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 anti-hero. It is a film that draws from many genres: the Western, horror, film noir, and was also influenced by the films of the Italians (DeSica, Rosselini, Fellini).
Discuss cinematically, in at least two paragraphs, the themes of isolation and/or the anti-hero and how Scorsese's film is influenced by the different genres and by the Italians. You might find Ebert's original review and his Great Movies essay on the film helpful.
Due: Friday, November 22
Taxi Driver takes us through life in the eyes of an psychologically unstable Vietnam veteran. Throughout the film, he is constantly unable to connect to others, slowly but constantly leaving him isolated from others due to his inability to connect with people. Ever since returning from the war torn land, his apparent interests and understandings seem to have drastically changed. He cannot relate to the average person, and does things deemed odd when he cannot connect. For example, he takes Iris to an adult movie, deeming this normal for a date, where in fact she was quite offended and uncomfortable. This furthermore isolates him, and angers him through out the film, pushing him more and more until he lashes out his anger at those he deems needing of their lives taken.
ReplyDeleteThis film was influenced by genres such as horror, westerns and film noir. There are many angles and lighting schemes used in famous horror films, especially of the scene where he drives a man to watch his wife cheat on him. It upped the anticipation and pushed viewers to the edge of their seats. There is many sequences where he practices drawing his weapons such as they did in old westerns. Finally, many scenes using blinds or bars to filter light highly resembled shots of those used in many famous film noirs, also one of the most noticeable feature of those films.
He takes Betsy to the movie, not Iris. Iris was the rather brusque courtesan.
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DeleteOops, that's what I meant. Thanks.
DeleteIn Scorsese's film "Taxi Driver," both isolationism and the role of an anti-hero are very prevalent themes for our protagonist, Travis Bickle. Bickle is a veteran from the Marines from the Vietnam war who takes medication to counteract the traumatic stress disorder that it is implied he consequently received from his time in service. In the beginning of the movie Bickle applies to be a taxi driver because he enjoys driving around and wandering the city anyways, so he figures he might as well actually get paid for doing it.
ReplyDeleteTravis lives in an apartment all by himself, and throughout the entirety of the movie primarily speaks to himself in voice over rather than in diegetic dialogue with other characters. This isolation from other characters is not completely by choice, but rather from incompetence and inability to understand social manners. One example of this is when Travis takes Betsy out on their second date to a pornographic film. Betsy asks him whether or not the movie is socially acceptable, and Travis- not understanding the different types of people in society- replies "Yeah, I see couples here all the time." This not only keys us in to Travis' social unawareness, but it also tells Betsy that he's often sexually alone. When Betsy finally becomes too disgusted to tolerate the movie any further she asks to leave and- when travis doesn't move to let her by- climbs over him to escape. The fact that Travis did not accompany her out at first and in fact hindered her progress, emphasizes how out of tune he is with social customs because of his isolated lifestyle. Finally, when Travis is calling Betsy from a payphone and is ultimately rejected, the camera pans to the right before Travis even hangs up the phone to show a long empty corridor. This is significant- and as Scorsese says 'One of the most important scenes in the film'- because it shows that Travis is currently and indefinitely on a path to loneliness despite his efforts.
Anti-heroism throughout this movie is prominent because of Travis' obsession with the 'scum of the city.' When Travis speaks with Presidential Candidate Palentine, he mentions that the city should be purged of the hookers, hoodlums, pimps, and vagrants everywhere. Palentine is shocked by Bickle's ultimate lack of sympathy, or sense of humanity, but eventually mildly agrees that the city needs help. Travis, seemingly unsatisfied, ends up driving his taxi through the worst neighborhoods of the city. Every time Travis drives through these 'red light' districts he seems to get slower and slower with his driving-with the exclusion of the moment when the hooligan children egg his car. This symbolizes Travis' drive (a little pun there) to try and cleanse the city of these people. Rather than drive his taxi and find people who need to be driven around and collect fares, Travis uses the taxi to observe those scum that he loathes. Throughout these scenes the camera is either focused on Travis' face and his dead pan face while he talks of ridding the world of these unsavory characters, or it is panning over the same unsavory people in a slow motion (slow motion from Travis' driving, or in a manipulated editing manner i'm not sure)
One of the enduring impacts of watching Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver is feeling of disgust with the human creation of the city complex. A great deal of that feeling comes from the focus cinematic focus on isolation and being a loner. Travis is able to be portrayed at the same time as someone we fear, and someone we desperately want to help.
ReplyDeleteAn antihero, by definition, is a main character who lacks the tradition traits of a hero such as altruism, idealism, courage, nobility, fortitude, and moral goodness. To himself, Travis is acting in the cause of all of these traits, however, in a fundamentally skewed way. This skew is what makes him an anti-hero. He acts with blinders on. Although his goal is altruistic, and idealistic- to help Iris and “rid the city of scum”, he disregards morals in the way he goes about it, with guns, and murder in cold blood. He has a faint sense of nobility and courage about him- he served in the war, he, at first, courts Cybil Shepard’s character in a romantic way. But he is clearly not truly noble, he comes from an anonymous family, and I don’t think courage plays a role with his decisions whatsoever.
The theme of isolation, and the focus on his being a loner, I feel really makes this movie. Its what makes Travis such a powerful, relatable, and conflicting character. There are long stretches of the film with no dialogue, only his voice over. The bright spots are when he truly interacts with people, like Betsy. All other times people appear in hoards, on the streets, walking by, or at the political rallies. Or if he does interact one-on-one with someone it is with a façade, he never shows his true self, and we feel for him. There is music, and the sounds of the city, and his voiceover, and little else. This film feels reminiscent of many eras, many times that came before it, and even the future. This must be because Scorsese was deeply influenced by his predecessors, borrowing from distinctly the Westerns, the script was written with a very particular western in mind. You see the influence of horror in the creation of the pimps and drug dealers, and even the politicians as the monsters of the city. The lighting and use of shadows is reminiscent of film noir, and the diverse and somewhat flamboyant cast of characters seems to take a note from Fellini.
Taxi Driver, made in 1976 and directed by Martin Scorsese, is a movie that dives deep into the themes of isolationism and the idea of an anti-hero. Throughout the whole movie, Travis (played by Robert De Niro) was never able to connect to anyone, which is ironic because New York has always been such a very big and diverse place. He meets Betsy and hits it off for the first couple of dates, but then screws it up after he takes her to a “hard-core” movie. He meets Iris but is never truly connected to her. All he is trying to do is make sure the scum of the earth don’t take advantage of other people, and it started with Iris. Even the other taxi drivers, whom Travis is supposed to be the most connected to, don’t seem to be very close. Scorsese creates this effect using wider shots, or having shots where we see only Travis and then parts of his friends. This shot composition makes the audience a little uneasy about Travis’ relationships with everyone he meets.
ReplyDeleteTravis can also be looked at as an anti-hero throughout most of the movie. We never really get a motive for what Travis is doing. It seems as though he acts and says things based on impulse, which is not a characteristic of a regular hero. The audience never learns a background story for Travis. As Roger Ebert puts it in his original movie review, “We're not told where Travis comes from, what his specific problems are, whether his ugly scar came from Vietnam -- because this isn't a case study, but a portrait of some days in his life.” In a story of a classic hero we would know EVERYTHING about him. What his background was, what his mindset is at all times, and why he intends to do the things his will do. Also, unlike a classic hero, Travis doesn’t do anything to solve his problems, with the exception of the end of the movie. He has a serious hatred for the scum and filth that New York City has produced. Instead of taking an initiative he decides that he is just going to ride around the city and observe, which only grows his deep hatred until it explodes at the end of the movie.
I believe that the way Scorsese made this movie was heavy influenced by earlier genres, including horror and film noir, and directors. Throughout the whole film you can see these influences. The weird shot composition focusing on Travis as he is standing alone in the crowd waiting for Palatine to finish his speech resembles something a horror movie director would use to show insanity. The dark, smoke filled streets that Travis rides through while examining the corruption reminds me of scenes from many film noir-era movies. As for the directors, Federico Fellini seems to have had an effect on Scorsese’s films. The way Scorsese has his characters interact is exactly like one of Fellini’s old Italian movies. The conversations are very quick witted, although in this movie you don’t feel the bond between the characters through their conversations like you would in a Fellini movie.
Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, produced in 1976, draws from several different genres. This includes, Western, horror, and film noir. The overall theme of isolation is influenced by these different genres. Cinematically, this theme of isolation is portrayed.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the entire film, Travis is lonely. In many scenes, he's alone. There are parts of the movie that Travis isn't in, but his non-diegetic voice can be heard. That way, his presence is almost always with us. Oftentimes, he'll be on the screen, with the focus on him. But people will be bustling in the background or around him. He won't acknowledge them and they won't acknowledge him. It gives the audience a sense of what Travis is feeling. The "alone in a crowded room feel" that everyone dreads. The influence from the other genres can be seen very clearly throughout the film. Western aspects shine fairly brightly. Travis is literally in a shoot out at the end of the film. Also, establishing shots of the city are reflective of western films. (i.e. establishing shots of prairies, landscapes, etc). The horror genre also has influence on Taxi Driver. Suspense is built constantly throughout the film. And "monsters" are present as well. They're the "bad guys" meaning, the pimps and criminals. The smoke-filled streets and the mystery reflects film noir.
wait! I am not done with this! But i had to leave the computer, so i submitted it. Don't worry! Theres more to come! I'll be back!
DeleteWithin the 1976 film Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese cinematically helps us to understand the life and state of mind of Travis Bickle, through his interactions with New York City. He is indeed a lonely and unstable character, who isn’t sure what his destined purpose in life is. In one part, he referred to himself as “God’s lonely man”. But I also believe that the entire city suffers from urban isolation, including the other taxi drivers and even Betsy. Betsy is lonely enough to actually accept Travis’s date offer, though he is a random stranger who was staring at her from a distance.
ReplyDeleteThe composition of the shots helps us to figure out Travis’s emotional status, especially in scenes where he undergoes mental reconstruction. In most of the scenes when Travis is driving a customer, he’s usually close to the camera, only looking ahead. He’s not on the same level of thought as the other people. The shot when Travis calls Betsy on the payphone after their split shows how one sided their relationship has become. The camera dollies to the right so that Travis (who is on the left side of the frame) is no longer visible, and so that we only see the empty and lonely hallway. This emphasizes how no one is really there for Travis, even when he tries to call them. What is also important is how the editing disrupts the flow of the shots, as Travis’s unstable thoughts continue.
The 1976 film Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese employs many themes of isolation and solitude, in which the main character struggles to find who he really is as well as his purpose in life. Throughout the film, he tries to connect with people and form a relationship, but we learn through his experiences that he is unable to. Not really knowing where exactly he fits in, the main character decides to become a taxi driver, because he figured he liked driving around anyways.
ReplyDeleteAn anti-hero is not necessarily a villain, but a hero who lacks the heroic traits seen in stereotypical portrayals of heroes. Travis, unlike a hero who would think things through before doing them, acts on impulse and doesn't really seem to know what he wants to get out of each situation he is put in. Throughout the film, the focus is on Travis and what he is looking at most of the time, conveying his feelings of separation from the rest of the world. An example of this would be when Travis tries to call the blond woman he meets on the payphone in the isolated hallway. All we can see is the hallway, showing how Travis' presence is not recognized by anyone, and further conveys his loneliness.
The film overall has a very noir feel to it, though it incorporates other elements as well. The shadows and lighting help to convey the darkness inside of Travis' heart, especially when he's driving the taxi. The blurred lights symbolize how he is blind to what he really wants out of life, and how his life is like a taxi driving down an endless road of resentment, until he gains redemption at the end of the movie by becoming a hero.
Travis Bickle, taxi driver in New York City, is defined by more than just his profession. He is a war veteran who drives New York’s streets at night, exploring a city where he lives, but doesn’t belong. Travis is truly a loner, surrounded by millions but not truly a part of anyone else’s life. Not only that, but Travis is an anti-hero, a man who has heroic characteristics but does not follow the moral guidelines of your traditional hero. This iconic film draws influence from popular Westerns, horror, film noir, and the films of the Italians.
ReplyDeleteNew York itself helps perpetuate this idea of isolation, and the focus on this is reminiscent of Fillini. Travis drives around in a taxicab, a car that every New Yorker uses, but doesn’t make a lasting connection with any of them. Even when he talks to people, it seems like as soon as the conversation ends the people forget about him. This everyday setting is reminiscent of the neorealist ways of Scorsese. One of the biggest noticeable influences in the film is the lighting. Throughout, Travis is illuminated (or not) by VERY film noir lighting. Western film influence is evident in Travis himself, who is an outsider who is thrust into the light as a hero after events that may not always seem heroic, such as killing others. The brutality and gore of his “heroic” scene, where he marches through a whore house slaughtering all of the pimps within, would be reminiscent of a slasher film. Also, the framing, clutter, and the sharp angles and turns of this scene remind me of the Italian’s films. The shooting scene also was reminiscent of the gangster type violence of film noir. The isolation comes into play when we see Travis driving his taxi cab. He runs the streets, and they are steeped in shadow, with little light. Along with that, there are little living things present. When Travis goes to the movies, he sits in the frame separated from the other movie goers. At the diner he sits alone, and at home his wide, empty room is occupied by only Travis.
Taxi Driver tells the story of Travis Bickle, an honorably discharged Marine who deals with his insomnia by working as a taxi driver in New York City at night. The film is very interesting in a sense because Bickle, being a Vietnam veteran, has the atrocities of war in his mind but isn't fully and completely disgusted until he encounters the crime and prostitution of New York City. The film, in a sense, examines the effects of depression, anxiety, and overall psychological issues on a person and how it can change their being from good to bad. However, this is not necessarily the entire case. After all, Travis is trying to rid the City of corruption and crime (or at least he thought he was). In regards to additional genres, this fully reflects the Western films because of the idea of an anti-hero as we see very well in films like Stagecoach with The Ringo Kid and True Grit with Marshall Rooster Cogburn. In these films, the protagonists can often serve as the antagonists. I think the overall difference is that we usually don't see the psychological demise of characters in Westerns, as we see them build up and eventually realize that their life of crime/negativity would be better off overturned. Lastly, lighting elements of the film very much reflect film noir, as shadows and changes in brightness reflect films of the noir era.
ReplyDeleteIn the film Taxi Driver directed by Martin Scorsese, an anti-hero named Travis Bickle becomes a taxi driver as he is mentally unstable and needs something to get his mind off of the vietnam war that he just fought in. The film throughout has a voice of Travis playing as his voice reads from his journal. He very rarely has any contact with anyone other than the people that take his taxi’s. The biggest example of his mind kind of not all there was that he got a date with a girl he has been watching for a while, and for their first date he took her to an adult film. This lost her for the rest of the movie until the end of the movie where he may or may not get back together. The fact that he did this, it in a way isolates him from everyone else because he doesn’t really speak well with other people and he is in his own world the entire movie.
ReplyDeleteThis film also influenced certain movie genres like film noir and in some cases western films. The lighting and the way the main characters are portrayed are easily noticed in later movies during the film noir era and in some western movies as well. Also the scene where he practices pulling out his pistol and shooting it is exactly how they used to in some western films. And lighting such as using blinds and dark rooms are used throughout the film, and this is used by many film noir films after this film came out, show this films influence on them.