Travis Bickle

I understand theres racial undertones, based on the original script, but for me he wasn't racist.

I really like the character

I dont understand why he wanted to kill senator

Man vs his environment

This movie resonates especially with anyone who grew up in a dangerous area, or just any large metropolitan city. It is the nightmare of all people who hate the big cities.

The underbelly of society not shown on tv

Stripping away the beautiful D.P and Directing, just in terms of the character in script

1) The fact that we catch him in a low point in his life.

2) We understand him so completely, that most of his actions seem rational, and in their rationality, justified

3) If we take a step back, we can see his loneliness feeds his depression, and his depression magnifies his feeling of being at war with his environment. However, his feelings are more than that

4)You think that actually, maybe how he is feeling is real and justified, and other people, too plugged into the matrix do not realise it.

5) Remember he is a Vietnam Vet. His career has taught him that he is a vessel for the axiom that violence is the answer to problems.

6) so his descent into madness is kind ofa rational reaction to an unchanging evil landscape, where his loneliness frees him of being responsible to anyone else and allows him to act based on his morality.

7) In his setting and landscape, if you refuse to believe he is racist, he is giving an accurate portrayal of what he sees.

8) There is a scene where he recoils from the black taxi driver. Can we say this is racism in the way we caricature it? Well we can agree he is mentally unstable. I would define true racism as an irrational dislike of a race, from a sound mind. So this is why I cant hate the character. To use a palatable metaphor; if you have been to a zoo, and noticed the tortoises are violent, you would have a dislike of tortoises. That is how travis is with black people.

9) His job, and history of sacrificing for his country, makes him more vulnerable to what he sees around him.

10) He is an anti-hero

11) His taking of a date to a porno can be seen in two ways, maybe it is a way to show his mental illness, that he is unable to follow any societal norms. Or perhaps, it is his unwillingness to lie or dance the normal charade of dating- he cuts with straight honesty as to who he is. It is also possible a show of depsite his best intentions, his environment has encorached upon him, and put its imprint upon him.