05-08-2003, 06:24 PM
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#14 (permalink)
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Junkie
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Quote:
Originally posted by l_o_c
Schrader was big into comparing Asian societies to America at the time-he said that in Asia, if a man goes crazy, he draws the shade and takes his own life; in America he goes out the door at shoots as many people as he can. This defines that point in time, which was very violent.
Originally, Keitel's character (and everyone at the end) were going to be black. There was so much racial tensions, riots were feared. Scorsese made the characters white, which minimizes some of Bickle's racism. Bickle is still clearly a racist, but the topper is a little more blurry. Bickle was going to kill somebody because he wasn't mentally right (Vietnam); he just happened to pick the right person in society's view to kill. Contrast this with the shooting of the robber. He again picked the right person to kill, but he just didn't bother to stick around to be caught. This forshadows the ending, when not only will a shop keeper reward him, but all of the community.
The theme of society approved violence coarsed through many of the major films of the '70's. Straw Dogs, Dirty Harry, Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange, and others all dealt, in some way, with the idea of violence and it's place in society. This was most likely due to the violent Vietnam war, which took 2 million civilians.
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Very interesting. Although I've always considered myself to be pretty keen with movies and their meanings, I can tell that I'm in need of a few college level courses to brush my skills up, thats for sure 
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