People have long discussed whether the ending of this film (my personal favorite) was real or imagined. It's a natural question as the denouement certainly does seem like a heroism fantasy that Travis experiences, even though the director and screenwriter have stated that the events depicted actually took place. However, there are several other scenes in the film that I have seen convincingly put forth as being imagined by Travis, or at least skewed by his perception:
-The scene with the violent passenger played by Scorcese, who some interpret as a manifestation of the deeply repressed aspects of Travis' psyche that does not actually exist.
-The scene with Easy Andy, where he comes off as a very smooth and professional salesman while selling Travis the guns, but turns into a pushy sleaze as soon as Travis has purchased the weapons (his possession of the guns gave him a certain mystique that dissipated once Travis had them and began to see him in another light)
-The scene with Iris and Sport alone. This is important as it is the only scene in the film where Travis isn't present. If interpreted as occurring in his imagination, it makes sense that he would envision it, as Iris says to Sport that she "doesn't like what she's doing" but succumbs to his manipulation- justifying Travis' feelings towards him.
I suppose that all of this leads me to wonder just what the objective "reality" of the entire film is. Given Scorcese and Schrader's discouraging of non-literal interpretations of the ending, I tend to think that what is depicted is meant to have actually occurred. However, this is indeed a film that is a character study of a disturbed individual that shows things from the protagonist's point of view. Travis' long stares at people in the streets are those of the camera as well. How much are we trapped in his head, and how much are we watching events play out as flys on the wall?
In some ways, the analysis of Scorcese's later (and in many ways, similar) film King of Comedy makes me question Taxi Driver:
"Scorsese said that Powell always treated fantasy as no different than reality, and so made fantasy sequences as realistic as possible. Scorsese suggests that Rupert Pupkin's character fails to differentiate between his fantasies and reality in much the same way. Scorsese sought to achieve the same with the film so that, in his words, the 'fantasy is more real than reality'."
Either way, the film's suitability for infinite discussion and interpretation only further indicates its quality.
Submitted June 26, 2018 at 09:51AM by zoob1357 https://ift.tt/2Mn46yJ