The Nature of Violence through Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver was released in 1976 and continues to be debated, interpreted, and enjoyed by moviegoers to this day. Written by Paul Schrader, at the time an up and coming Hollywood screenwriter, its poignant messaging stands at the forefront of the film. Schrader’s script was picked up by Martin Scorsese soon after Scorsese’s previous film, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, won the Academy award for lead actress. The protagonist of the script, Travis Bickle, was brought to life by Robert De Niro, now an Oscar-winning actor. The collaboration of these men’s talents is what would create the framework for Taxi Driver. The film follows the main character in his slow devolution into madness, ultimately culminating in a vicious triple homicide. Martin Scorsese utilizes the narrative and visual style of Taxi Driver to draw conclusions about the very nature of violence.
Travis Bickle is characterized by his flaws throughout Taxi Driver. He is almost always alone and pushes away any possible relationships, remaining socially isolated. Scorsese himself remarks that Travis is totally incapable of having relationships with people near him (Schickel 114). Constantly paranoid, his eyes shift back and forth on the streets of New York surveying everyone near him as a possible threat. He is incredibly irritable, prone to changing moods frequently and without warning. Early in the film, it is revealed through passing dialogue that Travis is a veteran. Based on the setting and Bickle’s age he most likely served in Vietnam. Bickle’s character flaws are textbook symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. The Mayo Clinic defines PTSD as, “a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it” (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)). The inciting traumatic stress in question would be the atrocities committed by soldiers on both sides of the Vietnam War. While Bickle’s participation in these horrendous acts is left a mystery, it is clear he has been affected by them. Travis Bickle’s character is a product of violence. His actions are in response to a perceived brutality perpetrated by the “scum” that surrounds him. In the climatic moments of the film, Bickle kills three people in a messy and brutal shootout, proving that violence begets violence.
The most telling part of the shootout is not how Travis Bickle goes about killing people, but rather how the public views the event. Newspapers sprawled across Bickle’s wall describe a heroic infiltration of a sex trafficking operation, exploiting girls as young as 12 years old. (This specific 12 year old being Iris, the girl Travis is trying to “save” from these awful people). A taxi driver gunning down gangsters in another film would no doubt have been the hero of the narrative. However, by revealing his ulterior motives throughout the movie the audience gets a clear look at how truly disturbing his actions are. Who is to blame for this disconnect, the people at home reading the story of the hero taxi driver, or the publications glorifying murders committed by a mad man? The answer, unsurprisingly, is both. The audiences at home crave stories of violence, finding it fun to read about and even fun to watch. There is a morbid attraction to violence, a forbidden fruit type of appeal. The media on the other hand, lives to meet the demands of the public, therefore they write stories depicting violence. As they say in the business, “If it bleeds it leads.”
The concept of violence itself is deeply woven into the narrative of Taxi Driver, however it is important to analyze how the violence is portrayed by Scorsese to fully understand what is being communicated by the film. Bickle first shoots Sport, the pimp, after briefly trying to intimidate him. When he pulls the gun on him it is fast and short: he shoots and walks away. Afterward, he pauses to consider his options and decides he should kill more people, entering the brothel. When Bickle begins to open fire it is sloppy, fast, and ugly. There is no Hollywood gloss put over what is happening. Scorsese is trying to communicate how real violence plays out when it is not designed for entertainment. The spastic bullets and blood everywhere are in stark contrast to the Hollywood action movies of today, where an explosion can go off in a building and no one is hurt or how people simply fall down after being shot. The audience in Taxi Driver is forced to watch Travis’ victims bleed out and die slowly. Even after the dust is settled, Scorsese drags the audience back though the carnage, taking a slow pan of the entire crime scene. It is powerful imagery and by no doubt would be seared in the minds of anyone who views the film; or so Scorsese thought. Audiences in early screenings went slap happy for the cathartic climactic final shootout. The entire subtext about violence has soared right over their heads, and it was a scary moment for Scorsese and Schrader. Martin Scorsese was quoted in Marc Raymond’s Hollywood’s New Yorker saying, “When I made it I didn’t intend to have the audience react with that feeling, ‘Yes do it! Let’s go out and kill!’. The idea was to create a violent catharsis, so that they’d find themselves saying, ‘Yes kill’; and then afterwards realize, ‘My God, no.’”(Raymond 73).
Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader had multiple themes in their minds when making Taxi Driver, and by no means was violence the only one in the film. However, by isolating violence it compels the audience to make several conclusions as to what is being communicated. Violence creates broken people. This is demonstrated directly through Travis Bickle and implicitly though Iris. Having been subjected to Bickle’s violent acts, Iris will never be the same as she was before, effectively dooming the girl Bickle was attempting to save. This continues the never ending cycle of violence shown throughout Taxi Driver.
Violence is attractive on an instinctual level to humans. Human nature dictates a love of aggression and violence. We love seeing it in our films, reading about it in our newspapers, and even listening to violent lyrics in our music. Through Taxi Driver, Scorsese emphasizes that at its core, violence is inherently evil. No character’s situation is improved after the events of the film. Three characters are dead, Iris is miserable and possibly scarred by Travis’ actions, and Travis Bickle is no less of a broken, paranoid psychopath than when the film began. Bickle did not learn anything from his actions, as he was praised by society for killing people. In consequence, it is only a matter of time before he strikes again, and the cycle of destruction continues.
Works Cited
“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 6 July 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967.
Raymond, Marc. Hollywoods New Yorker: the Making of Martin Scorsese. State University of New York Press, 2014.
Schickel, Richard. Conversations with Scorsese. Knopf, 2013.
