Retired from the Vietnam War and came to New York alone, Travis Bickel, who has nothing to do and suffers from insomnia, drives a taxi around the streets of New York every night. The lights are blurry and mottled, but the streets are full of things darker than night: sex trafficking, drug trafficking, violence and other criminal acts continue to multiply like a virus, and it is a degenerate scene. He was disgusted, disturbed, cynical, and longed for a punishment. He tries to save Alice, a stray young prostitute, but the other party thinks he doesn't need to be rescued. He is infatuated with Bessie, a white-collar beauty at the headquarters of the last presidential campaign, only to discover that the two "belong to different worlds." A series of setbacks made him more lonely and paranoid, disguised himself as God's vengeful angel, and pointed his gun at the presidential candidate - a hypocritical politician and a dirty pimp, hoping to wash away the sins of the world with a bloodbath... = loneliness paranoid = "Loneliness will be with me all my life, in bars, in cars, on sidewalks, inseparable, I have nowhere to run, I am God's loner." ——The image of Travis Bickel's taxi is interspersed in the film, which is a metaphor of "iron coffin", implying the psychological state of the protagonist's isolation from the world. He remained estranged from everything, viewing the world only through his windshield and rearview mirror. In front of him were the sinful and perilous streets of New York, and behind him were strange passengers doing strange things. He watched from the sidelines and did not take the initiative to intervene and communicate. A few opening shots set the tone for the film: in the dim light, smoke from the ground wraps a yellow taxi slowly approaching, and the fog hasn't dissipated for a long time. A close-up of the protagonist's eyes, the neon flashing on the street after the rain is seen through the car window, forming a thick "smear" under the effect of a similar slow-door exposure. Pedestrians on the street are superimposed with red and blue ghostly fog. A set of shots marks that the film is only about one person and one perspective, and loneliness will run through the audience. In his eyes, the world is full of weirdness and nightmares like hell. He lacked channels for emotional catharsis, and could only communicate with himself by writing a diary, talking to himself in front of the imaginary enemy in the mirror, and practicing various gun-drawing movements. When chatting with friends (not really friends, but colleagues at most), he was always a passive observer, rarely commented, and often lost his mind. In the crowd, he often sits on the edge of the frame. Even if he appears in the center, his yellow-green jacket often overlaps with the dark background, making it difficult to attract attention. "I shouldn't live an autistic life, I believe that people should integrate into society." But poor communication skills have always been a hindrance. He bluntly approached women in the cinema, but was bluntly rejected by the other party. When dating Bessie, she is often off-topic, awkwardly chatting, and has no understanding of the elite culture she admires. The spiritual world is extremely barren. What is even more terrifying is that she is completely ignorant of the world and out of society, even with an Office Lady She went to a porn movie...and she didn't know what was wrong when she was rejected. When there was nowhere to resolve his extreme thoughts, he also took the initiative to ask the "Wizard" to confide in his heart, but he still didn't know what to say, just muttered to himself, "I'm going to stand up and do something... I have some bad thoughts in my head. ." The response he got was of course insignificant. The simple morality makes him unable to keep calm with the evils of the city. The double defeat of the Vietnam War and love, insomnia, drug dependence, a boring life that can only be passed through porn movies and soap operas, coupled with the failure of communication, all accelerate his loneliness. quality. As he himself said: "Loneliness is everywhere". When he is in a public place, the crowd around him is often blurred out in the shallow depth of field created by the telephoto lens, emphasizing his isolation. There is also an in-depth scene: he walks alone in a dilapidated street, and then the camera is superimposed, but without changing the scene, he is still walking on the same street. "Dissolve" in the language of the camera usually means the passage of time, but here time flows but the scene remains unchanged, and the audience experiences a fragment of consciousness like the protagonist, and no one knows how long he has been wandering alone. And shortly after the opening, the camera wandered around his house, and finally stopped on Travis, who was writing a diary alone under the iron fence. It was messy, disordered, and closed. This was his home life. It's the same moving shot. He and Bessie call to try to save their failed relationship. The camera moves away from him, as if he can't bear to see it, and turns to a long corridor. The corridor is as empty as his heart, but at the end is Busy and lively streets. This scene externalizes his state of mind and symbolizes his isolated state. Alone, he is often vigilant about the things around him. In the film, the relative movement of the camera and frequent front and back fights are used to express the opposition between him and the characters around him. Black gangsters are full of hostility. Another example is the scene where he was chatting with a driver friend in a restaurant. While listening to the speech, he suddenly looked out of the frame. The camera drifted to a pair of black gang members sitting opposite, and used slow motion to magnify Travis' subjective feelings. The camera then floats back to him. He is constantly looking for imaginary enemies, from black robbers, presidential candidates, to pimps. The scene where Alice dances with the pimp, Porter, is likely to have come from his fantasy, which is one of the very few passages in the book where Travis is not present, and a shot of Travis looking up in his car suggests it is The product of illusion in his mind. The intimate scene between the two continued, and suddenly gunshots forced in, breaking the illusion, and the camera cut to Travis practicing shooting at the shooting range. In his eyes, pimps control prostitutes in only a few ways: money, drugs, sex and love. And the sense of belonging of love and family, Exactly what he can't see. He finally killed Spot, in addition to "acting for the sky", more or less jealous.
= After 1969 = "Travis Bickel's battle in Southeast Asia, life and death, is crucial to his character background in the film" - Martin Scorsese (director) In The War Nearly one-third of the 3.1 million soldiers in China suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) to varying degrees. Although they return to the city, their hearts are lost in the jungle. Some people become pessimistic and misanthropic, lonely and autistic; some people are sensitive, suspicious, ferocious and manic; some even hide a lot of guns and ammunition in the mountains. The war claimed 50,000 American lives, but 300,000 died from alcoholism, drug use, homicide, and substance abuse after the war, and 100,000 died from suicide. "When the moon is dark, the dirty streetscape of the ghetto seems to lurk an enemy waiting to devour him." Travis Bickel is the aggregate of these outbreaks. Insomnia, suspicion of stomach cancer, and his attempted suicide after a brothel raid. There is still a lot of evidence in the film that he was possessed by the demons of the Vietnam War. The classic "Moxican" hairstyle was taken from a special force in the Vietnam War, which meant that he shouldered the mission and carried out the necessary killings. The yellow-green military jacket with the "King Kong Company" armbands is always worn everywhere. The Vietnamese flag hanging like a trophy on the door of the home. In the campaign headquarters, the standard set of combat alertness that is conditioned reflexively when angry. Even the long scar on the back when doing push-ups seems to tell us an unforgettable past. Needless to say, he was a racist, hostile to black people, even drawing guns at black people who appeared on TV. This tendency mainly stems from their professional experience. In the 1970s, racial antagonism was particularly evident in the taxi industry, with some white drivers discriminating against black passengers and refusing rides. At the same time, violent crime is on the rise in African-American neighborhoods such as Harlem, the Bronx and Brooklyn. lead to more serious refusal. Based on this, African-Americans drove unlicensed "Gypsy taxis" and drove to other areas. This violated the interests of white self-owned car drivers, and the racial confrontation continued to escalate. In the movie, Travis' car was attacked by a group of black youths. Going to a convenience store, I ran into a black young man robbing him at gunpoint. At night, they glared at each other with swaggering black gangsters, full of provocation. The only black counterpart called him "The Killer" and gestured with a finger to shoot...*
"We can no longer serve spirits, since 1969." - Hotel California
Produced in the 1960s, the most famous counterculture movement known as "Love and Peace", the "Hippie" movement, went through the "Human Gathering" and "Summer of Love" to Woodstock Music in 1969. Festival reached its peak. However, the "Manson Family" incident that occurred in the same year was thrown into the cold palace. The people no longer appreciate or sympathize with them, but are indifferent and hostile. Ethical cleanliness Travis says of hippie commune "It doesn't look clean, I can't get along with people like that. "And scoffed at the women's liberation movement that accompanied it. In the 1970s, the US economy experienced a stagflation crisis, and after the failure of the Vietnam War, the Watergate Incident, the public had an unprecedented crisis of trust in the government and the mainstream culture it advocated. In this film , even a politician with an obvious left-wing stance, Palantin, who slogans "We are the people", shouted civil rights and people's livelihood, and denounced the quagmire of the Vietnam War. But on the other side, a Vietnam veteran in military uniform Telavi No one cared about Sri Lanka, and was finally expelled from the scene by the police. In this way, the general public had nothing to rely on between the "left and right", the beliefs were barren, the mainstream culture was untrustworthy, the subculture was untrustworthy, the spirit was exhausted, bored and suffocated, Anxious to find a sense of existence, to find a way to vent. Travis, is the most extreme representative of them. = Avenging Angel and Anti-Hero = "This man can't stand it anymore, he wants to stand up against scum, mad dog, pervert and trash, This man...you are dead! " — Travis Bickel He is constantly alienated by loneliness and circumstances, giving birth to redemptive plots and daydreams. The first bright color of the film appeared when Travis first met Bessie. "She was in a white dress, and she fell into the world like an angel, alone, and they couldn't defile her." In Travis's opinion, Bessie Akane is as lonely as herself and surrounded by people trying to hurt her. He projects his own state of mind onto the other party and fantasizes that he is in a dangerous situation in order to satisfy his desire for salvation. This is the same as his attempt to persuade the young prostitute Alice to return home, it is the way to prove his existence. However, he failed. After that failed date, he grew paranoid, cursing Bessie "to go to hell like everyone else". Gradually hate the relationship between men and women. Gestures of shooting at the pictures of male and female love on the screen; kicking over the TV showing the love soap opera. As a result, they are completely isolated from worldly life. "My life is facing a turning point again. Every day is the same, and the chains cannot be broken. Suddenly, a change comes." He does not believe in gradual political change, because politicians and criminals are in cahoots. Palantine, the politician he had previously loved because of Bessie, is now a target in desperate need of eradication. He planned assassinations, bought guns, practiced shooting, exercised, controlled drugs, seared his arms on the stovetop - whipped himself like a Puritan. Why is Travis so obsessed with killing for rebirth? This is inseparable from America's ingrained culture of violence. Patton said that Americans are warlike by nature. The cowboy spirit is highly regarded, symbolizing the cult of freedom, violence and individual heroism. In the film, cultural symbols of this American hero abound, with Travis, in jeans and cowboy boots, dubbed a cowboy by Spot and the brothel janitor. Gun culture is an important branch of cowboy culture, showing a kind of American value of resistance to power, individual freedom is sacred and inviolable, and the destructive power and mechanical beauty of various guns are frequently displayed in the film. The gun, as a symbol of violence and a phallic figure, was constantly played with by him. It also symbolizes Travis' fascination with violence. Violence, in turn, is related to his sexual repression. We can see the pan-violence tendency of the city, and even the whole country. The radio broadcast of "Bell's driver was killed by a lunatic and half of his ear was cut off on 122nd Street" became an afterthought. Talk about it; a huge light box of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" hangs in front of the movie theater - violence has become an important element of mass entertainment. The mundane violence of life can be seen everywhere, during the day , through the front windshield, we see two middle-aged white men fighting; prostitutes chasing and molesting their bad boys at night; hysterical men screaming "I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her "; The Hispanic convenience store owner vented his anger by constantly beating the body of the black robber who was shot and killed by Travis with a club. In addition to physical violence, there is also verbal violence. Starred by Scorsese himself, the husband who was cuckolded by the "nigger" blatantly made racist and extreme misogynistic remarks "You know how much a point 44 Magnum pistol kills a woman's face" Power! Do you know how destructive it is to a woman's lower body!" His appearance sent a signal of violence to Travis, so Travis went to buy a 44-point Magnum and used a gun Scanning the streets of New York from the window, he finally stopped at a pair of women... The object of his anger was indiscriminate and random. Choosing to assassinate a presidential candidate - a hypocritical politician who is congenial with evil, is because of the sensational effect, and at the same time seeks a meaningful and valuable motive for destruction and self-destruction, and "sacred" the killing impulse to find a sense of existence . Even if you are not recognized by others, you will gain a sense of existence that is hated by others. "You are a prophet and a drug dealer, half-truth, full of contradictions" He is both obsessed and hated for women; he watches pornographic movies and despises prostitutes; he thinks that the city stinks like a sewer, longs for order and cleanliness, but lives He is extremely irregular, and maintains the order of the world through the most disruptive method—violence—morality and discipline; he is always alert to the dangers of the surrounding environment, but longs for a glorious suicide like Yukio Mishima. He dramatizes himself, lit a fire, polished his boots, sharpened his knives, burned flowers, wrote a suicide note, mailed Alice's trip home, and shaved a mohawk, full of sacred ritual beauty. However, he failed again. The assassination ended in a farce, and before he even drew his gun, he ran away in a hurry. He quickly pointed the finger at the pimp Spot, who was almost evil incarnate. Ironically, in his eyes, the president and the pimp are interchangeable. He knocked down Spot with a .38 Smith & Wesson pistol and rushed into the dark, cramped den, like the filthy streets of New York. At point 44, Magnum's gunshot finally sounded, and a huge wave of air shook the corridor, knocking off the palm of the brothel janitor. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood. The gunshots sounded again, blood bleeds from Travis's neck, Spot shot with his last breath, and Travis turned around to completely kill him. The client inside the house heard the sound and tugged at Travis's arm The trigger, the .38 pistol fell to the ground. Travis magically slid the .25 Colt pistol hidden in his sleeve into his hand and shot the client several times. The door opened, leaving only the disheveled Alice in the room. She panicked and screamed: "Stop!" The dagger pierced his other palm. He picked up the pistol and exploded the opponent's head, blood splattered on the wall behind him, blooming like fireworks. Travis attempted suicide, only to find the bullets had been fired. At this time, the police arrived, and Travis pointed his bloody hand to his temple and made a shooting motion. A god-like bird's-eye view appeared, or a vision of him in a near-death state. The camera slowly exited the house and came to the corridor. We saw corpses, blood-stained walls and pistols. After exiting to the street, the camera slowly pulled up, policemen, reporters, and onlookers flocked to the scene. Very dark, the media refused to explore the nature of his loneliness, madness and morbidity, and wishful thinking, gave him the golden body of an American hero who went to the Longtan alone to rescue the girl. The media also refuses to acknowledge the government's failure to transform society, diverting people's attention by portraying heroes. At the same time, it caters to and even promotes the popular worship of violence. Alice's father sent a warm thank you note, and Travis seemed to take the lead when chatting with colleagues. What's even more interesting is that Bessie actually took the initiative to take his car, as if showing her kindness but hesitating to say anything. At this time, in the small car, the positions of the two sides seemed to be replaced. Surprisingly, Travis acted nonchalantly and graciously waived her fare, "so long" and drove away. Still wandering the streets of New York at night, just like the beginning of the movie. Suddenly, he seemed to have found something suspicious, he held the reflector with his hand, and the street under the radiant light was dark... He is a loner of God, an angel of revenge, and he hates this world as if he hates himself, and he will never stop. "so long", driving away from the dust. Still wandering the streets of New York at night, just like the beginning of the movie. Suddenly, he seemed to have found something suspicious, he held the reflector with his hand, and the street under the radiant light was dark... He is a loner of God, an angel of revenge, and he hates this world as if he hates himself, and he will never stop. "so long", driving away from the dust. Still wandering the streets of New York at night, just like the beginning of the movie. Suddenly, he seemed to have found something suspicious, he held the reflector with his hand, and the street under the radiant light was dark... He is a loner of God, an angel of revenge, and he hates this world as if he hates himself, and he will never stop. "so long", driving away from the dust. Still wandering the streets of New York at night, just like the beginning of the movie. Suddenly, he seemed to have found something suspicious, he held the reflector with his hand, and the street under the radiant light was dark... He is a loner of God, an angel of revenge, and he hates this world as if he hates himself, and he will never stop. "so long", driving away from the dust. Still wandering the streets of New York at night, just like the beginning of the movie. Suddenly, he seemed to have found something suspicious, he held the reflector with his hand, and the street under the radiant light was dark... He is a loner of God, an angel of revenge, and he hates this world as if he hates himself, and he will never stop. "so long", driving away from the dust. Still wandering the streets of New York at night, just like the beginning of the movie. Suddenly, he seemed to have found something suspicious, he held the reflector with his hand, and the street under the radiant light was dark... He is a loner of God, an angel of revenge, and he hates this world as if he hates himself, and he will never stop. "so long", driving away from the dust. Still wandering the streets of New York at night, just like the beginning of the movie. Suddenly, he seemed to have found something suspicious, he held the reflector with his hand, and the street under the radiant light was dark... He is a loner of God, an angel of revenge, and he hates this world as if he hates himself, and he will never stop.
View more about Taxi Driver reviews
