An Integral Analysis of Martin Scorsese´s 'Taxi Driver'

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Comparative Literature grade: 15 University of Trier course: The Films of Martin Scorsese language: English abstract: IntroductionStarting point for my term paper was the question of how to approach such a complex work of art since I had no previous experience or theoretical knowledge in the analysis of films. It quickly dawned on me that a literal analysis of the film´s plot and its characters under particular consideration of the author´s intention that I was used to in the field of literary studies would be dysfunctional since there were too many creative sources involved in the genesis of a film. To further complicate matters I became in my search for appropriate secondary literature quickly acquainted with some post-modern scholars such as Robin Wood who sees Paul Schrader as a neo-fascist whose films amount to a systematic repudiation of all minority groups and any possible social alternative in order to re-assert a quasi-mystical sense of male supremacy heterosexual superiority and a total spurious transcendence. [...] the film's interest is inseparable from its sense of confusion its failure to define a coherent attitude towards its protagonist. (Wood)Since I was convinced that there was more to Taxi Driver than its „sense of confusion and that a coherent clear analysis was possible though coming to a definite conclusion might not be possible due to its character´s ambivalence I intended my term paper to be a step out of this academic mingling of terms by the use of an integral approach. I use the word integral in a Wilberian sense which is to include as many perspectives styles and methodologies as possible within a coherent view of [a] topic. (integral thought -Wikipedia) Part one of my paper is generally a brief summary of the main underlying motives that I identified in the secondary literature on Taxi Driver. These motiv