October 8, 2020
Martin Scorsese's movie, the "Taxi Driver," is a highly elevated and famous masterpiece
as he presents the exciting look of the 70's New York trough Travis cab's windshield. The
substantial contracts, blurred lights, streets, and moving frames create a powerful image and
present the movie's look (Rothman, 2016). The Taxi Driver is represented through Travis Bickle,
the main character, a taxi driver who was once a war veteran in the Vietnam War. Travis takes
all taxiing at all times in the New York city without discrimination ("Taxi Driver (1976) –
IMDb," 2020). On the other hand, "Joker" presents the Gotham City with a mentally troubled
comedian Arthur Fleck who is mistreated and disregarded by society. He then embarks into
bloody crime and a downward spiral of revolution, making him meet the Joker's alter-ego. These
two movies have themes of crime presented in various scenes.
Crime is evident when Arthur Bremer in the Taxi Driver movies shoots George Wallace in May
1972 as Wallace was campaigning for the nomination of the Democratic presidential. The
Southern segregationist candidate remained paralyzed from the attempted assassination. This
event was a familiar and shocking one for the nation that had seen various killings motivated by
politics. After the trial of Bremer that August, a second crime scene emerges where he had first
attempted to assassinate President Nixon and also had George McGovern on the kill list ("Taxi
Driver (1976) – IMDb," 2020).
Furthermore, the crime of bribery in this movie when Harvey Keitel "Sport" bribes Travis
not to say anything about how he handled his Iris, a prostitute who had escaped him. In another
case, the taxi driver guns down a thief in a run-down grocery store. After being advised by the
sympathetic club owner to flee, Travis goes ahead and hits the stickup man with a steel pole to
death. Finally, after failing an assassination attempt on Senator Palantine, Travis goes to Sport's
apartment, where they argue and end up shooting him in the belly. Travis storms into the brothel
and blows the bodyguard's handoff. At the same time, Sport follows Travis and grazes him on
the neck with a bullet who unloads one of his guns and kills him. After the screaming bouncer
follows the taxi driver, Travis reshoots him as Iris' mafioso customer sends a bullet into Travis's
arm, who, in return, shoots her on the face. The bouncer still follows Travis, who then stabs him
and kills him by a shot to the brain ("Taxi Driver (1976) – IMDb," 2020).
Turning to the "Joker" crime is evident when Arthur Fleck, who works as a "clown-for-
hire" for Ha-Ha's, smashes a sign on the face of a teen who had snatched his sign as he
performed and then kicked him while lying on the ground. Arthur is beaten off after he meets
three thugs harassing a woman who ends up mocking his laughter. In return, Arthur retreats by