(Taxi Driver) How does the mise-en-scene and point of view suggest two different sides of Travis Bickle and his detachment from society?

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How does the mise-en-scene and point of view suggest two different sides of Travis Bickle and his detachment from society?

In Martin Scorsese' Taxi Driver the main protagonist of the film, Travis Bickle, lives in his own little world. As a veteran of Vietnam he has become isolated from the social world of New York City and holds a much distorted view of the world. Mise-en-scene and point of view play a vital role in the structure of Travis Bickle as a character in terms of his "Jekyll and Hyde" personality and the dream like state in which we see his progression and demise. These are especially important in the opening shot as it establishes the character and it shows the viewer the world as Travis sees it. It is also important in the climax of the film when he goes to 'save' Iris.

The shots in Taxi Driver are slow-moving and premeditated. The camera is used to great effect throughout the whole film to illustrate the fact that none of it is real and that he is just imagining everything. One scene that suggests this is the one where Travis is on the phone to Betsy. The camera