Taxi Driver is a film about many things, but overall it is about the theme of isolation and focuses on one particular loner in a big city who can be construed as an antihero. It is a film that draws from many genres: the Western, horror, noir, and was also influenced by the films of the Italians (DeSica, Rosselini, Fellini).
Discuss, in at least two paragraphs, the themes of isolation and/or the antihero and how Scorsese's film is influenced by the different genres and by the Italians.
Due: Friday, November 30. Along with pages 1-6 of your Independent Study!
The film's main character, Travis, takes the role of an antihero throughout the film. This is most clear at the end of the film. Although he has killed three people, he is viewed as a hero locally and by Iris's parents. As well, even after Travis gets a moment of redemption after driving Betsy home, he is shown in a menacing way in a few shots and a disconcerting sound effect is used, calling his sanity into question for the viewer.
ReplyDeleteThe noir influence is prevalent in the jazz soundtrack, as well as the dark and mysterious cinematography, which frequently utilizes chiaroscuro. The western influence is prevalent in the characterization of Travis, who is seen as a wayward loner who tries to take the law into his own hands. The Italian neorealism influence is shown in the film's documentary-like depiction of inner city life in New York City.
The theme of isolation is very evident in Taxi Driver. This is evident throughout Travis’ story. He is alone, no one to talk to or love. He is a taxi driver, he is in the front seat, and there is a barrier between him and his passenger. Symbolically, there is a barrier between him and the world. He is the anti-hero, because he has many flaws. This is evident with how he handles things with Betsy after their ‘break-up’, when he bursts into her office and makes a complete fool of himself. He does not have many friends and he is constantly working. He is not glamorous like a hero is expected to be, but looks like an average guy, and is an average guy. This is represented through his appearance on his, which is quite grungy at times, but realistic. He looks human. Also, during the shoot-out scene, he is quite flawed, which is evident in his sloppy timing and reactions. He is shot and bloodied up like the men he killed. A hero is expected to be more skilled than the villains, but in Travis’ case, he is just as skilled as them.
ReplyDeleteScorsese’s influence by the Western, horror, and noir is very evident throughout Taxi Driver. We have our unexpected hero, who is an outsider, become a hero. He does this in a very menacing way though, which shows the horror influence. The way the scene was shot was not very happily or triumphant, but very brutal and horrific. He blows a man’s fingers off, he shoots the pimp multiple times with blood splattering everywhere, and he kills the last man in front of the girl prostitute, most-likely scaring her for life. Noir is evident, because of the low lighting used and the atmosphere, up to the shoot-out, was very noir as well. Influence by the Italians is evident with Scorsese’s on-location shooting (neo-realistic) and the focus on the outsider (Fellini).
Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle is the quintessential antihero. Working as a taxi driver in the turbulent 70s, he struggles to balance his intense urges of love and hate in the search for morality and purpose. Travis works as an antihero because he is simultaneously a repulsive near-sociopath and a relatable underdog - often simultaneously. For all his violent, unknowable menace, Travis is a dreamer and a pitiable outsider, wanting nothing more than a return to morality, love, and a place in the world. For any viewer, Travis' desires and hopes for the world are analogous with their own. Travis' targets - pimps, lying politicians, the morally deprived, and the self and decadent - are the same targets of any person attempting to live a just and pure life. Travis' desire to save Iris by any means necessary is entirely honorable, refusing the girl's sexual advances in spite of his own slightly lecherous streak and desire for sexual gratification. For all his xenophobia, vitriol, and overpowering cynicism, Travis Bickle is a caring person who wants the world to be better.
ReplyDeleteIn portraying a complex protagonist in a morally debauched world, Martin Scorsese invokes the characterization and aesthetics of the Western, noir, and the Italian directors (particularly the neo-realists). Travis as a protagonist is more akin to the troubled, demon-ridden protagonists of the Westerns than the protagonists of other urban-set films of the 70s. Travis is a "lone wolf" of sorts, a man ready to sacrifice himself to fight the important battles he sees around him. In that way, he is similar to the characters of John Wayne, especially his character in the Searchers. In the Searchers, an angry old soldier who risks his life attempting to save his niece. Both are angry, xenophobic characters who are willing to fight to preserve morality. In addition, the film captures the aesthetics of the noir film, with Travis driving around dark, starkly lit streets at night to the sounds of a reverb-laden saxophone. Taxi Driver betrays all of those, however, with its frank depictions of violence, something Scorsese clearly nabbed from the clinical depictions of the neo-realists (in which violent acts happened without much warning or explicitly stated remorse) and the bloody excess of American horror films of the early 70s.
In Taxi Driver, de Niro plays the same archetypal lone wandering man that existed in Westerns as the cowboy. His horse is his taxi and he uses it to wander from place to place, always alone, incapable of forming relationships with others. He retains the gun which he slings freely and uses to enforce justice by “anti-heroic” methods.
ReplyDeleteScorsese imitates the naturalism of Italian neorealism films through long takes and on-scene shooting. He borrows the heavy chiaroscuro and urban grittiness of noir. With the addition of color, however, he adds a dimension to the grim noir look. For example, as Travis shoots his way through the whorehouse in the climactic final scene, the colors are dull and de-saturated. The walls and the characters’ clothing are pale greens and browns and much of the scene is cast in shadow. This compounds the truly horrific atmosphere of a scene that is already very brutal in content. It’s ironic that this should be Travis’s “shining moment,” the moment he saves the girl from prostitution, but the fact that nothing in the scene is meant to celebrate Travis’s triumph reinforces his role as an anti-hero. In other places, Scorsese uses a bright palette to supplement Travis’s character. In shots outside Travis’s taxi window, the city lights become blurry splotches of color running together. These shots remind me of the scene in 400 Blows when Antoine looks out the back of a police car at the city. These images simply convey an intense impression of loneliness better than anything else could.