Paper rough draft

I couldn't find a submit button on Canvas, so this is here, at least for now. Peace.

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Robert Jaye

Professor John Lennon

ENG3113: Film as a Narrative Art

15 April, 2014

Taxi Driver and PTSD

The 1976 film, Taxi Driver, by Martin Scorsese, follows Travis Bickle, a lonely taxi cab driver in New York City who grows increasingly dissatisfied with the state of the city and nation. Eventually, he decides it is his duty to eliminate the “garbage” from society himself, and focuses his efforts on attempting to get a child prostitute, Iris, to go back home to her parents. Throughout the film, Travis becomes increasingly more unstable and dangerous. He hallucinates, has public outbursts, attempts to assassinate senator and presidential hopeful Palantine, and kills several people. It is apparent that Travis’s thought process is different from the average person’s. Travis Bickle’s actions and thoughts—and, by extension, the movie—can be better explained and understood when considering Travis’s atypical mental state. This is commonly assumed to be either post-traumatic stress disorder or abnormal behavior with no cause that is simply the result of Travis’s unqiue perspective. It is apparent from the context of the film that Travis Bickle is not a typical person, but does not have post-traumatic stress disorder.

The majority of viewers who notice Travis’s unusual mental state and analyze it accredit it to post-traumatic stress disorder. On the surface, this makes sense. Some victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (especially those whose stress was involved with their time in the

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military) may demonstrate similar characteristics to Travis. In popular media, post-traumatic stress disorder victims are often depicted as being disenfranchised by the government and the people of the country they return to from war. Another iconic example of a character that is a Vietnam War veteran and is driven into a violent, anti-societal rampage can be seen in the character John Rambo in the Ted Kotcheff-directed, 1982 film, First Blood. The realm of fiction often depicts sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder as the result of a tragic past event intended to explain a character’s brooding behavior. In real life, however, post-traumatic stress disorder is a far more specific disorder that Travis Bickle does not appear to have.

      The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV lists six stipulations that must be fulfilled to consider someone as having post-traumatic stress disorder. Travis Bickle does not demonstrate these stipulations. The first is an exposure to a traumatic event. Travis was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marines after his time spent serving in the Vietnam War. While it is possible that he witnessed or even participated in a traumatic event in the war, the film does not provide evidence to support this. Travis often wears his Marine jacket, showing his unwillingness to move past his military life. Travis is disgusted with modern American society. He preferred life as it was during his time in the military. If he experienced a great trauma during his service, he would likely try to escape from his past by integrating into society. The movie would then focus more on his attempts to adapt to a United States to which he was unaccustomed, rather than on his attempts to help people in society by eliminating those who he considers a detriment to society. He does not mention a trauma specifically or make a general statement that his time serving permanently altered his life in some way. While there are other sources of trauma than just war, such as genetic predispositions or abuse, none of these are

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mentioned or present in Taxi Driver, so his time in war is the only possible cause to reasonably declare as the source of a traumatic event Travis may have experienced. In fact, Travis’s military experience is far more relevant in the film as a way to explain his proficiency with weapons than as a way to explain his thoughts or behaviors. Writer Paul Schrader has stated that he decided to make Travis Bickle a Vietnam War veteran to emphasize of the trauma experienced by the entire nation. Travis is no more affected by the war than by any other character in the film, as they are all meant to act as if it impacted their lives in a way they can all relate to. Rather than distancing Travis from others, his time in the war was only a factor in the film to alert the audience that the America depicted was intentionally created with the national effects of the war in mind.

The second stipulation listed in the DSM-IV is a persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event. Travis never has flashbacks to any traumatic event. Being insomniac, he does not have reoccurring and distressing dreams. He does not react with intense negativity of physical distress at any mention of the military.

The third stipulation listed in the DSM-IV is a persistent avoidance or emotional numbing. This means that someone suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder is likely to avoid reminders of the trauma or situations that might lead to reminders of the trauma. They might not recall parts of the trauma or participate in significant life activities anymore. They will show less of a capacity for emotions and feel as though their future is constrained in ways others’ are not. This is the stipulation that Travis is the least representative of so far, as he actively reminds himself of his time in the military by wearing his Marine jacket often. He willingly prepares for and actively seeks out situations which give him an opportunity to be violent with people, carrying guns and a knife with him and attacking the brothel. He even practices with his

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weapons. His mohawk hairstyle has been interpreted by some as a symbol of his self-perceived similarities to the native Americans who fought against the expanding United States. It has also been seen as a reference to Vietnam War soldiers who wore their hair that way. Scorsese has confirmed the latter analysis, saying, "Magnotta had talked about certain types of soldiers going into the jungle. They cut their hair in a certain way; looked like a Mohawk... and you knew that was a special situation, a commando kind of situation, and people gave them wide berths ... we thought it was a good idea." In either case, Travis Bickle is taking great to care to remind himself of the military. If he had been involved in a traumatic experience in the military, he would not behave this way, as his inability to overcome the event would lead him to avoid thinking about it at all costs. Travis also does not forego major life activities. He engages in a rigorous exercise routine and a strict diet. He still spends time with his friends and makes and pursues his personal goals of purging New York City of “trash.” Travis is also not incapable of emotion. Though he shows difficulty relating to people, it is not on an emotional level. He feels sympathy for Iris, affection (and later, hatred) for Betsy, concern for his city, anger at prostitutes and gangsters, and pride in his work and resolve. Lastly, he does not act as though he feels like his future is constrained. During his conversation with the Wizard at 46:30, Travis says he wants “to go out and, you know, really do something.” It is implied that he meant the phrase, “go out with a bang.” He is uncertain of how to he wishes to die, but he knows he wants and can make it a significant event.

One stipulation deals with the duration of the symptoms. Symptoms that end before a month passes are more indicative of acute stress disorder.

           

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The only stipulation Travis exemplifies is the persistent symptoms of increased arousal. Travis is unable to sleep, is prone to outbursts, and has trouble concentrating on his friends because he is focusing on a hallucination.

The final stipulation is that any symptoms must lead to significant impairment of major life activities such as social interactions and occupational activities. Even the symptoms Travis does demonstrate do not impair his life activities. He works more than ever, working long hours six days out of the week, tries to start a romantic relationship with Betsy (albeit unsuccessfully), and spends several scenes eating with and talking to his friends.

In conclusion, Taxi Driver’s only contextual evidence that suggests that Travis Bickle suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder is that he served in the Vietnam War, which offers many possibilities for traumatic experiences, and that Travis is an insomniac who is incapable of forming meaningful relationships with most people. The symptoms he demonstrates do not drastically impair his social interactions, attempts at being intimate, or his occupational activities, and as such could be just as easily—if not more accurately—attributed to a different disorder, if any, such as schizotypal personality disorder, delusional disorder, or major depressive disorder. While his past in the Vietnam War leads many viewers to assume it was intended to make the audience connect Travis Bickle to the veterans who did return from Vietnam permanently changed, writer Paul Schrader has stated otherwise, saying that he intended to ensure audiences that the America depicted in the film was intentionally based on the national impact of the war. Schrader has also said that Travis has a “paranoid psychosis” intended to make his actions more “intense and threatening,” and that the national effects of the Vietnam War blended with this personality, as Travis drives around the changed America to feed

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his hatred. The common analysis asserting Travis Bickle behaves the way he does because he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder is inaccurate. Taxi Driver does not provide contextual evidence that supports the notion that this was the filmmakers’ intent and Travis’s behavior does not fulfill the stipulations of having the disorder, be it realistic or dramatized. Acceptance of this common analysis limits viewers’ capacity to develop their own conclusions about the causes of Travis’s behavior and, by extension, limits their understanding of the film.

Proposal: Taxi Driver; Travis Bickle has more than just PTSD.

11)      Travis Bickle, the protagonist of Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, Taxi Driver, has a specific and diagnosable mental illness in addition to his post-traumatic stress disorder.

22)      Everybody who sees Taxi Driver understands that Travis is “losing his mind”. It is often inferred that his violent attitude is purely a result of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, attributing this to Travis limits an audience’s understanding of the film. The movie draws a few parallels between Travis’s time in the war and his violent disposition, but there is no scene in the movie that indicates his goals are motivated purely by a subconscious desire to get revenge on the government he blames for the atrocities he witnessed or committed in war, punish the citizens of the United States who disrespected the troops upon their return, or any other actions typically associated with plots about post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers going on a murderous rampage.

While Travis’s time in the war was certainly influential to him, he clearly suffers from other mental conditions that drive him to the decisions he makes and his behavior, which ranges from eccentric to misanthropic to criminal. If Travis is psychoanalyzed, several possible diagnoses can be given and his actions, words, and choices can be understood more clearly than they could by attributing them to just post-traumatic stress disorder.

Several afflictions which may plague Travis Bickle in addition to his post-traumatic stress disorder include antisocial personality disorder, delusional disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, major depressive disorders, and/or several others, all with psychotic features.

33)      At the 57:52 mark, Travis begins writing in his journal and thus narrating. He describes his new exercise routine, diet, and other lifestyle changes, as well as his plans for freeing the streets of the people he considers garbage. He is shown to follow his new rules diligently and he is shown developing ways to conceal his various new weapons, practicing quick-drawing those weapons, and practicing intimidating and stylish things to say before killing people. As this is Travis’s internal monologue to himself, he is not putting on a façade for his friends, Betsy, Iris, or another person. He is revealing what makes perfect sense to him. His journal entries are pure, unfiltered glimpses into his psyche and what he considers normal, and as such are the best scenes to examine when trying to psychoanalyze Travis.

Pull My Daisy: Art Demonstrating Art.

Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie's 1959 short film, Pull My Daisy, is art exemplifying art. I was surprised to learn that Jack Kerouac wrote the source material and the adapted screenplay as well as provided narration. I feel like knowing about Jack Kerouac is necessary to understand my view of this film, so here's a very brief summary of Kerouac:
This guy...

...inspired beatniks...

...with his book, On the Road...

...which Kristen Stewart ruined the movie adaptation of...

So Jack Kerouac, unintentional inventor of beatniks (and by extension, hippies, hipsters, etc.), decided to "typify" the beatniks. Beatniks were (or are... I don't know if there are still beatniks)
 known for their interest in art. Slam poetry, Americans playing bongo drums, and more artistic styles were popularized by beatniks. They ever adopted the already existing cliche of wearing berets while being into art. The beatnik styles had similarities; they deviated from the norm. Rhythm and spontaneity were emphasized in their works.  

Pull My Daisy acts almost as an introduction to the beatnik lifestyle. The entire film was made to seem improvised, with erratic editing in unexpected places, such as around the 17:40 mark, and a narration by Jack Kerouac. Though the film was revealed to be not improvised in 1968 (thanks, Wikipedia!), I couldn't find anything stating Kerouac's narration wasn't improvised. The characters act like typical beatniks, playing music, discussing poetry, challenging ideas of religion, and so on. The main character's wife is even a painter. The film becomes a work of art imitating the beatnik style to show the beatnik style. It resembles a much older film thanks to film damage even though it was made in the late '50s, it has occaisionally surreal imagery interspersed with long scenes of normal (if introspective) conversations. The characters don't all have a goal, and the movie doesn't have a conflict beyond the individual things the bohemians want from each other and the bishop.

Pull My Daisy exemplifies the beatnik generation by joining it, becoming a work of art that embraces spontaneity and is an original and unexpected approach to the medium.

Dirty Harry, James Bond, and Travis Bickle

My favorite scenes of Martin Scorcese's 1976 film, Taxi Driver, feature Travis shortly after deciding to take action against the "scum" of New York City. His exercise routine, his homemade holsters, and his quick-draw practice are all fascinating to me. I'll stick with the best of these scenes, when Travis buys guns from the illegal arms and substances dealer Easy Andy. It's my favorite scene for two simple reasons. I like Easy Andy's voice and I think describing guns or describing things as if they were guns sounds really cool.

The scene has some moments that could be analyzed for hours... Travis aiming his new gun at people on the streets below, the idea of Travis consulting an arms and drug dealer to take out arms and drug dealers, Andy and Iris sharing the same nickname, etc. But I thought it would be more fun to examine each of the guns he bought individually and see how they tie into his more subtle personality traits. Obviously he makes his own sleeve holster out of a drawer slide and adds a boot-sheathed knife to his arsenal later, but this is the scene where he arms himself with enough lethal weaponry to take down, say, a small group of pimps and gangsters.

Anyone will tell you that some of the things Easy Andy says is inaccurate and that it is out of character for military veteran Travis Bickle to not notice when he's wrong. I am trying to analyze the filmmaker's intent and am therefore taking the movie's words as fact for now, even if it isn't always true.

.44 Magnum: $390 ($350 for the gun and $40 for the handmade holster). Easy Andy's description: "Stop a car at 100 yards, put a round right through the engine block... That's a beauty. I could sell this gun to some jungle bunny in Harlem for 500 bucks. But I take care to sell high-quality goods to the right people... This might be a little too big for practical purposes... the Magnum, you use that in Africa for killing elephants."

Travis pays the most for this hand cannon, and it is the most powerful of any of his new weapons. Easy Andy claims it can shoot through a car engine and kill elephants. Travis takes this because he feels he has a huge problem ahead that he needs heavy ordinance to confront. The gun is nearly impossible to conceal, especially without a holster. Travis takes it anyway because subtlety is not his goal. As his "We ARE the people" pin and mohawk later demonstrate, Travis is trying to make statement visually as well as through his actions. He would want people to see him as a figure of power.

The .44 Magnum is also the signature weapon of Dirty Harry, the murderous homicide detective from the eponymous 1971 film. Dirty Harry Callahan made the weapon famous for being "the most powerful handgun in the world" (at that time) and for using it kill criminals harshly and without mercy. Like Dirty Harry, Travis is trying to rid New York City (well, Dirty Harry was in San Francisco, but it's a big city, too) of the street crime, thugs, drug dealers, pimps, killers, etc. Revolvers were already a signature of Dirty Harry's star, Clint Eastwood, as he famously portrayed outlaws, lawmen, and several other "cowboy" roles in many Westerns. Travis sees himself as a Clint Eastwood character. His past is irreconcilable, he's gone so long without killing, but circumstances are dire and the city needs and outlaw to clean up the streets by putting bodies in the ground. The .44 caliber is iconic for its lethality and danger.

The camera shows the gun slowly, which I could analyze like Freud all day long. But let's move on.

.38 snub-nose: $250. Easy Andy's description: "Look at this. That's a beautiful little gun. It's nickel-plated, snub-nose, otherwise the same as a service revolver. It'll stop anything that moves. That .38, that's a fine gun. Some of these guns are like toys. That .38, you go out and hammer nails with her all day, come back and it'll cut dead center on target every time. It's got a really nice action to it. Heck of a wallop."

This is a glamorous gun, nickel-plating being the spinning rims of the gun world. Since it's akin to a service revolver (a revolver issued to the armed forces in the military), Travis is already familiar with it, which is why it is the weapon he chooses to put in his homemade sleeve holster for instant access and the only gun he aims at civilians while with Easy Andy. Yet another revolver, Travis's second favorite gun can also be seen as an extension of the cowboy persona he feels he has. As any first person shooter gamer will tell you, the snub nose sacrifices accuracy for easier concealment. While the .44 caliber is known for its power, the .38 is a more "standard" caliber of weapon, since it balances the power of a higher caliber with the discretion of, say, a .357 or something smaller.

To further emphasize my belief that Travis sees himself as the classic American heroic archetype, the cowboy, he practices quick-drawing his revolvers. The Western genre's most iconic cliche is the gun duel, wherein whoever is quicker on the draw is the one who lives to see another day.

Colt .25 automatic: $125. Easy Andy's description: "It's a nice little gun. It's a beautiful little gun. Holds six shots in the clip. One in the chamber. If you're dumb enough to put a round in the chamber."

I don't know much about this gun and could not find much about it. It's not a revolver, but it's still a six-shooter. I'm starting to get the sense that even though Travis Bickle put himself through a strict exercise and diet routine, all the while practicing his one-liners ("You talkin' to me?") and quick-draws and making new holsters, he is too shortsighted to get accustomed to firing guns with large magazines.

380 Walther: $150. Easy Andy's description: "Holds eight shots in the clip. That's a nice gun. Yeah, that's a beautiful little gun, look at that. During World War II, they used this gun to replace the P-38. Just given out to officers."

Oh, eight shots this time. Shows what I know. Anyway, this gun was reserved for officers originally. This and the aforementioned service revolver are symbolic of Travis taking the law into his own hands figuratively by taking law-enforcement weapons into his own hands literally.

The Walther is the signature weapon of James Bond, another iconic character who was licensed to kill. Travis believes he too is above the law, and that his actions will save American society, just as Bond's killing sprees save his country.


What is a jungle bunny?

What was up with that dog mask?

The dog mask spooked me. That's why I decided to talk about it. I couldn't upload it, but here is a link to the scene: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/248007/Killer-of-Sheep-Movie-Cilp-I-Wonder.html

The context of the scene is important. It is one of the many scenes in the 1977 (or 1979, or 2007, depending on your sources and criteria) Charles Burnett film, Killer of Sheep, that sees the protagonist, Stan, repairing his sink. His seemingly fruitless attempts at fixing a vital appliance in his home is very likely symbolic of his misguided effort to raise his children to be like him, which does not solve any of the family's core problems. The scene also follows one wherein Stan watched two people steal a television. Though he didn't let them go without a warning of being caught, he himself did nothing to try and stop them. This is because he always focuses more on his own family as the most important thing to worry about, even though it's allowing others to fall victim to the very circumstances he is trying to shield his family from.

After his friends asks if he's going to kill himself, Stan says he won't. His unwillingness to accept his poor financial standing and general downtrodden lifestyle is one of his admirable traits, though his stubbornness is also a curse, as it keeps him from being sympathetic towards others, even his children. When his kid arrives wearing a spooktacular dog mask, he jokes that he might kill him. He symbolically herds his children to their doom like the sheep in a slaughterhouse anyways, so his figurative consideration of killing them seems eerily in character.

While joking about murdering your children is a bit of a red flag in most cases to begin with, it is worse in this context because the child can see and hear him. Stan doesn't care whether his children understand why he says things or how they feel. The only reason he jokingly threatened to murder the kid is because she startled him, and he didn't even flinched, unlike I still do every time I watch that scene.

If anyone thinks they know why it was a dog mask specifically or why it was frightening, please let me know in a comment.

Sheepdog couldn't help from entering my mind.

I Liked Cicadas Before We Watched the Scene in Class.

Put on your fake glasses and step into my time machine. Let's go back to February 20th, 2014, 12:30p.m. Film as a Narrative Art Class. When we started discussing Two-Lane Blacktop, one of the most important scenes we discussed was the conversation about cicadas that occurred 31:23 into the movie. This upset me, as it likely meant that many people were going to discuss this scene in their blogs and mine would stand out less. You see, I wanted to talk about this scene before we were informed it was important, as I felt it was one of two scenes that should be discussed the most, the other being the ending, as these scenes were the only ones that didn't just hold my attention, but fascinated me.

If anyone is still uncertain as to the whether the 1971 Monte Hellman-directed road film was intentionally subersive of expected and well-loved road movie elements, the tagline on the movie's poster should remove all doubt. They have no goal, because "their world is a two-lane blacktop." The movie doesn't have an ending, because their world has "no end." How can it if it has "no beginning"? The film repeatedly does the opposite of everything expected of it.

Two-Lane Blacktop even subverts expectations one might have of it after understanding its attempts at subverting expectations. Instead of long, musical, wide panning shots, there are tight, noisy, almost boring shots from inside of the car, yes, but all of that works towards creating a sense of calmness, the hidden gem that is peace in being aimless. But then, near the end of the first act, the Driver tries to talk to the Girl about cicadas of all things.

"From left: Dennis Wilson, Laurie Bird, and James Taylor." So yes, I'm fairly certain it was the Driver talking in the cicada scene, for those of you who couldn't tell them apart (like I needed two views of the movie to do). He's wearing the same shirt in this picture as in the cicada scene.

The near constant noise in this scene is from cicadas, some of the loudest animals on the planet.
 For most of the movie, the cars are making constant noise. When the Driver asks if the Girl hears the cicadas, a car drives by in the background. The Driver is impressed with the critters' resilience, as they can survive for seven years underground, only surfacing to breed and then die. The cicada must crawl out of its skin first. This is a parallel to the road trippers' tendency to stay in their car, avoiding any responsibilities or goals in life until the Girl comes along, inspiring them with the mercilessly brief goal of sex. They must first stop and exit their car first, just as the cicada sheds its skin.

In other words...

=

The Driver is a man with no purpose trying to exit his comfort zone, talk to a woman, and have sex with her. Cicadas are bugs who spend years with no purpose before exiting their skin to try to have sex. Two-Lane Blacktop considers road trippers nothing more than people who have no real purpose outside of petty, temporary goals. The eyes of a cicada are bright like the headlights on a car, if you wanna get really into it.

Easy Rider: Meaning of "We blew it."

"We blew it," says Captain America in response to Billy's declaration of their trip to Mardis Gras as a success.

I did some research and it turns out that not only was the explanation of this line removed from the film, but Peter Fonda and Terry Southern both always refused to even offer clues as to its meaning. This indicates that the line is open ended, up for interpretation. While some may argue that the fact that the line is meant to be enigmatic defeats the purpose of analyzing it, I say that even more meaning can be gleaned from it.

Of all the potential meanings I researched, the following is the one I believe is most likely the correct meaning.

Captain America and Billy had failed a spiritual quest. Along their journey they encounter hospitable people who pray before dinner and remind them of proper manners (such as the rancher's family). Captain America remarks more than once on how impressed he is by the life they built there.

Later, on Sacred Mountain, a hitchhiker they picked up from a Sacred gas station chastises Billy for being disrespectful to their camping grounds. At the hippie commune, which is filled with playing, happy, laughing children, another prayer is held. Here they are invited to stay.

In spite of all the positive spirituality they encounter on the way, they trip on acid, pay prostitutes, and have a very unpleasant time as religious imagery flashes on the screen (meant to represent what they see during their bad trip).

Captain America is on a quest to find meaning, but every time he encounters evidence that there is something more to life than a gas tank full of drug money, he ignores it. He only realizes his mistake when it's too late, and is punished by fate with death for his failure to accept the offer

It is worth noting that the support for this potential meaning of the line, "We blew it," came in the form of evidence presented in an argument that this is a more conservative money than liberal. The spirituality is presented as a positive alternative, and family togetherness is presented in the rancher's house and the hippie commune, the rancher's house even having some traditional manners.