Jeffrey Lau

Sociology 1

May 21, 2017

Taxi Driver Analysis

Taxi Driver is a 1976 film directed by Robert Deniro which follows the life of Travis

Bickle, a former Vietnam War veteran suffering from insomnia, as he gets a job as a taxi driver

and the changes in his person and views as time goes by and various events occur in his life. At

first Travis keeps his negative thoughts about New York to himself, but he ends up falling in

love with a girl named Betsy. Unfortunately, due to his unusual personality and poor choice of

date nights, Betsy decides against their relationship, which devastates Travis. Fueled by the

anger of rejection and disgust of what he views as the degradation of society, Travis becomes

determined to change New York. His original goal was to acquire fame by assassinating Senator

Palantine, a popular presidential candidate. However, Travis doesnt succeed in his goal and ends

up trying to save a poor girl named Iris, from her pimp. He succeeds with this endeavour and is

praised by the news as a savior of an innocent girl, winning him fame and a positive reaction

from the public. Betsy even offers to give their relationship another shot, however Travis rejects

this chance, leaving the viewer to interpret his motive.

Through the lens of a functionalist perspective, Travis Bickle appears to be part of a

society that is stable and well integrated, but is a dysfunctional member of it. His traits and

behaviors are unlike those of his peers, and ultimately his decision to challenge the norms of

society fails and he ends up fulfilling his role. When Travis took Betsy to unusual date night

spots and attempted to kiss her seemingly out of nowhere, he deviated away from traditional
social norms when doing so. Furthermore, he attempted to deviate from his social role as a taxi

driver, opting instead to attempt to become an assassin. Overall, through a functionalist

perspective, Taxi Driver would be a movie that showed the negative effects of one not fulfilling

their role in society and how the main character would have been punished if he had chosen to

proceed with his original plans to assassinate the Senator.

Changing perspectives from functionalist to conflict however, the situation becomes

much different. Through this perspective, Travis Bickle is at the bottom of the social groups and

is in conflict with those in power. He seeks to challenge this power by committing a murder and

through his actions, society will change for the better. Laws are clearly shown to restrain the

lower classes from breaking away from societal norms in place by punishing those who choose

to do so severely. Travis is a poor taxi driver living in a tiny New York apartment with little

wealth, and thus is seen negatively by those in other classes. Overall, a conflict perspective

would see Taxi Driver as a movie about the struggles of a working class man who has had his

mental health degraded by the things he sees and endures in his everyday life and attempts to

lash out at the social order.

Finally, according to the interactionist perspective, Travis is motivated by his interactions

with the people around him. His passengers tend to be those who do are outcasts of society,

druggies, prostitutes, and gang members. His passengers influence his perception of society as

being rotten, rude, and lacking any moral standards. Rejection by Betsy has caused him to

believe that others in higher social standing dislike him, and thus reject him and group him with

the rest of the poorly perceived people that he too dislikes. Therefore, Travis is motivated to

attempt to gain notoriety through terrible means because his interactions with others has caused
him to believe that adhering to social norms is ridiculous. Taxi Driver would therefore be seen

through the lens of an interactionist perspective as a story of someone who has had many

negative interactions with other members of society which has caused him to become dissatisfied

with the current social status and seeks to change it even through highly immoral means.

The perspective that is most represented in the movie Taxi Driver would be the

functionalist perspective. In the movie, society is seen as stable with very little need for change.

However, Travis Bickle is an outlier who is not properly fulfilling his role and is thus a detriment

with his original goals. However, since he ultimately changed them to conform with those in line

with society, he is seen and celebrated as a hero.