Boy, is college not what I expected it to be. Actually, it is for the most part, there was just one class that totally threw me off guard. I don’t think anyone really has to guess what class that is. Some of the movies I’ve watched for Arts of NYC I would probably never watch on my own, nor would I ever want to watch again. But just because I would never want to watch some of these films again, doesn’t mean that they didn’t knock my socks off. One of the movies that really blew me away was Taxi Driver. It was probably the most grim and dark movie about New York City that I’ve ever seen, and definitely was the film that traumatized me the most. Let me explain.
For a long time, I thought I was pretty good at history. I knew how New York City started and even all of the American presidents in order. Taxi Driver really showed me however, that I barely knew the things that actually mattered about the city that I’ve lived in my entire life. I had no idea that the New York City I know now was so different just a few decades earlier. I really was in total and utter shock when Scorsese’s film showed a New York City that was completely different than how I knew it: prostitutes, gangs, drugs, and movie theaters that showed X Rated films (yes this was what traumatized me the most! What has been seen… cannot be unseen). WHAT? How in the world is this the same city that I live in? How was this the city my parents dreamed about when they were young college students in Uzbekistan? How would moving to a place like this give me a chance for a better life than they had? I was so shocked with what I was seeing. Where are the dressed up Elmo’s and Mickey Mouses standing around to take pictures with tourists? Where are the artists selling their work? Where is that excited city atmosphere? I’ll tell you where it wasn’t: IN THIS MOVIE.
Although I was really disgusted by multiple aspects of this film, I was full of joy when I finished watching it. A couple of my friends still had disgust etched on their faces at the start of the credits, but I was simply beaming. Why my strange reaction? Lets just say I was beyond grateful that I never lived to witness such a life in such a gruesome atmosphere. I was thanking Gd that this film was based on New York City’s history, and not on its present. The Disney happy go lucky atmosphere of New York City today? That’s PERFECT for me.
