Analysis based on the 12 archetypal phases by Ana Lasić
1. Pain caused by a false identity opens the potential for a new identity.
Travis observes a world he is not a part of. He takes a job as a taxi driver because he suffers from insomnia.He was a Marine.He has no life, never finished school. He is alone – the streets are full of outcasts.
Travis drives around some “moral degenerates.”The world is filthy.
He tries to connect with a clerk at an adult cinema, but she looks at him like he’s trash.
👉 The need for meaning – why does he even exist? But he does not belong to this world and doesn’t know how to fit in. Who he is?
2. A spark of hope, desire, or longing is born, but the hero fears becoming an outcast.
💫 Travis sees Betsy. He believes she is the opposite of the dirty world that surrounds him, but he doesn’t dare approach her. Travis watches her from his taxi. When her colleague speaks to him, he runs away.
3. The hero decides to embark on a journey / A beautiful yet strange world suddenly opens before him.
🚖 Travis approaches Betsy. The world surrounding her is politics – something he knows nothing about. All he knows is that he returned from war, while in the meantime, America has become “hell.” (He drove Palantine and spoke with him.)
4. Love is introduced. But now the hero longs for true emotional fulfilment, while fear pushes him back into regression.
❤️ Travis tries to win Betsy over. For the first time, he notices the young prostitute, Iris, who tries to escape her pimp, but he doesn’t take her away in time.
👉 Love?
The closer he gets to Betsy, the clearer it becomes that he is not suitable for her – nothing connects them.
5. Reasons for suffering: Sage - Destroyer
(Healing is possible – let’s improve, refine, and make it real! The fear of happiness manifests as a drive toward death or self-destruction. The hero is unaware of his own power and perceives the Destroyer as an external force – a projection!)
👉 The impossibility of instant healing leads to self-destruction.
📉 Debacle at the adult cinema – his perception of relationships is wrong, disconnected from reality. She leaves.
💥 Travis is desperate, aggressive. Depression. Meaninglessness. Rage and frustration – he calls her over and over, but she ignores him.In the end, he tells her she will burn in hell – like everyone else.
🚖 In his taxi, a passenger (Martin Scorsese) tells him he would shoot his unfaithful wife in the face. (A projection). Sage is also a mentor.
🔴 Iris, the young prostitute he failed to help, is nearly hit by a car.He sees her willingly leave with clients.👉 Final collapse of all hope. (The Wise Man – the idea of helping.)
6. The peak of a false mountain
👉 The desire to control the external world overcomes the true purpose of the soul.
🔫 Travis "marries" his guns. (55 min) A false victory.
7. Dual identity – transformation has begun.
🎭 Madness and games, inverted perspectives.
🛠 Travis and total organisation – training. He lies to a Secret Service agent about his identity.
💬 “You talking to me?!”📌 A classic dual archetype – the mirror reflection.
8. Problems in (crossed) relationships – the hero’s heart, freedom, and relationships.
(Cheating, sitting on two chairs.)
🔫 Travis kills a black man robbing a grocery store. He has no gun permit.
📝 He writes a letter to his parents – lies that he is with Betsy. Politicians lie.
📺 He watches a TV scene where a woman cheats on her husband – he smashes the TV.😡 Goes mad because she is not with him.
Approaching Iris – deception – confrontation
🔀 Meeting Iris.He enters her world.
💬 Conversation with Sport.👉 “She’s only 12 years old.”
9. The truth comes to light – it becomes clear who belongs where.
🌅 Travis and Iris truly get to know each other.
👉 He learns her real name.👉 He proposes to rescue her.
🍽 Breakfast.Travis lectures her on where she truly belongs.🔀 Reality and illusion – the boundaries blur.
10. Final separation – parting ways
💔 Iris and Sport in their last embrace.Travis burns the flowers.
💵 He prepares money for Iris – his final act of redemption.
💬 Iris tells Sport that she does not like what she is doing.
Parent – Lover (Caregiver – Lover)
🔀 His role in Iris’s life is dual – protector and savior.This is not the lowest point because the ending is not tragic…
Travis separates from the illusion of Betsy.
He also bids farewell to Iris.
The lowest point – the hero on the verge of a psychological breakdown
❌ Failed assassination attempt on Palantine.👉 Therefore, he goes to Sport.
11. Kill or heal (Change or die)
⚔ Confrontation – clash with the main antagonist.🔫 Killing the villain, the dark “father.”🔥 Mass shootout – Travis is wounded.
12. Live and share with others – forgiveness, reconciliation (Heaven or Hell)
🙏 Iris’s parents are grateful – for them, he is a hero.👉 In this, he finds meaning in his life – forgiveness.😴 He lies in a coma – Iris is transformed.
The ending: reality or purgatory?
🚖 Travis recovers. Betsy gets into his taxi.👉 Now he knows who she is – but, more importantly, he knows who he is.🏆 That’s why he is the winner – he has integrity.
👀 Until he sees himself in the rearview mirror – split identity. (Twist?)
Comments