I guess we can agree to disagree - I don't interpret Travis' comments that way. And, note that I'm not saying that the character isn't racist - what I'm saying is that it's
not clearly evident to me
in the film. I agree with the below view 100%:
Sloper wrote:
It might be worthwhile asking why Travis becomes a taxi driver, and why, if he hates the New York lowlifes so much, he chooses to do so many night shifts. Remember when Betsy applies the song lyrics to his character - not the best scene in the film I know, but a very telling moment, because it sums up Travis as a 'walking contradiction', at once disgusted by and drawn to all the sick stuff he sees around him.
Basically I would agree with Gregory on the race issue, I don't think those moments of gazing at the black characters are really saying Travis is racist. In fact, surely this was precisely what Scorsese was trying not to say - he made Sport white because it would have made Travis, not the film, seem racist if he had been black. This would have completely alienated Travis's character from the audience, and I think Scorsese wants us to identify with him a lot of the time.
Those slow-motion bits where Travis stares at somebody serve the same purpose as the similar moments in Raging Bull: they make us see things from Travis's point of view, make us empathise with the intense way in which he experiences the world around him, whereas the other characters seem to take it all in their stride.
Adding to the above - if Travis had been an obviously racist character, there is no way the film would have become as popular nor would Travis have become an "anti-hero".
Re: the "scum" reference, I still think he's talking about
all of the criminals & addicts that he sees on a daily basis.
Also, remember that the first person that Travis went after in the film was Palantine, a middle-aged white guy who represented "The Establishment". Granted, this was because Travis was directing the anger he felt towards Betsy's rejection on the guy she was working to get elected, but it's still note-worthy.
And, during the conversation with Iris in the coffee shop, Travis expressed extreme hatred/anger towards Sport. As the quote above mentions, Scorsese probably cast Keitel as Sport because the film would have been too incendiary otherwise...That being said, note that Travis would have hated Sport no matter
what he looked like.
Travis obviously hates
many people, not just those from a certain group...