[Post Modern Hollywood] Analyze a Movie

The film Taxi Driver (1976) was directed by Martin Scorsese. Its plot was authored by Paul Schrader and cast renowned stars such as Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd and Jodie Foster. Its plot revolves around a young mentally unstable man who is a war veteran. At the time, he is working in the New York City as a taxi driver where the ostensible decadence and sleaze fills him with an urge to become violent. Despite his unstable violent condition, the driver attempts to save a prepubescent prostitute who has trouble at the city. The film is a phenomenon production and an all-time classical film of the 1970s. Taxi Driver among other productions of the 1970s has contributed immensely to the state of film production present in Hollywood today where sexuality, violence and uncensored verbal content have turned key elements in theater production, and in turn it generating moral degradation and violence in the society.

The film among others in the same period set the stage to the movie production present in Hollywood today. Primarily, the film was shot at a time when directors were attempting to test the ice of a new era in film production in the United States. At the time, the society only had access to films with mild violence and intensely censored verbal content. The Taxi Driver like numerous other films at the time took film screening to the next level by showcasing violent behavior and sexually explicit content in its composition. This made some film analysts to depict Paul Schrader’s production as a sociological horror story.

Travis Bickle, acted by Robert De Niro, is a hermit who comes from a different location. Travis makes efforts to start his life afresh by obtaining a job as a taxicab driver in Manhattan. During the day, he takes short naps, takes drugs to calm down, consumes peach brandy and goes to watch pornographic films. He is often afraid that he might be having stomach cancer since his headaches keep getting worse. The character depiction of Travis in the film is that of a person, who is violent, abuses drugs and enjoys watching sexual explicit content at the movies. It is as if Martin Scorsese production was pushing these factors to be accepted as fashionable attributes in a society that already rebuffed them. Nevertheless, after the success of the film Taxi Driver attained, the otherwise considered socially wrong behaviors increased their popularity among the youths in the United States.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Hollywood faced a rough period of financial crisis and artistic depression. Nevertheless, the decade turned out to be the creative high point of the United States’ film industry. Restrictions previously imposed in regard to sexuality, violence and adult content loosened up. The elements also became more widespread in the American film industry. This in turn triggered the hippie movements, spirit of free love, emergence of rock and roll, drug use and changing gender roles. Hollywood was reborn with these phenomenon new changes which were otherwise absent after the flop of the studio system. The Taxi Driver was one of the numerous films created in light to the new film creation developments.

The 1970s counter-culture in the film industry influenced Hollywood to take more risks and experiment with the young generation filmmakers. This made the old Hollywood acting professionals and old-style acting moguls to face out the industry. New Story telling techniques were adopted and filmmakers paved way for more meaningful artistic film creating ideas. The new revolution in the film industry received accolades all over the globe. It is a plausible fact that the revolution contributed immensely in shaping how the film industry is to this day. The Taxi Driver scenes depict a close resemblance to today’s film industry shakers like Ghost Rider (2007) which was directed by Mark Steven Johnson.

In the 1970s, the art of Motion Pictures flourished in Hollywood. The themes of numerous films revolved around the growing energy crisis at the time, increasing drug use and questioning of politicized spirit among the young generation. They also depicted the lunacy of war as well as the dark side of the preexisting American dream. The Taxi Driver showcased scenes of adult content depicting sexuality as a socially acceptable component among the young generation. Such films pushed further the films produced in the 1950s-1960s that had the theme of morality strongly embedded in the creation. In the latter films, sexually explicit content and drug usage were mostly censored from public view.

One of the major reasons why many studios adopted the new wave in film creation was because of the fallout they had with their previous productions. The 1970s proved to be a benchmark for cinema both as a business and art. Young filmmakers were ready to take greater film production risks regarding sexuality lifting, as well as language. This gave a way to the creation of some of the most financially successful films, like the Taxi Driver, since the golden era. Films produced shortly before the 1970s flopped leaving studios with serious financial deficits. Among such films were The Strawberry Statement, Bankable Stars, The Graduate and Tora! Tora! Tora!.

To avoid being defaced out of business, producers had to adopt the new style of film production. This is evident in today’s film industry. Over 60 percent of the films produced today have explicit adult content and depraved verbal content used in them. Today, some films have drug usage showcased as a leitmotif of fashion statement among the young generation. Censorship of such content is no longer a prerequisite and most of the films are available to the public at the local film stores. The producers of such movies normally label the age view limit of all the films as a compliance to the states’ films production statutes. Nevertheless, this does not restrict the access of such films to the public.

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