Essay On Gothic Literature

Quite often, we find that the best stories are those which defy genre. A tale that cannot be placed in a single category has the ability to frequently draw us back, and has the power to captivate us each time we return. However, to avoid classification, the story must borrow from various genres. A great example is 1976’s Taxi Driver: it has elements of a war film, a melodrama, neo-noir, and psychological thriller. And these are just the main categories it fits into, there are countless elements of other styles here. Some prevalent elements found are those of American Romantic and Gothic Literature. One of the driving motifs in the film is very similar to a reoccurring theme in the Romantic Movement. The protagonist of Taxi

He hates going to the different locations of New York that his job requires. Despite this fact, he is the one who said he’d drive through these boroughs most cabbies won’t drive to. He seeks friendship desperately, but disassociates himself from the other cabbies he frequently sees at the diner. He condemns the pimps, prostitutes, and criminals he sees on the street as being filth, yet he himself attends obscene porno films in his spare time. He seems to be a walking contradiction, not making much logical sense. It is also rather clear that our “hero” is not mentally sound. When he starts training himself to “cleanse” the city, this becomes rather apparent. His diary entries become far more hostile sounding than before, he begins building spring loaded gun holders to hide in his sleeves, and even test his durability by holding his arm over a stove top flame. And when he begins practicing his tough guy persona in the mirror, we can see a man who has a fractured psyche. In the famous “Are you talking to me?” scene, we see that the camera is not on Travis, but on his reflection. We are watching his mirror image, and Travis is listening just as closely as we are. It shows that he listens to those voices in his head more than those in real life, and that he truly has a detached view of the world. His mind fits the mold of a Gothic character almost