Taxi Driver and How Loneliness Destroys Your Mind

I got it's just that I got a I got a think got you down yeah Happ to the best of yeah I got me real down real just want to go out and and you know like really really really do something taxi life you mean yeah I know I just want to go out I really you know I really want to I got some bad ideas in my head I [Music] just oh look look at it this way you know I have seen Martin scor's taxi drive driver countless times I think I was 13 when

I first watched it and now I'm in my 20s I have grown so accustomed to the film that I could probably watch the whole movie in my head it's a movie I do love taxi driver has been that big movie that has stuck with me for so long and I honestly can owe a lot of my growth as a person throughout my teenage years to this movie it is one of the very few movies I can say changed my life in some way or at least it changed my personal philosophies in this video I'm going

to be exploring why that is [Music] is the movie follows Robert Deniro's Travis pickle who is introduced here when he's applying for the taxi driver job itself on the surface it's a standard scene it's essentially an exposition scene existing to tell us our protagonist's name military history lack of education and insomnia but what makes the scene Stand Out is the framing and the sound throughout the scene we can see these two characters having some kind of ordeal in the reflection of the mirror I see this as the first example of Travis bickle's relationship with the

world around him it's a distant perception of people through the reflection of a mirror there's no understanding of what's really being said and as we can see with the rest of the film Travis's relationship with the world around him is similar he is so distant that he essentially finds himself Lost in Translation with the people around him scorsi tells us of its importance through the framing many other films would keep this part of the frame out of focus and because of that it works to show us that Travis does focus on the world around him

rather than himself Travis the camera and all the aspects of the film work in unison to tell the story in contrast to the loneliness that defines Travis's life we are introduced to Betsy who brings life to the film's impetus in a beautiful moment of editing and cinematography here Betsy really is the most normal kind of girl she's an attractive woman but that isn't much of an common thing in a busy place like New York I'm sure there's an attractive girl on every street you can leave the house anywhere in the world and see at least

one pretty girl you can see girls in McDonald's who look just as good as your celebrity crush with Travis though he really sees her as an angel he's completely enamored by her yet it is still from afar Travis is hateful of people yet he's fixated on this idea that Betsy is different and considering the fact Travis doesn't personally know Betsy and never really gets to know her like that the story of Travis's love for Betsy is a true example of the male gaze the male gaze being a term used for a male's selfish objectification a

way men tend to look at women that prioritizes beauty over the person behind the beauty Travis eventually decides to approach Betsy he does his hair dresses up and complements her beauty straight away it's a clear attempt to impress it even comes off is slightly desperate and pushy it's not something I think would work in real life it's what men feel they need to do to get a woman's attention but it's performative I think a woman prefers that a relationship would come from a natural and friendly progression you know if Albert Brooks's character wasn't such a

dog he'd probably be the kind of person who could have a relationship with Betsy because they are actually acquaintances there's nothing forced about their knowing each other Betsy agrees to go out and have lunch with Travis which is odd and probably gives Travis a false sense of hope Travis does come off as a bit weird making quite a personal observation towards Betsy but it intrigues her it's as if she wants to entertain him and go along with his advancements to see where it will take her a trend in dating in the modern era is often

when a girl would date someone who doesn't fit their ideal feeling the reason they have not found their match is because they are judging books by their covers instead of taking the time to open the books I think it's reasonable to assume that Betsy perhaps ignores Travis's red flags in favor of seeing who he really is rather than judging him from the first impression when they have lunch together Travis continues to be awkward and says things that would weird people out but it feels as if Betsy continues to entertain it I think Betsy is also

trying to be nice and she is giving Travis a chance because she can tell he's putting in the effort the most important moment from this encounter is when Betsy uses a Chris Christopherson lyric to sum up Travis he's a profit and a pusher partly truth partly fiction walking contradiction you saying that about me who else would I be talking about I'm no Pusher I never have pushed no no just the part about the contradictions you're there the reason why this line is so important is because it essentially describes Travis's character to a tea I think

Betsy in this instance gets this idea of Travis being a walking cont contradiction because he dresses up he does his hair up and he tries to show off this image as if he's a normal guy but when he speaks his words go against this idea of who he is portraying himself to be there's also many instances throughout the film that reassure the relevance of this line like how he is disgusted by sex yet he watches porn movies in a theater he wants to be healthy yet is always taking pills drinking alcohol and eating bad food

or how he looks down on society while also fitting into that Society as a taxi driver which is an important job in New York Travis and Betsy eventually go on what Travis at least believes to be a date and he even buys her a Chris Christopherson album knowing she is a fan but where things take a turn is when Travis takes Betsy to a porno theater somewhere we've seen Travis go to already Betsy is very much surprised to have been taken here and is hesitant to go in she goes along with it and of course

feels uncomfortable she leaves and calls an end to the date and Travis further work person's things by becoming aggressive it also turns out Betsy already owns the album and doesn't want it this is the first hint of tragedy in the film it's a showing of Travis's incapability to fit in he is someone who has to create this idea of normality but in actuality he's clueless on how to fit in he genuinely thought going to a porno theater was a normal thing to do and the tragic part comes from the fact that he really does have

good intentions Travis built this idea in his head that Betsy was the perfect entity that if he was to pursue her he will be happy he believes that she will save him from his loneliness but his loneliness has distanced himself so far from reality that his loneliness ends up being the reason he cannot have what he wants Travis is essentially in a Purgatory of loneliness the effect loneliness has had on him has shaped him into a person unable to be good enough in the eyes of the person who he believes can save him watching the

film we just feel bad for him at this point I think many real people have felt the same way in in the real world under more casual circumstances this desperation to find love is made even more pathetic when Travis makes this call to Betsy it's one of my favorite parts of the movie here the pan to the right where we see a lonely hallway leading to the street outside it's a perfect example of visual storytelling and how the camera in a film is supposed to tell the audience something shots and camera movement shouldn't just exist

to be flashy or just to look nice it should exist to tell the story a simple pan here creates so much Nuance like because of this we now question whether Travis is even on the phone with Betsy it emphasizes how pathetic Travis seems this pan feels as if it's telling us how Travis needs to get out of there Travis is all alone worrying over a girl who doesn't care about him yet there's a world out there it may be an ugly one but he should get back out there and move on Travis doesn't move on

though he grows an obsession in fixing his mistake to a point where he goes to Betsy's work and most definitely kills off any luck in getting another chance with Betsy Travis's desperation just becomes pitiful It's upsetting at this point here Travis feels more alone than ever he was alone before but now he has lost the Hope in being saved that he created for himself Travis even goes to one of the fellow taxi drivers he hangs out with to ask for advice but he is incapable of understanding his feelings he wants to say how he feels

but he can't make sense of it and the advice he has given is also misunderstood he is essentially told to have the mindset of a normal person it is very normal to find identity in your work and to escape your feelings in that identity and how you spend your free time but Travis doesn't spend his free time usefully he became a taxi driver because he has nothing to do Travis's idea was for Betsy to give him this life he desired where he feels like a person who is part of the world but without Betsy he

is incapable of figuring out that he doesn't need a woman to feel like he is part of the world Travis in fact rejects the world around him he looks at people more specifically the black people who heavily populate New York and looks at them like they're beneath him Travis is alone not because the world left him behind but because he chooses to not be a part of it because he doesn't like it what makes Travis feel like the victim though is that the beautiful part of the world he wants to be a part of rejects

him because he is in fact the same as these kind of people he looks down on when Travis goes through this low period he switches Focus to palentine palentine is the presidential candidate Betsy worked for he's crucial to the film not only because Betsy's job is to work for palentine and run his campaign but also because he is Betsy's oppressor in Travis's mind Travis starts to embrace a new philosophy a sort of Primal mindset that comes with extreme exercise and diet not an attempt to better himself like he says but to prepare for his plan

to bring down those he feels are making the world ugly palentine is someone Travis doesn't really know much about and even when he meets palentine he is very fake in how he talks to him the only truth that comes out of his mouth is when he speaks of his hate towards the world all Travis can really have an opinion on when it comes to palentine is how he impacts the life of Betsy Betsy is surrounded by palentine's name and his face for most of the scenes we see her in and she speaks passionately about him

I think that because he is this powerful male figure in Betsy's life Travis blames him to some degree he feels that if palentine wasn't in Betsy's life that she would be free from this world he is so distant from Travis in the second half especially is very much like a cowboy we have these scenes with his guns he really holds it like it's an accessory even the way he dresses with the boots Travis has transformed himself into a gunslinger he even kills a Mugger he sees in the store in an act of vigilantism scor gace

he said himself that it was intentional to make Travis Cowboy like even comparing his male savior journey to that of John Wayne's character in the classic Western The Searchers a movie about a man who saves women from Red Indians I think what makes this relevant is that to me Western protagonists particularly in the later years of the western Obsession of the 50s and 60s they embodied the role of the anti-hero Travis fits so well into this archetype because we all admittedly feel bad for him at the start we relate to a lot of what he

says and we understand that even his mistake of taking Betsy to the porn theater was an honest mistake and a result of his lack of knowledge and connection with normal civilization us feeling bad for Travis Works to make us invested in him as a character and he betrays us with his violent intentions and to go even further with the anti-hero quality of the film we also feel conflicted by Travis's plan to kill sport because we do get it sport is wrong and obviously we dis approve of him whether sport deserves to be murdered is a

whole other conversation though taxi driver is structured in an unusual way even Paul Shader who wrote it decided to write it after seeing Robert Bron's movie pickpocket a movie that to Shader was basically a movie about a guy who would write in his diary go out and pickpocket write in his diary and go out and pickpocket again very similar to Taxi Driver a lot of Taxi Driver is Travis writing in his diary then going out being weird to people I'd say the movie has two significant stages there's stage one that focuses on Travis and Betsy

and there's stage two which focuses on Iris Iris being a child prostitute Travis first encountered when she ran into his Cab in the first half of the movie in an attempt to get away from her pimp sport but she doesn't make an appearance again until the second half where Travis tries to help her with her situation iris is someone who doesn't understand the control she is under she doesn't see herself in need of saving but Travis has got to a point where his life is defined by his mission to save her the opposite of looking

for a woman to save you is to create this narrative where you are saving them this is ultimately Travis's process of getting over Betsy the dynamic Travis has with Iris I believe is a more literal example of what he believes is going on with Betsy and palentine Iris is literally being oppressed and is being controlled under the manipulative dominance sport holds over her the day has come Travis is ready to actualize his plan he arrives at palentine's rally debuting the iconic Mohawk Travis's plan I believe was to kill palentine then sport but he is unable

to get close enough to land the shot so he flees the scene later that evening Travis sets out to kill Sport and save Iris it feels like a war it's as if everything that can go wrong goes wrong it's an amazing scene Travis succeeds he kills everyone in his path leaving Iris completely traumatized by what she has witnessed it brings us to the end of the journey where Travis's loneliness has fully taken him Travis even attempts to kill himself before realizing he is out of ammunition to me it's the most tragic moment of the movie

as it is his loneliness that has led him to both murder and the attempted murder of himself the hatred is alive more than any other scene you can really feel that someone who was simply alone confused and misunderstood had rotted his own mind because he went so long without the help or guidance he needed Travis is someone that was failed by the world and I believe Travis with his victim mentality created this idea that both Betsy and Iris are victims of the world also just like him where in this story the only true victim is

[Music] Iris it's a tragic end and the way it's shot with the camera floating like this it really feels like Travis's Soul has left his body and it is flying up to the sky the movie could have ended here but it carries ongoing it turned out that Iris returned to her home with her parents and Travis was praised for his heroism this already feels like a contrast to the tone of the rest of the film and that contrast continues when Travis seems to be back living his life like he normally would Betsy even shows up

it's such a contrast to everything else that it doesn't seem real just the fact Betsy would see Travis murdering a load of people as a reason to rekindle their potential relationship is absurd but I think this final moment of the film where Travis looks in the mirror and he doesn't see his reflection is very telling the intention of this I believe was to show that Travis is still untrustworthy he hasn't changed and he's probably going to find himself in the same spot again just the idea of him being unable to see himself it makes us

question things it's a great way to keep the audience Thinking by the time the credits roll taxi driver to me is a film about how loneliness can destroy your mind Travis's existence is pure self-destruction and only a lonely person can be like this if someone truly cared for Travis I think he could have been saved it would be selfish of Travis to not do any personal growth himself but it is true that Travis was who he was because of his loneliness Travis like everyone else is a product of their environment I think the one way

to remove yourself from what the world has shaped you into is to either acknowledge its negative effect on you and the negative effect you bring upon yourself or to move on and reinvent yourself Travis fails to do this because he legitimately feels like he is right and that there's nothing he himself has done wrong a person's relationship with the world is still heavily reliant on themsel a bit like a romantic relationship with a man or woman it's not going to work if you don't either love yourself or have the maturity to learn and grow together

I really do love this movie it changed my life because as a teenager I felt alone at school and I blamed others for my pain I believed that I'd be happier if I was accepted by those around me and even after school living a life that mainly consists of staying at home and never having relationships or connections to the outside world it was very easy to lose faith in the world and hate those who rejected me or didn't care to know me but Taxi taught me that it isn't their fault this hate from within it's

going to be there until you accept that you are you and everyone is who they are and there's nothing wrong with that if Travis had realized that happiness was a matter of self-fulfillment rather than projecting an idea of Happiness externally through his Pursuits Travis would have been happier Travis based his life on the world around him and if you gamble your happiness on your relationship with others rather than the relationship you have with yourself you're always going to have this self destructive sense of loneliness taxi driver was a movie that I related to as an

edgy teenager and as I got older I started to question why I found it relatable and I used that to grow up relating to characters like this is not a good thing this is mansplaining movies like the video subscribe and more importantly comment I'd love to hear any feedback what do you think of Taxi Driver I want to hear anything you've got to add let me know [Music] a