Everything Joker Steals From Taxi Driver

Todd Phillips’ Joker is a bold and unique take on the origins of the Clown Prince of Crime, but it owes a lot to Martin Scorsese’s classic psychological thriller Taxi Driver. In the twisted psychological journeys of both films’ protagonists, their relationships with women, and the ways the films play on audience expectations, Joker and Taxi Driver seem to share the same DNA.

Taxi Driver stars Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, a young Jodie Foster, and of course, Robert De Niro in the lead role of a damaged Vietnam veteran turned taxi driver on a frantic spiral into insanity and paranoia. The movie was an acclaimed cultural touchstone of the 1970s and was nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score. Aside from the overwhelming critical acclaim, the movie has been a mainstay in popular culture since its release and continues to be a topic of discussion to this day.

Scorsese at one point was attached to direct Joker, but because of scheduling constraints as well as the comic book nature of the character, the acclaimed director stepped into the role of producer and then stepped out of the movie altogether. Joker ended up falling into the hands of director Todd Phillips, who cast Joaquin Phoenix to play the title role and reimagined the character as Arthur Fleck, a failed comedian and mentally unstable outcast who slowly starts to embrace his darker nature as a result of society’s mistreatment of him. The movie was a massive success, grossing over $1 billion and becoming the most profitable comic book film of all-time, while also receiving 11 Academy Award nominations, including wins for Best Original Score and Best Actor for Phoenix. Despite Joker being based on the iconic comic book character and Scorsese’s Taxi Driver being a totally original film, Joker owes a lot to Scorsese’s seminal masterpiece.

Both Arthur & Travis Are Celebrated For Their Slow Descent Into Murder And Madness

Both Joker and Taxi Driver feature psychologically disturbed individuals who, as a result of the circumstances around them as well as their inner turmoil, fall deeper into their own psychoses. No one around either character seems to truly care about their mental stability, and their internal despair quickly becomes outwardly violent. For Travis Bickle, this takes the form of an assassination attempt against a presidential candidate; after this fails, Travis engages in a shootout with a local prostitution ring responsible for pimping out a young girl named Iris he’s befriended. In Joker, Arthur’s descent into madness culminates in his murder of Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), a talk show host he once idolized, on live television.

An integral aspect of both of their transformations is that supporting characters celebrate these acts of violence. Taxi Driver ends with Bickle seemingly becoming a hero in the public eye, with favorable news media coverage and Iris’ father sending him letters of thanks (despite the fact that Travis is fatally wounded in the shootout). Joker takes a similar route, with Arthur’s crimes inspiring social revolution in the form of a class riot, which inadvertently claims the lives of Thomas and Martha Wayne (and in a previous draft, Bruce as well).

What’s important to note, however, is that these events aren’t necessarily the truth of the situation, but rather how both main characters perceive them to be. Since Joker and Taxi Driver are both psychological thrillers, the movies make sure that the audience is experiencing events the same way that Arthur and Travis are. As a result of this, their actions at the end of their respective films are seemingly glorified because both protagonists have fully regressed into their delusions. Both Arthur and Travis are desperate people who are ignored by society, and both of them have convinced themselves that they are heroes by the end.

Arthur Fleck & Travis Bickle Have Imaginary Relationships With Women

Another subplot that’s shared by both films is an imagined relationship with an unrequited love. In Taxi Driver, Travis falls for Betsy, a young campaign volunteer played by Cybill Shepherd. After a relatively successful first date, Travis alienates her by taking her to a pornographic theater, and when she doesn’t return his calls and desperate apologies, he writes her off as cynical and “cold” like the rest of society. Arthur Fleck in Joker takes his obsession even further, hallucinating an entire relationship with a woman named Sophie (Zazie Beetz) who lives in his apartment building.

While the approach for both films are slightly different, the themes remain the same. Both men are deeply disturbed individuals who project their need for social interaction onto two unwitting women – women they feel are “unique” from everyone else. However, when those women are inevitably put off by Arthur and Travis’ lack of social awareness, they both feel as if their last connection to society at large has been severed.

Joker & Taxi Driver Play With The Audience’s Sensibilities

Although both movies explore how their main characters view their own mental stability, they surprisingly diverge in the execution. During Taxi Driver, Travis has a moment of vulnerability, in which he confides his violent and disturbing thoughts to his friend Wizard (Peter Boyle), another taxi driver. This shows the capability of self-awareness within Travis, and even though Wizard underestimates the extent of Travis’ problems, the audience sees that Travis doesn’t want to give in to his psychosis. This allows viewers to understand and sympathize with Travis’ plight, as his downward spiral is a tragic inevitability.

Joker, on the other hand, provides a sharp contrast. Despite Arthur’s frequent attempts to seek help from his therapist, his mother, and his potential father, Thomas Wayne, the movie builds his transformation into Joker as a triumph, something to be achieved. By the end of Joker, Arthur rejects society’s morals and relishes in acts of violence, becoming a counter-culture cult hero while standing on a car, receiving the adoration of the clown-masked masses.

In this way, audiences can sympathize with and understand Travis’ plight – he tried to resist his descent, after all – but Arthur repulses viewers with his gleeful and giddy embrace of misery and murder. What is more, Travis’ possible death (interpretations on the film’s ending vary) adds another level of irony that Joker lacks. If dead, Travis is seemingly punished for his violence, though his final thoughts cast himself as the hero that society would never see him as. While Taxi Driver and Joker share some distinct and purposeful commonalities, it’s also equally important to understand the ways in which they differ, and how those differences affect the way each film is received.