Movies Analysis Essay on Taxi Driver, Manhattan and the Downtown 81

Introduction

There have been high levels of inequalities that have been rampant currently in our major cities. This has been basically as a result of the corresponding decline in the respective cities public services as well as the issue of the 'white flight'. The truth of the above statement has been revealed clearly from the films Taxi driver, Manhattan and the Downtown 81 where the issue has been expounded in the various scenes. Every film, in this case, have specific scenes where the actions of the characters show how the issue of white flight and the public cities service decline have led to high cases on discrimination and inequalities in various towns.

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The film of Taxi Driver, for instance, being an American neo-noir psychological thriller film has been set in a decaying as well as a morally bankrupt New York City after the war in Vietnam. In this film, the story mainly majors on the story of a lonely veteran who had been working as a driver in a taxi firm. The driver descends into the insanity in his quest to assassinate both the presidential candidate who has always infatuated woman working for him and also the pimp of the prostitute he befriends who is underage (Taubin, 2000). In the film the taxi driver, there are major thematic as well as the character concerns that brings out the element of inequalities in New York City in a more vast way. In a certain scene, the aspect of the white flight in the city is brought about when Travis stares down a group of African Americans. In this instance, prior to the shot, the adolescents from the Africa American group boisterously walk past Travis where despite this, he locks eyes with the leader of the pack. This he does while scrutinising intensely and castigating implicitly into the group. Out of this, it can be seen that out of his discriminative nature, he becomes less accommodative in the group, which is depicted by the facial expression (Taubin, 2000). This shot can be presumed to be the product of Steadicam use, which critically focuses on the response of the driver to the young African men. Therefore, the aspect of the excessive decline in the public service arising from the aspect of discrimination is seen through the unmitigated loathing the diver Travis had for the young African American men.

From the scene, the power of the shot is derived out of the quiet, pent-up rawness of it. Besides the many encounters with the African American characters, the taxi driver, Travis only shouts one word before shooting the robber, killing him in a convenience store. It is noted that the Travis mind oriented to the white flight as can be termed and the discriminative nature to the African American boys arises from his burgeoning prejudice which is notably the result of his low education background. In this scene, therefore, the driver Travis states his happiness with working 'anywhere anytime' which is an ironic statement as he fails to give the public service to the African American men. As a result, he takes a white flight to Queens, Harle, and also the Bronx where criminality is rife. The driver is revealed not to be immune psychologically to the bad New York elements, and out of that, he asserts his condemnation to the African American men many times even throughout the film.

Also, the case of the white flight and the decline of public service in the cities has been portrayed in the film of Manhattan. The film mainly conveys the aspect of the white flight in the sense that several years before its setting, there was a lot of discrimination of people from various nationalities. In the film, the message incorporated therein is purely straight forward in the story of love and loss among the residents of New York City. The incredibility of the film has been because of its misc.-en-scene (Nichols, 2000). The misc.-en-scene of Manhattan can be expounded as the love letter to the city of New York where in it there is a critical description of the spectacle making it and so unapologetically worship it. The first scene in this film is of great importance as this is where the element of the white flight and inequalities in the city come about. The scene sets the movie's stage with its epic soundtrack recalling the roaring 20s a golden age in the Network city.

In the city, Woody Allen struggles in his relationship with women while staying there. In this case, there is a big deal of discrimination where he tries to show inequality in love by love another wife more than his ex-wife. The ex-wife forges a fight with him to in his quest to stop her in her publication of the embarrassing book about their marriage, which was considered as a failed marriage. Due to his failure in the city, Woody Allen gets another woman Tracy who also falls for him as well. Besides, he also finds another one who was his best friend Yale who goes through an ex-marital affair and out of this, Allen falls for her again. This incidences, therefore, portrays clearly how Allen has terribly failed in the city by his failure of making the best decisions on who to choose. This is actually symbolic of what is morally affecting the cities in society today. The film explores mainly on modern love with its poignant and subtle dialogue which puts the craftsmanship of Allen on full display. From the scene, it is thematically expressed that Allen sticks with his trademarks, but aesthetically, it is totally a deviation for him.

Allen's character to emphasize more on the white flight, he brings a narration of the introduction to a book relating to a certain character who had a great love for New York City. In the narration, he manages to bring in the aesthetic of the city. "He adored New York City...he romanticised it all out of proportion. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white, and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin." (Bailey, 2016). In the film of Manhattan, the elements of the inequalities as well as the white flight, are quite elusive and has been conveyed through the theme of love in the city. This, therefore, creates a good basis of concluding how there has been a rise in the public service decline which is clearly contributed by men, in this case, Isaac concentrating to women instead of becoming the light and becoming a source of transformation in the New York City (Bailey, 2016). Hence the moral decay in the societies in the various cities has been brought about by such aspects of behaviour.

Besides, the film Downtown 81 has brought out the truth of the above theme, which are seen in its scenes where some characters fail in their duties while living in the cities. To film mainly entails the young artists' life jean Michael Basquiat who is in dire need of raising money for the reclamation of his apartment from which he had been evicted. This manner in which he was evicted in the scene is a clear indication of the insensitivity to other people's ways of lives in the cities. The man is found wandering in the downtown streets carrying a painting, which he was hopeful of selling it (Holman, 2001). In his struggle to make the sale of the paint, he finally found a wealthy woman who buys the paint. The woman completes the transactions by cheese. This is how other people have a difference in the major big cities. The act of Jean Michael to sell his paintings for survivals reveals how people who have been discriminated and looked down upon in town underwent suffering in the life journey. Out of the low cash he got, he spends the whole evening hovering from club to club in search of a beautiful girl whom he had earlier on met (Beatrice) (Holman, 2002). This would give him a place to take refuge for the night. Finally, jean happens upon a bag lady who turns into a princess when he decided to kiss her. Therefore from this film scene, it is evidenced through jean that, people in the public service have failed in their role of offering services to the public. This, in turn, directly or indirectly results in a great deal of the 'white light'.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is, therefore, true from the analysis of the films above, i.e. Taxi driver, Manhattan and the Downtown 81 that the white flights as well as the corresponding decline in the public services which could have contributed a lot to inequality in the cities today. These three films have a lot of thematic concerns that aims to alleviate the kind of civil discrimination existing in the country today.

References

Bailey, P. J. (2016). Manhattan film analysis by Woody Allen. University Press of Kentucky. https://www.scribd.com/document/164296022/Film-Analysis-of-Woody-Allen-s-Manhattan

Holman, M. (2001). Video: Downtown 81. Art Monthly (Archive: 1976-2005), (252), 51. https://search.proquest.com/openview/2fadfa40fe802bc95e645d43c65a5617/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2026363

Nichols, M. P. (2000). Reconstructing Woody Manhattan video: Art, love, and life in the films of Woody Allen. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. https://wp.wwu.edu/robbiesrants/2016/10/06/an-analysis-of-manhattan-1979/

Holman, A. A. (2002). Downtown 81: A Tribute to Jean Michel Basquiat. Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, 16(1), 107-108.

Taubin, A. (2000). Taxi Driver. British Film Institute. https://2015.acmi.net.au/acmi-channel/2016/10-great-shots-in-martin-scorsese-taxi-driver/