Martin Scorsese says that Taxi Driver was presented as a ‘New
York horror story’. This ‘horror story’ is accurate to the extent that it
reflects the social decay prevalent on the fringes of bourgeois society where
the cash economy is law as people desperately crave some measure of security by
building up cash reserves by any means, legal or illegal, necessary. The urban
alienation becomes more severe in such a case as one uncovers the contradiction
in private property. Many people particularly, those of the working class or in
the relative surplus population, that have to fend for themselves and put self
interest before nation or the social collective good.
Taxi
Driver is both fantasy and reality. It is reality because as a taxi driver,
that works all night and travels all over town, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro)
encounters the relative surplus population or those on the fringes of bourgeois
society that are forced to fend for themselves by means that a comfortable
middle class individual or petty bourgeois would consider depraved or immoral even
if it pays the bills. As a fantasy we see Travis Bickle become a force onto himself
as he seeks to impose his judgement on the so called scum that surrounds him.
He is judge, jury and executioner as he goes on a murderous rampage in an
effort to save New York City. It is a delusional crusade because he clearly has
no understanding of the economic structure headed by the bourgeois class. He
cannot comprehend the laws that would facilitate the creation of such an
immoral class of individuals. He cannot fathom the necessity that comes with
the formation of the mob economy on the fringes of bourgeois society and that
it is motivated primarily by the need to acquire cash in order to spend so as
to secure a livelihood. It is clear that the depressing conditions located on
the fringes of bourgeois society have turned Travis into a warped idealist who
believes he can radically alter the mode of production he encounters on the
fringes of bourgeois society. He clearly is not of aware of what is involved in
altering the system i.e. a significant class consciousness on the part of the
proletariat in order that it is united in tackling the hegemony of the
bourgeoisie that has established its hegemony through the various political
institutions. It is never the calling of
one individual idealist crusader to embark on an expedition that will only
resolve itself in sensation and nothing more; we see that by the end of the
film that Travis becomes a celebrity but being a celebrity is not enough to
effect change. Change comes about through a particular class creating hegemony
through the state or by revolutionizing the state and its functions that
previously served the interests of the ruling class. The fact that Travis does
not understand this make him appear crazy but by the end we see that the
sensation he caused was enough to generate a small following. He was targeting
the wrong element for the mob is only a negative manifestation of the relative
surplus population that is forced to fend for itself and so the mob itself cannot
be the main reason for the gross inequalities inherent in the U.S capitalist
system. It is on the basis of the few who control the means of production and
the working class that comprises the majority is forced to sell their labour
power and generate surplus value/unpaid labour time for the few. The state is also a manifestation of the
principles necessary to manage the capitalist mode of production. Travis must
be classified as a modern day Don Quixote. This is why it becomes a
tragic-comedy as well as a horror story because of the glorious absurdity that
has deadly consequences.
Travis is clearly alienated by the
urban condition. He is surrounded by a sea of people and still feels all alone. His dramatic
acts of violence are a means to reach out and be noticed and it worked. Taxi Driver is reflective of that
element associated with urban alienation where people in the cities desperately
seek to reach out in order to feel like they belong and this means of reaching
out normally involves the creation of a celebrity that is well known by the
public. In order to reach out you too have to assume the same position of this
celebrity. This is done through several means and America is the haven of
celebrity and emphasizes the extent to which alienation is rampant in that
nation where people desperately engage society in order to be noticed. It is
true that celebrities also function in the sphere of the circulation of
commodities as their face or image becomes important for the purpose of
marketing products for the top companies. The creation of a celebrity cult is
done through legitimate means such as the arts and sports or through illegal
and convoluted means such as sensational controversies such as the violence of
Travis Bickle in this film. By becoming a celebrity you will reach out to
people for good or for worse and it will ease the burden of alienation. The
alienation must be heartfelt for Travis who seems to be from a rural background
according to screen writer, Paul Schrader.
This film basically centres on a
discharged marine, Travis Bickle, seeking some solace in the urban setting of
New York by becoming a taxi driver. By becoming a taxi driver at nights he
comes to grips with the social decay inherent within this great capitalist
city. Initially he simply expresses his disgust at the so called scum he
observes at night but after failing to reach out and cement a meaningful bond
with Betsy (Cybil Shepherd) Travis turns to other more brutal means in order to
establish meaningful connections. This is why he decides to rescue a 12 year
old prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster), from her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel), in a
great moral crusade against the social degenerates of society represented by
the mob. Taxi Driver was nominated for 4 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best
Actor (Deniro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster) and Best Musical Score (superb
score by Bernard Herrman). It did win
the Golden palm award at the Cannes film festival.
‘God’s Lonely Man’: A Taxi Driver in New York City
When we first meet Travis Bickle we meet a very obscure
individual and perhaps this is the intention of the writer, Paul Schrader. This
obscurity further relegates Travis to being another unspecified individual in
New York City. When he goes to apply for a job as a taxi driver it is clear
that it is a pretty straightforward application process. The manager/supervisor
asks him basic questions but one should take note of how Travis answers these
questions. He asks Bickle why he wants to hack and Bickle says he can’t sleep
nights. He also rides the buses and subways at nights aimlessly and so he
figured that he might as well be paid for it. The manager informs him that if
he can’t sleep there are porno theatres that could help him. The implication
here is that some people, particularly men, go to these theatres to jerk
off/masturbate so as to crave some form sexual closeness that would make them
feel at ease and make them more likely to go to sleep having filled some void. This was a prominent theme in Annie Hall (see part one of this
series) where Alvy would use sex as a means of establishing a connection.
Travis tells the manager that he has already tried the porno theatres with no
success. It is clear what this insomnia signifies because with this urge to
reach out and belong one can become too anxious and agitated in the process.
The closest connection among human beings is sexual activity. Other questions
seem to condemn Travis to obscurity. For instance he is asked about his
education background and his response ‘Some. Here, there. Y’know.’ He answers other questions similarly such as
where he is from etc. One question stands out because of the answer and it is
here that we gain some insight into Travis and his high handed moral attitudes.
The manager asks him about his driving record and Travis answers by saying that
it’s real clean ‘like my conscience.’ It highlights that nothing bothers him
and he is a pure lonely soul. It truly is not important in a developed
capitalist system (apart from your criminal record) where you are from because what matters more is your skill as
a worker because that is what defines
you and this is brought out in an important conversation between Travis and the
Wizard (Peter Boyle). The extent that you as a worker can sell your labour power to the
capitalist is what determines your survival.
Travis offers to drive at nights all around town even through the Harlem
ghettoes and on holidays. ‘Anytime, anywhere,’ says Travis. He is supposedly
physically healthy and aged 26. It is
discovered by the manager that Travis was a marine, honorably discharged in 1973;
he wonders why he would need this job. He wonders if Travis wished to do moon
lighting (second job for purposes of more income. Off the record). Travis simply
states that he wants to work long hours probably to keep his mind active. His insomnia seems to be a feature of the
loneliness and alienation he experiences in the city. The alienation itself
does not at first seem imposed particularly as we see Travis try and reach out
to people with little or no success. Travis is told to fill out some forms and
to come again tomorrow ‘when the shift breaks.’
Travis
eventually gets the job and it is clear from his diary that this is one means
of soothing his feelings of alienation. He says ‘May 10. Thank god for the rain which
has helped wash away the garbage and trash off the sidewalks (whores,
gangbangers etc). I’m working long hours now. 6:00 in the afternoon to 6:00,
sometimes 8:00, in the morning. Six days a week, sometimes seven days a week.
It’s a long hustle but it keeps me real busy. I can take in $300, $350 a week,
sometimes more when I do it off the meter.’
We
eventually get to see Travis on his trek through the streets of New York City
at night. His
isolated point of view from a taxi cab allows him to pronounce
his judgments more readily. The taxi cab flows through the city and the
impersonal nature of it, with so many similar yellow cabs, makes Travis even
more anonymous. It is different in Jamaica where the robot taxis customize
their vehicles in order to attract customers. The individual nature of the taxi
cab stands out more in this case because there is not sufficient capital in
Jamaica to control the multitude of taxis, individually owned, on the streets
as is the case in America. Travis
pronounces his judgments when we first see him
in his new job as a taxi driver. Travis says ‘All the animals come out
at night. Whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens (homosexuals), fairies,
dopers, junkies. Sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash this scum
off the streets.’ He is truly a high handed moralist, probably a petty
bourgeois that seeks to maintain moral integrity in light of social
degeneration associated with the relative surplus population created by
capital. He is assuming the religious
dogmatic view associated with the Sodom and Gomorrah phenomenon in the bible
where god struck down those so called depraved sinners. For the moment however
there is nothing wrong in his judgments for many think this particularly those
that assume a self-righteous position associated with their idealistic stance.
Idealism is also a primary feature of individual loneliness particularly when
the isolated person tends to cast judgment on the multitude as if he or she is
privy to special knowledge/the ideal that we all aspire to which allows that
person to cast down judgment.
Travis
is still a relative unknown as we watch him journey, for the first time in the
film, through the streets. His schedule includes most of New York City at
night. It is made clear in the film that most of the other taxi drivers are
unwilling to take such a risk because of the danger when the ‘animals come out
at night’. Travis makes it clear that he goes all over . ‘I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, to Harlem. I don’t
care. Don’t make no difference to me. It does to some. Some won’t even take
spooks . Don’t make no difference to me.’ After this statement we see him
suddenly pick up a white collared individual with a black prostitute. The white
collared man can’t wait to do special things to the black sex worker. We see
how impersonal Travis must be in his job because for all his judgment calls he
can’t comment from a moral perspective on the activities in the cab as the man
tells him to hurry up. It seems as if it is true that Travis does pick up
everyone because Travis states that sometimes he has to clean the ‘come’ off
the seats and sometimes the blood. It shows the disregard that people have for
the profession of a taxi driver. The driver represents a mere vehicle that
might as well be robotic. This also reflects the impersonal nature of society
and the extent to which this profession is alienated within the urban context
due to the individualized nature of the
society built on the foundations of private property. Even the Wizard felt
compelled to intervene in a dispute between a homosexual couple after they
started the dispute within the cab. He told them that he understands that
America is the land of the free but he won’t tolerate their behavior in his cab
but cannot judge them on the basis of what they do in their private dwelling.
The fact that he had to make a statement suggests the disregard passengers have
for the taxi drivers. Assuming a high handed moral position will undermine your
position as you seek to interact with individuals. Capitalists promote free
trade and with that everything becomes free particularly as the naked cash
economy becomes ascendant. Free within
the context of the market. Lifestyles are embraced regardless of how disgusted
some might be simply because these people with alternative lifestyles are a
part of the market and once they have their money to pay for your product who
are you to judge.
The
rounds by Travis in his taxi cab are not remarkable apart from his ranting and
the unusual circumstances in which he finds himself as a taxi driver. Two
females however change his perspective and force him to interact with the
society he despises. Firstly there is Betsy (Cybill shepherd), a stunning
beauty, who we first see in a slow motion picture shot which is from
Travis’ perspective as he studies her
movements outside of Palantine headquarters. He states that her beauty makes
her standout out from the crowd as much as it makes her aloof. In his words
‘She appeared like an angel. Out of this filthy mass she is alone. They cannot
touch her.’ It is ironic that his desire to reach out to someone like Betsy is
on the basis that he wrote in his journal, in the previous scene, that one
should not devote him or herself to ‘morbid self attention’ and that one should
endeavour to reach out and become a person like other persons.
The other female is a 12 year old
prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster), who one
night tries to escape in Travis’ taxi, while he is counting money, but is
thwarted by her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel). The pimp remains anonymous, because
we don’t see his face at first, but he is remembered by Travis because he
tosses a $20 into the cab while telling him to ignore the incident as he drags
Iris from the taxi and into the street coaxing her with aggressive gestures,
which is how pimps act when dealing with wayward prostitutes from whom they
extort surplus value/unpaid labour time.
When Sport tosses the $20 it highlights the naked cash economy that
develops under capital which has no moral scruples. A man can do heinous things
but can buy you off should you be a witness. This naked cash economy reinforces
the precept that money rules the world which is fallacious because in the
modern day context it is Capital as a socio economic force that rules the
world. Capital as a social being that valorizes itself by extracting surplus
value from the working class. Money is an expression of this domination.
At
first Travis is not interested in a grand crusade when he first encounters Iris
because at the time he was busy trying to court Betsy. Betsy represents his
attempt to reach out and to become one with the world whereas Iris stirs in him
his grand plans for a crusade. With Betsy he musters the courage to ask her out
to eat and although he displays his various eccentricities when they have their
first conversation he is making progress particularly as he is able to convince
her to go on a dinner date. We see in
the first lunch that he is too eager to reach out because he makes strange
comments which highlights that he watches and studies her intently particularly
as he reveals his disgust for her workmate, Tom (Albert Brooks) which hints at
intense jealousy. On their second outing together Travis reveals his main flaw
of complete isolation. It is those people that are socially isolated that react
with passionate emotions particularly as they start to open up. He is so
isolated that he takes Betsy to watch a porn flick. She is offended but cannot
understand that Travis is inept when it comes to reaching out socially. He
assumed that because he likes porn everyone likes porn. Betsy is a petty
bourgeois and as a stately, beautiful woman she sees porn as the filth from
which her ideal of womanhood emerges. She says that by taking her there it was
as if Travis was merely saying ‘Let’s fuck.’ That is the reality of
relationships in the urban setting where people become isolated and crave
sexual intimacy. The porno theatres help to ease that burden. Travis says he
does not know any other movies and that if he did he would take her. It is all
in vain because Betsy leaves him standing on the curb. By focusing solely on
porn theatres he never took the opportunity to explore other avenues of
entertainment and this possibility was hampered by the fact that he is
alienated and lives in his own little world. Your fantasy is not necessarily
that of the other individual. Diversity
is part of the whole and so the more social activities one engages in will make
them more in tune with the whole social body.
Betsy seems to be his last chance to reach out meaningfully
because when she scorns him the only way out seems to be in his fantasies. It
is here that he takes up the crusade of purifying New York City.
Preparation
for the Crusade
There are several moments in the
film that prompt Travis into launching a grand moral crusade on New York City.
Firstly his repeated attempts to reestablish a connection with Betsy are
futile. They become so futile that Travis confronts her at the campaign
headquarters of Charles Palantine. He whines with pathetic agitation as to why
she does not return her calls until her workmate tom escorts him out. Before he
leaves however he makes a crucial statement that is in keeping with his high
handed moral agenda. He says ‘You’re in a hell (urban blight perhaps), and
you’re gonna die in a hell like the rest of them!’ He eventually concludes that
Betsy was no different from the other individuals of New York. She is just as
cold and distant. He would round her up for judgment like the rest. This
episode withBetsy would be one way to drive him off the edge. The second episode appears isolated but is a
significant one and I am sure that it is an important encounter that would push
travis to be more committed to the
crusade. While out driving his cab he picks up and encounters a crazed husband
(a wildly rambling Martin Scorsese). He encounters him because the man asks him
to stop the cab in front of an apartment complex so that he may observe
his wife engaging in a sexual liaison in
a apartment that belongs to a black man
( the man refers to his competitor as a nigger). He tells Travis to keep the
meter running because he will pay for it. This is another emphasis on the naked
cash economy that develops under capitalism and on the fringes of society.
Regardless of his crazy behavior he plans to pay for having the cab parked idly
by the roadside apparently inactive but brooding with vitality. The man concludes that he is going to kill
her. Travis eyes him and the man assumes that it is because he is perceived to
be crazy but in reality Travis must take some form of inspiration from this
crazed individual. The man even reveals that he will use the magnum to blow
away the woman’s pussy. He is clearly judge, jury and
executioner.
Thirdly, Travis seeks advice from
the Wizard after doing his rounds. He
tells the wizard that he really feels like doing something because he is unable to handle the stress anymore. He has bad ideas in his head.
This means that he is almost at boiling point. His emotions are going to boil
over into reality which tends to have a devastating effect, right or wrong. The
wizard senses that something is wrong with Travis he senses that Travis might be
losing it but not completely and so he tries to reel him in. Even before the
conversation we see Travis stare intently at the blacks roaming the street at
night. As a racist he seems to be spellbound by the blacks whom he views as a
chaotic, dissolute set. The blacks in New York City are largely marginalized in
the ghettoes and so it goes back to the point that the crusade that Travis
embarks upon is quite foolish because he has no understanding of the system in
which he resides but sees its negative manifestations and so tries to cast
judgment on the people but not necessarily on the system that fosters the dissolute
characters he despises. The wizard tells
Travis to relax, get laid etc and not to put too much on his brain i.e. let it
go and become one with others instead of fostering this isolation in which he
resides. He assumes that it is because Travis is stressed out by the taxi
driving job, particularly the night work. In the film there are conversations
where the taxi drivers share their negative experiences and the likelihood that
they will be attacked and robbed, particularly at night. This is why one of the
drivers offers to set Travis up on someone who can supply him with an arsenal of
firearms in order to defend himself.
Travis, on the other hand, has other ideas for what he intends to do
with this arsenal. The wizard says
something that strikes at the heart of capital and the predicaments of the
working class. He says ‘A man takes a job… and that job becomes what he is. You
do a thing and that’s what you are. One guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton place. You got a
lawyer. Another guy’s a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People
are born. I envy you your youth. Go on
get laid, get drunk. You got no choice anyway. We’re all fucked. More or less,
ya know.’ Travis concludes that the advice is the ‘dumbest thing he ever
heard’. It is dumb to him because it is the talk of a pacifist not a real
extreme moral activist.
Fourthly, Travis runs into Iris
again in the marginalized sections of the city which are mostly depraved areas
of the proletariat or those on the fringes of society. He almost hits her as
she attempts to cross the street. He takes a keen interest in her this time and
even follows her for a bit until she loses him having observed him following
her. After he leaves he writes in his journal ‘Loneliness has followed me my
whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere.
There’s no escape. I’m god’s lonely man.’ He laments that the days go on and on
with no let up and with one day ‘indistinguishable from the next.’ These are
the rounds of the working class as they are continuously exploited. He notes
however that the days go on and on until there is a change. The change comes
when he takes up his associate taxi driver on the offer to buy guns. He buys a
lot of guns including a .44 magnum and ensures that he has adequate practice. Travis is now ready to take on the scum of
the city.
The Crusade in Action
After he buys the guns and outfits
himself in true military fashion Travis states ‘The idea has been growing in my
brain for quite some time. True force. All the king’s men cannot put it back
together again.' He outfits himself quite spectacularly particularly with a
device that can make a small gun slide
out from beneath his long sleeve should he require It urgently in the heat of
battle. He also has a big, green khaki jacket that can conceal all the weapons
beneath. We even hear Travis saying that too much sitting has ruined his body.
He plans to do 50 push ups a day and seems to toughen up by placing his clenched
fist over an open flame. Despite all this he still pops pills to stay sedated
perhaps. It’s a conflict between the
crusader seeking to reach out and the reality of a sedentary life characterized
by his work as a taxi driver. Travis begins by scouting a rally being prepared
for Charles Palantine, a senator with presidential ambitions. It is not entirely
clear why he wishes to assassinate Palantine however Betsy does work for him on
his campaign trail. He probably wishes to lash out at Betsy by killing
Palantine or he feels that by killing Palantine he will gain popularity whether
it be famous or infamous. He will gain notoriety regardless. He did have a
conversation with Palantine in his cab before he and Betsy split. He even
offered to join the campaign organization with the hope of meeting Betsy and
making a difference on her behalf. He
even put a sticker in his cab endorsing Palantine. When Palantine enters the
cab Travis lets off a little steam by saying that the city needs to be cleaned
up and that he scum must be driven from the streets etc. He has faith that
Palantine will be the man. As soon as he and Betsy split unceremoniously he
wishes to kill Palantine and so it is likely that he is lashing out at Betsy
and the hell she lives in. Maybe Palantine was all talk as most politicians who
are not prepared to use the necessary force to get things done. Travis will
hope to kill him and become his own force in society. This a planned attack on
Palantine would be in keeping with the turbulent political environment in
America during the 1970s.
While scouting the rally for
Palantine Travis is using this reconnaissance mission to identify the potential
threats that will stand in the way of his target. He identifies a tall man in
the crowd with shades standing aloof from the crowd. Travis toys with him by
asking questions in order to determine whether or not he is a service man. The
man is clearly a member of Palantine’s bodyguard entourage. After identifying
that he is a service man or a bodyguard Travis even offers a false name, Henry
Krinkle, and a false address with the false intention of signing up for the
secret service. The secret service man suspects Travis which is why he pretends
to cooperate however his team are unable to take a photograph of Travis for
purposes of identification in case he should actually attempt something
heinous. Travis was found out but at least he was able to identify those
individuals that would stand in his way. He was also identified and so that
would explain why, when he returned to assassinate Palantine at another rally,
he shaved his hair with a Mohawk style.
Travis also gives his famous ‘You
talkin’ to me’ monologue in his room. It is significant for Travis because he
is pumping himself up for when he actually has to go out there and challenge
people in direct physical confrontation. The monologue reveals a man dominated
by fantasies and illusions. It is these fantasies that help to fuel his crusade
however i.e. give it impetus. Immediately after this monologue we see Travis
encounter a black robber in a grocery store. He kills him with one of his guns.
The black robber looked like a true dope addict who desperately needed the money
in order to buy more drugs. The store owner is relieved by Travis’ action and
so in such an instance it appears that Travis has done a good thing. He helped
the store owner to defend his property and within the scope of bourgeois
society this is a legitimate action because Travis is defending private
property. This is in no way related to his maniacal crusade in which he imposes
his ideals and morals on others. This action of defense has nothing to do with
crusading but a natural action of someone defending private property. This heroic act does give Travis the impetus
he needs however because now he has actually engaged the scum of society and
for the moment has come out on top. It is not only talk with him anymore for he
has actually done something and made some form of difference in society.
America has always prided itself with the actions of citizens who defend their
own property and this is why the access to guns is so easy. The defense of
private property is seen as a virtue in bourgeois society which has developed
private property social relations to its most developed state in human history.
We still see Travis observing the
various Palantine rallies in New York City. He still sits in front of the TV but
nothing seems to be happening. He cannot seem to commit to his crusade as yet
despite the defeat he handed to the black robber in the grocery store. He even writes to his mother and father for
their anniversary and tells them lies about his life in the city. In the letter
he seems to be leading a normal life where the opposite is happening in real
time. It seems that he gets a jolt when the TV is broken after it crashes to
the floor. He was watching a soap opera and rocking with his foot. It seems
that it was a good thing to jolt him out of his fantasy.
He now starts to engage with his
wild ambitions. After the episode with the TV we see him set up an appointment
with Iris. He gives her the impression that he is looking for action. He has to go through her pimp Sport and Travis
does have a point when he says that Sport is scum. Sport has a humorous
exchange with Travis because he assumes at first that he is a police officer
because of his overly serious demeanor. Travis tries to convince him that he is
hip but Sport says ‘Buddy you don’t look hip.’ It is a laugh out loud moment to
see Travis try and convince Sport that he is hip when in fact he is as stiff as
a board. It highlights the extent of Travis’ alienation in the urban setting.
Sport is true scum as he hopes to exploit the labour of a 12 year old
prostitute and Travis has every right to be disgusted. This is what Sport says
about Iris as he hopes to market her qualities as a prostitute: ‘If you want to
save yourself some money don’t fuck her cause you’ll be back every night for
more. She’s 12 and a half years old. You ain’t never had no pussy like that.
You can do anything you want with her. You can come on her, fuck her in the
mouth, fuck her in the ass, come on her face. She’ll get your cock so hard
she’ll make it explode.’ This is the same man who would later dance with Iris
and try to convince her that he was still in love with her especially when she
started to feel uneasy about her line of work. He is truly scum and a crass
representation of the dark side of capital. Travis takes the offer of $15 for 15
minutes. He also has to pay $10 for the room.
When he gets into the room Travis is naturally disgusted by the
profession that Iris has to engage in. She desperately wants to make it,
probably to please Sport whom she loves. Travis refuses to make it because he
wants to remind her about the night where she tried to escape. Iris does not
remember and insists that she was stoned. Travis continually asks Iris if she
wants to escape and offers to help her. Iris insists that she can leave anytime
she wants to but in reality she cannot because she is enthralled by her pimp.
She insists that they were protecting her from herself by preventing her from
escaping. She is clearly naïve but Travis does arrange to have lunch with her
the following day where he would continue to persuade her to get away from this
abysmal form of living. Travis even tries to make life seem more appealing by
calling her ‘sweet Iris’ as he leaves.
Iris has been so used to being dominated sexually by men that a romantic
gesture is more than likely to stir her young heart.
When they do have lunch we get a
clearer insight into the Iris’ character. At first, in the film, we see a
prostitute but while at lunch with Travis we see a regular young girl caught up
in the latest stylistic trends. Travis extends his invitation to help Iris to
go back to her parents. She does not want to go back to them citing the usual
childish explanation that they hate her and so on and it was this hate that
made her escape. Travis reveals his traditional values when he says that a
child should not live in the depraved area of New York which he calls a hell. A
girl should live at home,’ he says. Iris
asks pertinently ‘ Did you ever hear of women’s lib?’ ‘What do you mean women’s
lib? You’re a young girl. You should be at home now. You should be dressed up,
going out with boys, going to school.’ ‘God are you square,’ says Iris. ‘I’m
not square. You’re the one who’s square. You’re full of shit. What are you
talking about? You walk out with those fucking creeps, lowlifes and degenerates
on the street and you sell your little pussy for nothing man. For some lowlife
pimp who stands in a hole? I don’t go and screw with a bunch of killers and
junkies the way you do. You call that being hip? What world you from?’ Iris
won’t believe that Sport’s a killer because he is a Libra. This is the naiveté
that children acting older than they really are cannot escape. This by no means
that Travis is correct when he says that Sport is a killer since he is just
speculating based on the fact that he is a pimp in a hole. She goes on and on
about signs when Travis states that Sport is a dope shooter. That is more
believable. Iris then asks a pertinent question ‘what makes you so high and mighty?
Will you tell me that? Didn’t you ever try looking at your own eyeballs in the
mirror?’ Travis takes it in and then gets down to business when asks her what
she plans to do with Sport and the old man that rents her room when she leaves.
Iris has nothing but good feeling for Sport
since he never beat her up like he does with the other girls. Travis reminds
iris that she cannot allow Sport to beat up other girls. ‘He’s the lowest kind
of person in the world. Somebody’s got to do something to him. He’s the scum of
the earth. He’s the worst sucking scum I have ever seen. You know what he told
me about you? He’s calling you names. He called you a little piece of chicken.’
Iris says she want to go to one of the communes in Vermont. Travis says he
cannot go not just because communes are unclean and the inhabitants are not his
type of people but because he has work to do for the government. When he says
work for the government he must mean the government he is trying to establish.
He wants to wage his grand crusade. He offers her some money to go to the
commune so that she can get away.
The conversation must have had some
effect on Iris because she goes to Sport in a despondent mood complaining about
her lifestyle. He has to caress and smooth talk her so that she will accept her
exploited status. It is calculated suaveness nothing more no matter how nice
the music. Travis would have suffered a defeat here because this smooth talking
by Sport to keep Iris in line was all that was needed to sway her from the path
of moral sanctity offered by Travis.
Travis then attempts to assassinate
senator palatine at one of his rallies. We see Travis reveal his Mohawk hair
style for the first tie which will help to make him unrecognizable. After Palantine’s
‘We are the People’ speech Travis approaches him in the crowd after he steps
down from the stage surrounded by his bodyguards. He is spotted and is forced
to flee. This part of his crusade is over. The grand ambitions that were built
up inside his head have been smashed. This makes him even more determined to
defeat Sport and rescue Iris. He rampages through the streets with his taxi
with fixity of purpose as he heads for Sport’s hole. He finds Sport, confronts
him and shoots him telling him to ‘suck on this.’ The chaos has ensued and this
is exactly what would have happened if he shot Palantine. Had Travis shot
Palantine Taxi Driver as we know it
would have been a different film. The structure of the film would fall apart or
be forced to go in another direction. His attack on iris is certainly more
cathartic. He blows off the hand of Sport’s crony, that normally rents Iris’
room, with his newly acquired magnum in a dramatic manner that emphasizes the
extreme bloodletting. The echo of that one shot makes the whole building echo
and makes Iris aware of impending danger. He is shot by sport in the neck where
he receives a grazing wound. This grazing wound from the surprise attack surprises
Travis and he responds by pumping Sport with a lot of bullets. He also shoots the crony again and heads up
the stairs. Travis’ next target is to head for Iris’ room. While focusing on the crony who clambers laboriously up the stairs saying ‘I’ll kill you. You crazy son of a bitch.’
Travis is then surprised by the real leader of the outfit who shoots him in the
shoulder and forces him to drop his revolver as a result of the shock. This man
must be the leader because Sport gives him tribute before Travis arrives and strides
up to Iris’ room with authority. This is fortunate for Travis because he will
be able to wipe out all of Iris’ exploiters in one place. Travis uses his fancy
contraption to have another gun slide out from under his sleeve and so light up
the leader of this outfit with bullets.
The man who charges for the room still attacks with his one good arm, as
he muscles Travis to the floor, after which, Travis stabs it with his knife and
then blows his brains out. Iris by now is completely shocked by the actions of
this crusader. We see Travis try to kill himself but this does not work out and
so he settles in the couch severely wounded amidst Iris’ sobs. It must be
completely unreal.
Even when the police arrive Travis lays motionless as if
dead and puts his hands to the head in the form of a gun. The shock is there
for all to see as Scorsese uses the camera from the ceiling to survey the
bloodshed that has taken place. The neighbourhood is also shook up as we see
from the crowds outside. Travis has finally gotten his release not through sex
but violence and now he should be able to get some rest.
Aftermath
Travis was severely wounded in the
attack but he survived relatively intact. We learn from a grateful later
addressed to Travis by her parents that Iris has returned home to
Pennsylvania. It must have been an
enormous shock to her and reminded her of the hole in which she resides. At least he left her with some money. Travis
is vindicated by the media who saw it as his successful duel with gangsters who
must have attacked him. The bourgeois populace will always welcome any
successful challenge to the mob which represents the dark side of capitalism.
It is ironic that it is actually the other way around. Travis was the one
leading the crusade. Travis, as a taxi driver, has achieved some level of
celebrity status. This notoriety will now make him accepted by the populace and
ease his pangs of alienation. I am sure Travis sleeps better at night. God’s
lonely man has some measure of social standing in society and has been able to
break down some of the barriers that kept him isolated socially. This is what
celebrities achieve which ensures that they will have some stake in society as
opposed to the average man/woman who is isolated and cannot hope to make a
socio-political impact because there are no avenues through which he/she can
express him/herself. The other option for the average person is to become a follower
of the celebrity in the prime of his powers because the average person is
average.
He even has some measure of
reconciliation with Betsy who takes a renewed interest in him as she
deliberately takes his taxi one night. This would have been the moment to
achieve the sexual release he clamoured for initially with Betsy. It can be
argued that the frustration he felt at not realizing this sexual release with
Betsy prompted his violent crusade. The violent crusade made him connect with
people in a gruesome manner but it was a form of release akin to the relief one
feels after releasing sexual pleasures long dormant. This is probably why he
parts ways with Betsy in such a cold manner. It is the other way around this
time as he now has the power to make her feel socially isolated as he drives off
‘See you around.’ Although he gives a strange look the cab is
swallowed into the daily/nightly grind of city life. What does the look mean?
Does it mean that he is still spurred on by Betsy’s beauty to take some form of
action? It seems that the break off was not as clean as supposed because the
look suggests that he is still attached however his story is now over. The final
shot is quite artistic as the cab becomes one with the city. The taxi is its
own character and this final shot shows it being swallowed by urban life. In fact the opening shot and the final one coincide because in the beginning we see the taxi come into view through the smog and at the end we watch it go out. In the beginning we see that this anonymous taxi has a story to tell and by the end as it is swallowed amidst the hustle of urban life the story is now over. We understand that the story is over. All glory is
fleeting and so Travis would have to launch another crusade in order to stay
relevant because no matter how big you make it the shroud of urban alienation
always takes hold again unless you can reinforce your social stature. We saw
how Palantine did it with his constant rallying and the violence of an unknown
Taxi driver named Travis Bickle who led a moral crusade against the dark side
of capitalist virtues.
This concludes my modes of urban alienation series
