Blog: 5 Most Valuable Minutes- Research Practice

                                                                     06:06-12:50
I chose the very beginning of the film because it really characterizes the person that Travis Bickle is. It also shows how his everyday life seems to just be a living hell, as he lives and works on the unforgiving streets of New York. Throughout the film, it is visible that this environment really shapes who Travis Bickle is as a person, and how this everyday environment really affects him.

The beginning of the film displays Travis's life. It shows the job he works in, how he is a desperate person for love, and how he really doesn't know how to apply himself to formally greet people. In this shot, we see Travis driving what seems to be a man with his wife. We can see that Travis uncomfortably doesn't like what he does for a living, and doesn't appreciate how others treat him. The darkish tint to the shot also gives that gloomy appeal; this makes us, the audience, feel like Travis is living in an uncomfortable environment. This relates to the plot throughout the film because Travis has to drive a bunch of people that show him no respect, and he's force to live with it. This is a probable explanation as to why he is the kind of person that he currently is. This also show's the director's intent to show how Travis will eventually develop as a character. By showing these kind of scenes, it shows the worst of Travis, and how he's going to have to eventually develop to become a better person.

This scene also characterizes who Travis is as a person. Him drinking in public shows him as a person who doesn't abide by the usual standards of being normal. This also shows how he has a drinking problem; this is significant because it shows that he's weak. By drinking in public, it also shows that he's trying to drink away his problems, and he doesn't care what happens to him. The director's intent here, as previously state above, is that he wants to establish what kind of person Travis is, and how this characterization of him plays out throughout the film. 

These two scenes show Travis' Bickle's life without a female. In the top scene, it shows how he sadly tries to flirt with the cashier with the hope of getting her number, but eventually gets shut down. This also shows how he is a desperate person; he flirts with a person that he doesn't even know, and hopes that she'll respond to him with interest. This shows how the director wanted to depict Travis as this person that has to get what he wants in order to satisfy his needs. 

In the bottom scene, it shows how Travis is a even bigger desperate person. He watches porno's as a way to contemplate for his sorrow's in life. This also shows his desperate as he really wants to find love. These two scenes really show what kind of person Travis really is. He really wants to make an effort at finding love, however, he is inexperience in it, and has to result to watching porno's to make up for it.

This scene is a turning point in the begging of the story. Travis finally seems to found a women that could possibly satisfy what he is looking for. Once again, however, his inexperience as to how to approach a women properly is still not present. This makes him out a a creeper, and not suitable for the women. This shows the director's intent of really trying to show how this women would be his driving force to attempt to get better for a period of time. This is a big part of the film because Travis really tries to better himself to really impress this women, however, this is not evident later on in the film. This shot also shows how the lady works to support the future president. This foreshadows what Travis has to do in order to impress this woman.