Both movies are set in the same city if New York, but are shown in different perspectives. In “Taxi Driver” the town is mainly filmed at night, which would look different to “Manhattan” which was filmed for the majority in the daytime. In “Taxi Driver” everything seems very sleazy; filming in slow motion shows just how seedy the place is. on the other hand “Manhattan” shows New York as a lovely place. In the daytime you can see the hustle and bustle of the business people on the streets. Everything looks orderly and organised. “Manhattan” portrays New York’s distinguished architecture and it’s astounding tourist attractions in its glorified beauty. The nightlife doesn’t seem any different showing the flashing lights of Broadway and other night time entertainment. A counter-argument is that the few bags of rubbish you do see and the crime mentioned shows the ways the people brush aside their problems. In the same way as “Taxi Driver” touching on the bad part of New York, but not in the same depth.
The people in the movies are extremely dissimilar. The people in “Manhattan” show the classier side of New York with the blue collar workers and business men and women getting on with their lives. You can also see a few children run past that go to a private school. In comparison with “Taxi Driver” it looks quite elegant. “Taxi Driver” focuses on Travis Bickle and the people and the people you see through his eyes. The employer you see in front of Travis Bickle’s interview is not very well dressed and has stains and dirty marks on his shirt. Indicating that there can’t be many good jobs in that are of New York. The way Travis Bickle is dressed also indicates this, also that the areas looks as if it can’t provide good legal jobs. The employer asks if Travis Bickle has been involved in moonlighting which is an illegal activity. This suggests that it is hard to get a good and officially authorized job. The women you see also act as evidence because they seem to be working on all the corners of the red light district that Travis Bickle decides to drive through. This area is very squalid and all the women are like that too. Seeing this movie from a man’s point of view makes the prostitutes look worse than they actually are. Martin Scorcese, the director of “Taxi Driver”, makes the movie this way to show how realistic the people in the slums of New York are, furthermore under miming the way “Manhattan” depicts New York and its people.
Each film has positive and negative parts in their beginnings. However it seems that “taxi Driver” is mostly negative and for the most part “Manhattan” is positive. “Manhattan” shows the more positive views through the people and the city. You se a big port and tall buildings, trees and lakes exemplifying the great and ambitious aspects of the city. The night life is no different showing an absolutely dissimilar side of New York o that shown in “Taxi Driver”. With Broadway shown amongst restaurants and theatres shows people on this side of New York have expensive tastes. You see the New York skyline lit up by the various fireworks going off signifying a mood of celebrating. They are celebrating how well their city operates, looks, functions and the amount of people that must visit it every day. This is different from “Taxi Driver”, which has nothing to celebrate. The repulsive taxi rank seems to be one of the best looking and decent buildings I the beginning of the movie. In addition the women seen are disgraceful hence representing the world around them. Being an ex-marine Travis Bickle’s view of women is sexist and distasteful. Therefore Martin Scorcese is again showing the more realistic views of New York through “Taxi Driver”.
The possible target audience for both movies would be teenagers and young adults. “Manhattan” seems to be targeted at a more women than men. The storyline is based on love, the places the camera takes you and the movie starts off with the beginning of a novel being re-iterated. In addition some surveys show that more women read than men and women would seem to be attracted to that aspect of the movie. “Manhattan” can be considered as coming from a male point of view, but still attracts to watch. Being a romantic style film and showing the more elegant walks of life. Alternatively “Taxi Driver” is more of a masculine film. A male being the main character suggests this and the flat looks. His flat looks threadbare and not very homely. Suggesting he doesn’t have many visitors. A marine is a very masculine profession and the look of Travis Bickle shows he’s got muscles. The area he drives through is quite rough, another reason there will be a lot of violence throughout the movie because it has an ‘18’ certificate. In addition illegal actions are illegal activities are mentioned such as ‘moonlighting’ which shows the type of people hat would watch the movie. Another illegal activity seen is prostitution this would cut out the Christian community for seeing this movie as prostitution as a version of sin. The target audience for this movie would be more adults and those that have no reactions to violent conduct.
As “Taxi Driver” gives a more realistic view of New York that not many children would be allowed to watch. Equally “Manhattan” is realistic in its own way, although “Taxi Driver” gives it a more brutal look. The places Travis Bickle looks at and the way he lives is how you would expect someone with his status to live. He is unemployed fresh out of the marines and doesn’t seem to have much money. He lives in a dingy flat with bars on the windows and the employer he goes to see ahs a lot of people in with illegal dealings asking for jobs. Yet on the other hand as “Manhattan” only gives you brief views of places and doesn’t go into that much detail. So you cannot see how the people you encounter live their lives. So I would say that “Taxi Driver” is realistic in the way that it brings out the character Travis Bickle adapting to his surroundings. You can tell this by his sort of uncaring attitude which matches that of the places he goes around. The way that “Manhattan” shows its realism is the way the people are around the camera. They seem to be getting on without bothering about anyone else which is what most people that might expect New York to be like. Also that the nightlife seems expensive and enjoyable, this is how tourist brochures would describe the town as well.
In conclusion I would say that the two ways that New York is portrayed in these movies are similar in certain aspects. Although most of the values that both movies have that seem to make them popular to watch are entirely different. They both have intriguing and outstanding views with New York make both of these movies a must see and have a very high status in the movie ratings.
