Vigilantism In The Film Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver

The book of John quotes Jesus as saying, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.” The notion he put forth is that no one is without sin, and therefore no one should have the right to judge others. Director Martin Scorsese goes one step further with his gritty film Taxi Driver, as he explores the mind of a delusional Vietnam veteran who feels he has the right to harshly judge others. The film is about antihero Travis Bickle, and his urge to clean up New York City by way of vigilante justice. Throughout the film, Travis strives to be a savior and figures the best way to save New York is by taking it upon himself to get rid of the city’s filth. Scorsese uses Taxi Driver to criticize vigilantism by ironically characterizing
Water is constantly referenced in dialogue, as well as shown visually throughout the film. One of the most clear examples of this appears while Travis writes in his journal, “Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the garbage and trash off the sidewalks...Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.” These lines are in reference to the Old Testament story of Noah’s Ark, in which God sends a great flood to wash away all of the sinners and evil people of the world. Although there is no reference to a messiah in this story, it is important to consider that Travis hopes the evil around him in New York, will dissipate in an epic biblical fashion. Moving along to visuals, after Travis drops off a prostitute and a John from his cab, he purposefully drives through a spewing fire hydrant as if to wash away the passengers’ indiscretions. Travis is disgusted by the immorality he witnesses in the back of his cab, and seeks baptism by driving out of his way to “cleanse” himself in water. Ironically, right after this scene Travis visits a sexually explicit theater surrounded by lowlives, thereby voiding his desire to be cleansed of any sexual immorality. These allusions to the cleansing powers of water are what put the idea of vigilantism in Travis’s mind. While hanging out in the diner frequented by Travis’s fellow cabbies, one of the drivers proposes Travis should get a gun for protection, and offers him a connection to obtain such weapons. Upon this suggestion, Scorsese focuses the camera for a few moments on a glass of water Travis is drinking. This is meant to suggest that Travis is thinking he can cleanse, or be a savior to New York, by using purchasing guns and using them as he does later in the film. This is a clear criticism of vigilantism because the use of water as religious