes eventually unable to control his impulse towards violence, he shoots the three men, whom Iris is staying with. Travis is far from a heroic or noble character. As a taxi driver, he works at night, and never rejects any dangerous driving routes. He says that every place is the same to him, that as long as he is driving, he does not care where he is going. Always on the road, Travis is a directionless wanderer who observes everything that happens around him. Travis’ indifference, carelessness, and aloofness are in sharp contrast with the colorful and bright street scenes captured by the camera. Rooted in New York City, Scorsese’s depiction of this modern city is full of turmoil and chaos. The camera has the most saturated color schemes, and is extremely interested in capturing the neon lights of the entire city. His low socioeconomic status and lack of cultural background are emphasized by his vulgar interest in watching adult movies. Not only does he always stay in the adult cinema after work, but he also considers watching the adult movies normal, as he takes Betsy to the adult cinema on their first date. More importantly, all of his “heroic” deeds are never driven by his true intentions; or, he does not even know his own true intentions. In the beginning, he hopes for the rain to wash off the scums in New York. Then, triggered by the failure of pursuing Betsy and then “inspired” by 0.44 Magnum guy in his taxi, Travis starts to plan for his upcoming actions. Even though Travis narrates his story throughout the film, he never tells the viewers what his true intentions are. From the rest of Travis’ narration in the film, we know that Travis is likely a reliable narrator. Throughout the film, there is coherence between what the audience sees and what the audience is hearing from Travis. For example, when he first sees Betsy on the street, he immediately tells the audience that he wants to pursue her. As film progresses, Travis is probably becoming as clueless as the viewers about his real desires. As in the second half of the film, he seems to become more and more reserved in his narration, which indicates that he is getting more confused in his situation. From his interaction with the governor’s bodyguards, we can guess that his assassination target is the governor. We are not certain that the assassination of the governor is to get attention from Betsy, but at least we know that Travis chooses the governor as the target is due to his previous failed relationship with Betsy. Next, after he fails in his first mission, he goes to find Iris, and then kills all of the people near Iris, but without planning beforehand. It seems so random when he starts the final shooting. It is noticeable that both of his missions are never planned for the greater good of the human beings, that he never plans to “wash off” the scums in New York. Travis never plans or wants to become a hero and save humanity. At the end of the final shooting, he ironically puts his fingers next to his head and imitates the sound of bullet shots (after running out of ammunition to kill himself), and at that moment, he thinks he will be punished, and he is looking forward to his death. Ironically, Travis is seen transcending to be a new hero. He is then widely seen as a local heroic figure who saved the adolescent prostitute by shooting the three men. In the age when every person is lonely and hopeless, anyone with a spark of compassion and bravery was exaggerated to be seen as a hero. As the film reveals satirically how little do people expect from each other, Scorsese successfully envisioned a dark and cruel world, filled by inhumanness. After receiving the gratitude letter from Iris’s father and being celebrated by the local papers, Travis changes his hairstyle back his former one and continues to be a taxi driver. The story now comes to a full circle, but the ending seems to be bleaker than the beginning. As he starts his conversation distantly with Betsy at the end, and then as the film ends with the camera focusing on his moving eyes, we know that Travis, although seen as a hero, is simply more lost in his despair. His unsettling moving eyes are foreshadowing the next violent incident he may conduct.

The different styles between the first and the second half of the movie. The first half is What stood out Scorsese’s New York