Term Paper on "Same but Different--Taxi Driver and Collateral"

Term Paper 7 pages (2796 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Makes no difference to me," says Travis early in the film's narration. The divisive issue of race is used to illustrate Travis's own aloofness: he is adrift, without any sort of attachment to any sort of preconceived notion or prejudice. The painful moment when he applies for the job and the hirer asks, "Education?" And Travis responds with a look of bottomless sadness, "Some…here and there," shows that this is a poor kid (aged 26) who hasn't been given the tools to actually mature -- though he has been given the tools to kill (he's a Vietnam veteran with an honorable discharge). Violence is real in Taxi Driver, not just a vehicle out of which a hero can emerge, as is the case in Collateral. Scorsese's picture is about the devastating effect of senseless violence, of violence without honor or principles, of violence without nobility. When Travis explodes with violence at the end of the film it is a moment of the outcast, forgotten child of a decade, of a century -- an orphan of the modern world -- responding in the only way he knows how to the brutal night life (and day life) of New York City, and, in fact, of the whole world. His response is a definitive "No." And mad he may be when he explodes, but so too is Hamlet mad when he kills Polonius. Both characters rise again from their madness. Travis, at the end of the film, is a man who has been purified by blood. To a lesser (as in less authentic) extent, Max in Collateral is the same. The only difference is the depth of meaning, of feeling, and of vision.

If Collateral is cinematic efficiency, Taxi Driver is cinematic commentary. It is the looking glass held up to the world. It is a reflection of what has been and a portend of what is to come. Michael Mann captures the coyotes crossing the streets at night in L.A. And it is an honest moment in an otherwise conventionally-driven crime film. Scorsese captures harrowing moment after harrowing moment, each one almost too shattering to be endured -- which is why the Endurer (Travis Bickle) does what he does. Al-Sayyad describes New York as a city where the American Dream (so it is believed) can be captured (171). Bickle is not so conventional that he believes in such a Dream. He keeps a diary of his thoughts. He records his introspection. He is not conventional. He is looking, seeing, observing, waiting. He is beyond longing. And yet -- he isn't. His appreciation for beauty, for innocence -- this is what saves him, just as it is what saves Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. Just as it is what saves Stephen Chow's character in Kung Fu Hustle, or Fellini's "other self" in 8 1/2. The need to retain some sense of innocence and purity is what drives the films of Terrence Malick. It is what motivates the doctor to fudge the autopsy report at the end of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's masterful Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. It is a universal theme in world cinema -- only here, in the gritty American landscape, it is depicted in a shattering way, similar to the shattering felt in the Korean film Oldboy.

The taxi motif in both films serves as a place of education -- a sort of moving confessional at times. It is where Bickle meets the unnamed passenger whose violent rant fascinates him and inspires him. It is where Max learns of the hypocrisy of a world that cries over one murder because it sees it happen yet does not flinch at the murder of hundreds of thousands (as in Rwanda, says Vincent with obvious righteousness) because it does not "see" them. It is a place of learning and growing and it acts as a kind of cocoon for the protagonists of both films -- protection against the city. In the cab, they are relatively safe (which is perhaps the real reason Max has never followed through on his ambitions to be a limousine fleet owner -- he is too comfortable where he is). It is only when they venture outside of the cab into the real world, or when the real world steps into their cabs, that they are forced to respond. As Al-Sayyad states, "When Travis is shown driving his cab, he also appears like a prisoner, isolated behind its windows that are smeared with filth from the city's streets" (185). It is telling that the film begins with Travis applying for the job: one senses that he is in search of connection -- yet his very search only leads him deeper into himself; the reason being that it is not possible for the "innocent" to connect to anything in the city. Everything, even the angelic Betsy, has an agenda. It is the "agenda" that Travis must break through in order to establish a meaningful presence among the city dwellers.

In Collateral, the psychosis is far less threatening. Max has simply allowed himself to become complacent. He has not reached out to attain the American Dream (which Scorsese skewers in Taxi Driver: a vision of a city filled with immigrants all trying to hold on to some "American" fantasy, but only really ever getting nightmare after nightmare). Mann merely provides the genre formula needed to elevate Max out of his "everydayness" to his full potential as a heroic character. The arc is upward -- and through the goal posts. The arc for Travis Bickle is downward, in a spiraling fashion, like a plastic toy being flushed down the toilet, observing the bowl as it goes round and round, down and down. Only when the toy gets clogged in the pipe does it realize it has the means of getting out: it comes with a self-destruct trigger. That Travis is not allowed to kill himself at the end and, in fact (ironically), is hailed as a hero and even given a later smile of benevolence from the angelic Betsy shows that the "mean streets" are not just ugly, they also have a sardonic sense of humor. If Collateral shifts into melodrama in the third act, Taxi Driver shifts from pathos into bathos.

In terms of world cinema, both contribute strongly: Collateral marks a fine entry into the crime film genre, balanced in proportion by the Hong Kong school of neo-noir. Taxi Driver marks a fine entry into the school of realism (which Scorsese grew up watching on his television -- films like Open City and La Strada) -- one that would certainly make his progenitors proud. Scorsese gave a jolt to the cinema verite with his contribution, and Mann built upon his solid body of work with this ode to neo-noir and, in a way, to the realism of Scorsese's film, which set the bar more than thirty years prior.

Works Cited

Al-Sayyad, Nezzar. Cinematic Urbanism. NY: Routledge, 2006. Print.

Ceylan, Nuri Bilge, dir. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. Turkey: Cinema Guild, 2011.

Film.

Chan-wook, Park, dir. Oldboy. South Korea: Show East, 2003. Film.

Chow, Stephen. Kung Fu Hustle. Hong Kong: Columbia Pictures, 2004. Film.

Coen, Joel, dir. Miller's Crossing. LA: 20th Century Fox, 1990. Film.

Dominik, Andrew, dir. Killing Them Softly. LA: Weinstein Company, 2012. Film.

Fellini, Frederico, dir. 8 1/2. Italy: Cineriz, 1963. Film.

Fellini, Federico, dir. La Strada. Italy: Trans Lux, 1954. Film.

Jones, E. Michael. Is Notre Dame Still Catholic? IN: Fidelity Press, 2009. Print.

Mann, Michael. Collateral. LA: Dreamworks, Paramount, 2004. Film.

Mast, Gerald. A Short History of the Movies. NY: Pearson Longman, 2006. Print.

Rossellini, Roberto, dir. Open City. Italy: Excelsa Film, 1945. Film.

Scorsese, Martin, dir. Goodfellas. LA: Warner Bros.,… READ MORE

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