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Miliora, Maria T., 1938- . Scorsese psyche on screen : roots of themes and characters in the films / Maria T. Miliora. 0786417633 (alk. paper) series Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2004
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.3.S39 M55 2004
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.3.S39 M55 2004
This book analyzes the roots of themes and characters in the films of Martin Scorsese. I focused on the analysis of Taxi Driver. The young Scorsese was angry with the church because its view on sex were not consistent with his experiences. In addition, Scorsese was also angry about women, which was very evident in his early films such as Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. The author compares Taxi Driver to other Scorsese films and points out their distinct similarities and analogous characters, such as Travis Bickle to Amsterdam Vallon from Gangs of New York. For Miliora, Taxi Driver’s main themes are about a man’s personal identity, psychology, and behavior having been conditioned by his roots or sense of place in the world. The author also discusses the juxtaposition of the two main female characters in Taxi Driver; Betsy and Iris. Miliora argues that Travis initially regards Betsy as angelic, a virgin, however, after she rejects him, he perceives her as dirty and impure, essentially a whore. On the contrary, Iris is the whore, whom Travis wants to be the savior of so she will become pure, or a virgin again. According to the author, another theme in Taxi Driver is the media’s depiction of heroes as Travis commits murder and yet is acclaimed as the hero at the end.
Miliora provides a solid analysis of Scorsese’s movies, including Taxi Driver, and presents new and compelling ideas about the film. The book deals heavily with Scorsese’s portrayal of masculinity and his characters’ obsession with phallic symbols. Travis is a typical Scorsese-esque phallic-narcissistic character, demonstrating his supremacy by using a gun as a way to symbolize his phallic superiority. This might explain why Travis goes berserk following Betsy’s rejection, since he can’t rationalize her dismissal and it challenges his phallic supremacy. Travis finally vindicates himself from Betsy’s rejection in a scene following the brutal ending when she gets in his cab and Travis shows no interest in her and maintains a rejecting attitude towards Betsy. He is now a “somebody”, recognized and affirmed as a real man, a courageous hero by the press.
Miliora provides a solid analysis of Scorsese’s movies, including Taxi Driver, and presents new and compelling ideas about the film. The book deals heavily with Scorsese’s portrayal of masculinity and his characters’ obsession with phallic symbols. Travis is a typical Scorsese-esque phallic-narcissistic character, demonstrating his supremacy by using a gun as a way to symbolize his phallic superiority. This might explain why Travis goes berserk following Betsy’s rejection, since he can’t rationalize her dismissal and it challenges his phallic supremacy. Travis finally vindicates himself from Betsy’s rejection in a scene following the brutal ending when she gets in his cab and Travis shows no interest in her and maintains a rejecting attitude towards Betsy. He is now a “somebody”, recognized and affirmed as a real man, a courageous hero by the press.
belongs to Taxi Driver Annotated Bibliography project
tagged martin_scorsese masculinity paul_schrader phallic_supremacy taxi_driver travis_bickle
by feldman5
...and 1 other person
...on 10-APR-08
Miliora, Maria T., 1938- . Scorsese psyche on screen : roots of themes and characters in the films / Maria T. Miliora. [0786417633 (alk. paper) ] Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., c2004
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.3.S39 M55 2004
Call#: Van Pelt Library PN1998.3.S39 M55 2004
This text deals extensively with Scorsese’s portrayal of masculinity and male sexuality throughout many of his films – specifically in Taxi Driver, it points to Travis Bickle’s rejection by the virginal Betsy as a major trigger in his descent into madness. Miliora focuses extensively on Travis’s perception of Betsy as a kind of savior from the filth that surrounds him, a pure figure who can help Travis to “become a person” if he can have intimacy with her. Yet precisely because he has not yet become “a person,” he is unable to communicate and is rejected.
Once rejected, Travis’s perception of her shifts such that she is no longer perceived as being “clean” like him, but “scum” just like everyone else. Miliora points to Betsy as a quintessential figure in Scorsese’s oft-used “Madonna-whore complex,” who becomes filthy in Travis’s mind after she rejects him. His response is to become a kind of redeemer-messiah figure, trying to save an actual whore, Iris, by violently delivering her from her prostitution. Though this attempt is obviously misguided and pathological, it inadvertently gets Travis what he wants. At the end, when he sees Betsy again, he is able to reject her because he no longer needs her.
In Miliora’s analysis, Travis is an archetypal figure in Scorsese’s treatment of gender relations, providing a blueprint for many of his later characters, all of whom are informed by a kind of “failed masculinity” that rose to the public consciousness following the return of the armed forces from Vietnam. This is probably one of the better texts on the gender issues side of Scorsese’s films generally, particularly as it applies to the post-Vietnam sense of alienation that figures so prominently in Taxi Driver.
belongs to Taxi Driver Annotated Bibliography project
tagged 1970s alienation cinema_scorsese scorsese taxi_driver urban_western vietnam violence
by jmweed
...and 1 other person
...on 06-APR-06