The Taxi As A Metaphor For Loneliness and Alienation

Rating: 10/10 (21 May 1999)

Few movies have the ability to be so vivid in terms of imagery that you can recall every single scene with the utmost of precision. Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" is one such film. This film is such a powerful exploration into the tortured depths of a man's soul that I doubt if I could even forget one minute. In fact, this is one of Martin Scorsese's great strengths. Many years after "Taxi Driver" he created his signature freeze frame shots to highlight important scenes and images, as a way to extend their importance. Scorsese does not use freeze framing in "Taxi Driver", but it is hardly needed. He bombards us with many other image trickeries that reflect Travis Bickle's (Robert DeNiro) alienated and agonized psyche.
"Taxi Driver" should not be viewed as a film about urban decay, even though it does take place on the filthy streets of New York City. The film is more of a character study depicting one lonely man's struggle to live within the filth and corruption that surrounds him. Travis can not stand the place in which he resides, but he has no means by which to escape it. To an extent, Travis may even be drawn to the decaying world of the streets where he drives his cab because it is here where his anger and frustration is fed. Deep down, Travis is kind-hearted good person. He sees the urban decay around him and desperately wants to do something to change it. In one scene, Palantine (Leonard Harris), the man running for office, rides in the back of Travis' taxi. Travis tells Palantine that he would like to see someone in office who could clean up the streets of New York. "I'd like to see it all flushed down the toilet", he states.
The act of cleansing is an image that recurring throughout the film. We often see water from hydrants spraying the streets. Travis also cleanses the back of his cab after ever shift. In the narration, Travis says that he has to often clean blood and other bodily fluids from the back seat. What he has to clean from his cab represents the violence, pornography, and prostitution which is everywhere. Travis cleaning his cab is symbolic of his desire to clean up the streets.
The taxi is integral in developing Travis's dissociated, and isolated self. The taxi is used as a metaphor for loneliness. Many people from all walks of life use taxis, coming from and going to their various destinations. The person who drives the taxi is an outsider, isolated from the many lives that he sees coming and going every day. In this respect, "Taxi Driver" reminds me of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", a poem about the anxieties of the modern world. In the poem, the speaker sees the city as a place where anonymous people come and go in transition to other places. The taxi in the film is similar in that it is a mechanism by which people anonymously travel from one place to the next. Travis is the outsider because he is stuck in this mechanism, just as Prufrock is stuck in the vast city landscape with "restless nights in one-night cheap hotels". But Travis is not only trapped in the confines of the taxi, but also the modern city, disillusionment, and disappointment standing in the foreground, just as Prufrock is.
The taxi is often shown in fragmented parts. A detail insert will be shown of the mirror, then a cut to another detail insert of the back bumper, and so on. This fragmentation of the taxi is symbolic of Travis's alienated self. To break down the taxi illustrates that Travis's life is not whole. Something is missing. He has a need to make a connection with other people. He sees people everyday in the back of his cab, but they are people that he will likely never see again. He, just like anyone else has a need for love and acceptance, but sadly enough has little chance of getting it. Travis, one day sees Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), an attractive woman working in a campaign office. He asks her out and she reluctantly accepts. Travis is so much a part of the filth and scum that he detests, he does not know better than to take her to a porn theater on their date. "Everyone goes to these theaters", Travis tells her when she rejects him. Travis seems to be able to spot everyone else's dirt but his own. He is part of the world that he truly despises, and even when he tries to get out, he can not.
As the story progresses, Travis's loneliness continues to grow. He desperately needs to reach out, but the city is full of women that he can not have. We can see that Travis is developing some kind of pathology as he lives out his pointless and routine life as a taxi driver. His confused state of mind is exemplified in the imagery that Scorsese presents on the screen; an example being a detail insert of a glass of water with bubbling seltzer. As well, the blurred city street lights are representative of Travis's life being distorted. About half way through the film, we have the famous image of Travis pointing the 44 magnum in the mirror, and the famous line "Are you talking to me"? This is where I would say the turning point occurs. At this moment we know that his craziness, resulting from the streets, the loneliness and rejection that he suffers everyday is going to lead to a violent confrontation. The pointing of the gun in the mirror is brilliant. The image illustrates that anyone could be his victim even us, the audience, metaphorically speaking. But he is not only pointing the gun at us, he is pointing it at himself, as if he desires some sort of self-destruction. This is a great fore-shadowing scene. It would be unfair to give away who the confrontation is with and how it ensues. All I will say is that it revolves around his attempt to help a young child prostitute; Iris (Jodie Foster), get off the streets. This is another attempt for Travis to reach out.
I am so tempted to give away some of the ending because there is one shot that I consider to be among the best in cinematic history. It is a slow overhead shot that occurs just before the film ends. Unfortunately, if I say what is shown in the overhead shot, I will have no choice but to give away what happens. But trust me, it is a moment worth waiting for, an I guarantee that you will never forget it. I must not forget to mention that a new edition of "Taxi Driver" has been released, both in the wide screen and pan and scan format. I highly recommend the wide screen version. Anyway, it has some great documentary footage on the making of "Taxi Driver", with interviews of Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader (screenwriter), Robert DeNiro, Cybill Sheperd, Jodie Foster and a whole host of others.

**** out of **** (although this in no way captures how tremendous the film really is. It is one of the greatest works of cinematic art in film history)