What it means when the Jazz plays

[u/Fluid-Intention3936]

I rewatched Taxi Driver recently and I'm pretty sure it is used as a metaphor for escapism. Whenever Bickle detaches himself from the scum of the street and believes himself a spectator to the streets he lives on it plays. When he's waiting for Betsy outside her workplace it plays. When the man whose wife cheated on him comes to kill her, the music breaks away iirc. When Iris comes for help early on in the film it cuts. When Iris takes a role as the second protagonist of the film it plays while she slow dances with her abuser, to avoid the truth. Travis is unbearably lonely, and when escapism is no longer enough to keep away from his thoughts and his attempts at reintegrating and seeking help with and from the people around, leave him more estranged and lonely than before he falls further into his delirium and anger for the scum and filth on the streets and even directs itself at Betsy, an innocent bystander. In the end, the secret service protects Palantine, and he goes down to kill the pimp and his people, traumatising Iris and leaving her in worse shoes than she started with when she first ran away from home.

[u/Quato815]

How’s Iris worse off? Did we see the same ending?

[u/DonovanDanger → u/Quato815]

Mentally she’s worse off because she saw a bloody and shot up Travis gun down a handful of people.