A question about the end of Taxi Driver

There is an ambiguity in the ending that the creators did acknowledge.  I think it was either Scorsese or Schrader that said it was left vague as to whether or not she really gets in his car at the end, or if that's just a fantasy, because you only see her in the rear view mirror up until she gets out, and then you see Travis give the mirror that look...

Also, another thing to keep in mind is that Paul Schrader said the film was about loneliness, and if anything the "He died at the end" theory seems like more of a cop out ending than the other way around... To quote the screenwriter yet again, "the ultimate tragedy is that he survives at the end".

Its sort of a complicated flick, where you discover more and more the more you watch it, and the ending is one of the stranger parts no doubt.  I think a lot of people use the "he died and the end of the movie is wish fulfillment/ his final thoughts" as a way of making sense of such a jarring twist ending, especially now, as whenever there is a surprising ending in a movie it is accompanied by an altered reality (ie. Shutter Island).

But also, it is pretty ambiguous, which is nice. You can't say anything in the movie happens exactly like you see it because it's all through Travis' warped perspective, but at what point is questioning the reality of film events just ridiculous speculation, like "what if the whole part where he has a mohawk is just fantasy"...there are really no definitive answers either way, other than the film maker's words, and who knows, maybe they're both lying?

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Originally Posted by Bailey 

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Originally Posted by rise above if what people are saying is true about travis dying at the end then that makes this a much better film. i hated the ending maybe that is becuase i jusr did not get it. one second he is trying to kill the mayor and the next he is killing pimps and he is hero. if he died then that would make the story so much better

killing sport was not much different to his thwarted (and perhaps impotent) attempt to kill palantine. one was a substitute for the other. the only difference was the way it was viewed by society (and, from the sound of it, you) travis was obviously no better than the scum he talked about, and in the end he hadn't changed a bit. what does the fantasy version of the ending accomplish other than to drive home the fact that travis really was disturbed- something that was already obvious.

on the other hand, having travis live and us see the consequences of his actions play out (namely, that there were no consequences) shows that we are all living in a world that can, depending on the circumstance, not just stand for but actually endorse this violence. far more than just a indictment of the media glorifying violence, it makes us all complicit in travis' depravity.

You summed it up quite well there. He's just as much the violent psychopath, if not more so given that he actually acted on his impulse with the pimps, but because said violence lead to something that can be romanticized as a form of heroism (the girl being saved), Travis' actions can be applauded by some. He's esentially the sociopath who planned to shoot up his work one day but through circumstance, ended up pointing that murderous rage at a pack of loathsome criminals instead of his co-workers. He's labeled "courageous" by virtue of oppportuinty.

Part of the jarring beauty of the movie is Travis's dreamlike point of view.  Taxi Driver is my favorite movie because of how unlike a movie and more like an actual subjective experience of real life it is.

And speaking of Taxi Driver, avatar/saying, Bailey. o_0

Travis is a highly impressionable character, an outsider to the world.  Possibly mentally scarred from Vietnam and just trying to fit in, I think he is almost at a blank state. In the end the newspapers lead him to belief that he is a hero, when in fact Travis is whatever you want him to be. The entire film he takes subtle suggestions, lets them consume his character and holds onto them desperately. His cab friend suggesting he own a gun, the man about to murder his wife with a 44 magnum which he buys later, the idea of murder from the man about to kill his wife, becoming a supporter of Senator Palantine without knowing a thing about him. As he says to the pimp criticizing his appearance, "I'm hip." Then he goes out and cuts his hair.. Even the romanticized relationship he wants with Betsy; a subtle suggestion from the soap operas he watches on television. Travis is battling supposedly two different worlds, the world deemed normal with the nicely dressed and seemingly civilized people organizing a campaign for Senator Palantine, and the other battle is the world of the streets and the slums. The difference is if Travis had killed Palantine, he would have been deemed crazy but instead kills the pimp and is praised a hero. The act of murder is the same either way, just viewed differently by the world and the media. To him, there is no difference. All the animals come out at night. He is indeed alive in the end and he is whatever you want him to be.