An emphasis on the dream-like state of Travis Bickle.

THE AVENGING ANGEL:TAXI DRIVER

By Danny Morlock

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Roger Ebert describes Taxi Driver (Martin

Scorsese, 1976) as dream-like: “The end sequence plays like music, not drama: It

completes the story on an emotional, not a literal, level. Is this a fantasy scene?

Did Travis survive the shoot-out? Are we experiencing his dying thoughts? (par. 16).”

I agree with Ebert’s emphasis on the film's dream-state because its primary

character, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), views the world in a surreal, perverted way.

Moreover, Bickle's insomnia forces him to stay awake through the dreary hours of the

night, fueling his hatred for the “scum” that walk the New York City streets. This

dream-like sensation is typical of the postmodern neo-noir paranoiac protagonist, so it

is this characterization of Travis Bickle I will consider. Moreover, I will look at the

film’s usage of mise-en-scene and narration, specifically the New York City night and

nostalgic voice-overs by Bickle and argue that they too reinforce this surrealist dream-

like effect.

When asked by the cab company owner in one of the opening scenes of Taxi Driver, “What do you

want a cab for, Bickle?” Travis responds, “I can’t sleep nights… Ride around nights, mostly. Buses, subways,

figured that if I’m gonna do that, I might as well get paid for it,” (Taxi Driver). At first, Travis appears calm,

sane even. Sporting a red flannel shirt with a veteran’s jacket and primp hair, his appearance is pleasant. When

the cab company owner asks further about Travis’ driving record, Bickle retorts, “It’s clean, real clean, like my

conscious,” (Taxi Driver). Thus, after being handed the keys, Travis agreeably begins his journey through the

“vile” underworld of the New York City streets behind the wheel of his taxicab.

“Twelve hours of work and I still can't sleep. Damn. Days go on and on. They don't end.”

An early, sane Travis Bickle.

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Bickle soon comes to the realization that his yellow

ship is not quite the escape mechanism he was looking for.

His onset of sleep deprivation and ambiguity by the start of

the film only further reflects what Andrew Spicer notes about

the differences from the classic noir to the neo-modernist protagonist,

“Travis conforms to Schrader’s conception of the late noir protagonist

who has lost his integrity and stable identity, the prey to ‘psychotic

action and suicidal impulse,’” (Spicer, 146). Travis sees the streets of

New York City and those that tread along them as little more than

vermin. He begins, “All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk

pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday

a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets,” (Taxi

Driver). Bickle seems to crave a fresh start; this “rain” is then perhaps a

metaphor for a much needed pertinent climactic sleep.

“Loneliness has followed me my whole life. There’s no escape, I’m God’s lonely man.”

New York City night scene.

The “scum” that Bickle despises with every waking breath.

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Travis’ internal anxiety and delirium resonate

with his tempered voice-over confessionals. Curiously,

the streets fumigate thick mist and bright out-of-focus

lights litter the frame, usually encircling the protagonist,

trapping him in “some other world.” According to Spicer,

“[Michael Chapman’s] wide-angle lens captures Travis’

distorted view of the flare and tawdry glamour of the

neon signs in their saturated primary colours, or

the strange eruptions of steam through the

manhole covers in the timeless drift of the cab

through the dark night-time streets,” (Spicer, 147).

This juxtaposition of narration and mise-en-scene

perfectly emulates Travis’ disorientation, both

physically and mentally. Spicer maintains the

manner in which Scorsese went about capturing

these scenes, “[Scorsese] had to create a style that would

create an ambiguous world that hovers between dream

and reality, what Scorsese referred to as ‘that sense of

being almost awake,’” (Spicer, 146; Scorsese, in ibid,

54).

According to Dream Interpretations, “To dream of driving signifies unjust criticism of your seeming

extravagance. You will be compelled to do things which appear undignified. To dream of driving a public cab, could

denote menial labor with little chance for advancement,” ("Dream Interpretation Driving"). Even the very act of

driving a cab around the different boroughs of New York signifies how Travis is engulfed in his own circular plight.

Bright out-of-focus lights that perplex the protagonist.

Hazy fog that fumigates throughout the city night.

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He is going nowhere, both literally and figuratively. The ambiguity that follows only causes more confusion and rage

on the part of Travis, which in effect generates a rampant dream-like sequence of narrative, narration, and mise-en-

scene.

“All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don’t believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention. I believe that someone should become a person like other people.”

Near the middle of the film, Travis appears burnt out. His eyes have large pillows, his dress is less

of a concern and his socialization skills seem to lack any luster, especially after his discouraging

encounters with Betsy (Cybill Sheperd). Bickle’s insomnia has fueled not only an incessant hatred for

others, but also a general confusion for the world he is now a part of. In one scene, Travis seeks the

counsel of the Wizard (Peter Boyle), but only after watching a group of young black teens play around on

the sidewalk, of which his [Travis’] face displays an obvious look of disgust for the “vermin” that he

encounters daily. Travis confesses to the Wizard, “I’m real down, [things] got me real down. I just want to

go out and really do something… I’ve got some bad ideas in my head,” (Taxi Driver). His need for a

second existential opinion makes it apparent that the Wizard has become Travis’ new guide through this

altered dream-like state.

An insight into Bickle’s insanity. He stares off into the unknown.

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According to Larry Gross, “The misplaced erotic

instinct, alienation, and fragmented identity that

characterized the classical noir hero, are incorporated into

a more extreme epistemological confusion, expressed

through violence which is shown as both pointless and

absurd,” (Gross, 1976, 44-49). In one scene (after Travis

has purchased a litany of handguns and other varieties of

weapons), we find Bickle purchasing several

commodities from a local corner store. In the

background, there is a man barking orders at the cashier,

“Okay, shut your fucking mouth and give me the cash out

of the drawer! Let’s go!” The cashier calmly retorts,

“Alright, please don’t shoot,” (Taxi Driver). There is a

robbery in process. Travis proceeds to pull from his

pocket a pistol and shoot the robber down. Once lifeless,

the cashier asks, “Did you get him?” Travis replies,

“Yeah, I got him,” (Taxi Driver). It coldly feels as though

the two acknowledge this man’s death as one would the

death of an insect or a pest. Shortly after Travis flees the

premises, the cashier continually beats the body of the

deceased with a large pole whilst shouting profanities. In

the next scene, Bickle appears unscathed with gun in

hand, and in a very fictitious manner, as if nothing ever

happened (Taxi Driver).

“The idea had been growing in my brain for some time. True force. All the king's men cannot put it back.”

Bickle shooting the robber in the convenient store.

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The narrative thus begins to follow a suit of incoherence, which parallels Bickle’s own

disorientation. Near the end of the film, Travis has shaved his head into a Mohawk, started to wear his

veteran’s jacket without a shirt underneath and strapped a homemade gun holster to his body at all times.

His appearance has floundered, and the frequencies of his voice-overs are reciprocated with animosity. He

decides (almost instantaneously) after his failed assassination of the presidential candidate Charles

Palantine (Leonard Harris) to pay Iris’ (Jodie Foster) pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel) a visit (Taxi Driver).

“Listen you fuckers, you screw heads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. Who would not let...Listen you fuckers, you screw heads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the dogs, the filth, the shit, here is someone who stood up.”

A new, more “war-like” style of dress for Travis.

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In a frenzied dash, Travis finds Sport

fixed on his favorite stoop and immediately after

confronting him, pulls out his pistol and fires a

shot into Sport’s stomach (Taxi Driver).

Interestingly, Travis walks over to a different

stoop and sits in contemplation for a moment,

almost as if to question the true status of his

existence in this ambiguous world that he now

dwells in. Spicer cites Scorsese’s fascination

with the city and the character of Travis Bickle,

“[It’s that idea] of this avenging angel floating

through the streets of the city [that fascinates

me],” (Spicer, 146; Scorsese, in ibid, 54). Travis and Iris discuss her escape in both the house she is trapped in and the restaurant they meet for lunch.

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Thus Travis’ angelic crusade

ferments into a shoot-out inside a run-down

apartment building, where he kills Iris’

oppressors, allowing her to return to her

parents and dissociate her life with that of

child prostitution (Taxi Driver).

“Now I see it clearly. My whole life is pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me.”

An angered Travis takes vengeance upon the “vermin” of New York City.

Bickle executes an “evil” man in one of the final scenes.

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Spicer notes, “In an ironic ending this

psychotic slaughter is rendered heroic: the camera

pans slowly over newspaper cuttings of ‘Taxi

Driver Hero To Recover’ as we listen to the voice-

overs of Iris’ grateful father congratulating Travis

on returning their daughter to them. In the final

scene, Travis is once again in his cab, looking as he

did in the opening scene,” (Spicer, 147). Travis’

voice-overs have seized to exist. His conscious is

clean. At the end, he turns the rear-view mirror

from his own eyes to the lights and city that co-

exist him; he is no longer at war with himself (Taxi

Driver).

His appearance is trim, and his socialization

skills seem to be fully restored. One thing is for

certain, either Travis was able to either

recharge from a potent sleep (and relieve the

omnipresent dream-like state) after his personal

war on the world outside (and himself) or his

new existence merely resounds like that of an

ambivalent angel that has truly washed the

scum off the streets.

Bickle mimicking the act of suicide. Bottom: Travis turns away the mirror.

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Taxi Driver. Dir. Martin Scorsese. By Paul Schrader. Perf.

Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster. Columbia Pictures

Presents, 1976. DVD.

Spicer, Andrew. "Neo Noir: Modernist Film Noir." Film Noir.

Harlow, England: Longman, 2002. 130-48. Print.

Ebert, Roger. "Taxi Driver :: Rogerebert.com :: Great Movies."

RSS. N.p., 1 Jan. 2004. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20040101/REVIEWS08/401010364/1023>.

"Dream Interpretation Driving." Dream Interpretation Driving.

N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. <http://www.dream-

interpretation.org.uk/free-dream-interpretation-

dictionary-d/dream-interpretation-driving.htm>.

Gross, L. (1976) ‘Film Après Noir’, Film Comment 12 (2) 44-9.