I heard that one too. I also heard the dream sequence theory. Both fit, depending on what you want to believe

The line Travis walks on is the one between him being a hero and a villain. The only reason he "saved" Iris is because he couldn't get close enough to kill Pallentine. If he had done that, he would have been a villain. He had planned on dying after he killed Pallentine and that's why he put the money in the envelope for Iris to go away, but didn't quite pull that part off. Maybe he was going to kill Pallentine and then go save Iris, but I know he expected to die.

So, Travis was a hero because he killed a pimp and some other criminals, but the next time he snapped, he'd probably kill an innocent person and be considered a villain. That part of the ending makes the movie even more interesting because of how tenuous the whole situation really was.

On the racism front, Travis was no more racist than the average white person in New York in the 70s, but Scorsese changed Sport's race to avert the inevitable controversy that would have come if he was black. His discomfort with his black co-worker was more a case of his complete social awkwardness with everyone than a racial hangup.

<----My debut album cover


Finally...The Blog of the Sith: http://shef1556.blogspot.com/