Read the discussion of this film in the textbook (Bordwell and Thompson, 426-431). Try to perceive the overall narrative structure of the film, and think about how this structure colors the movie's multiple meanings. What do you make of Bordwell and Thompson's interpretive suggestions? Consider particularly the ways in which they suggest that the film charts a course between identification with Jake LaMotta and a critique of him; also the suggestions of subtexts involving violence, masochism, and repressed homosexuality.
Why is the film, made in 1980, shot in black and white? What kind of lighting does Scorsese use? How do lighting and (lack of) color affect the overall feel of the film? Is this "realism" (as Bordwell and Thompson suggest) or something else? And what do you make of the one color sequence, with the sense it gives of home movies?
What sort of style does Scorsese give to this film? Consider the decors (the apartments, the boxing ring, the nightclubs), and the use of a highly mobile camera in some sequences, and of tight editing in others. How do all these elements contribute to or reinforce the film's meanings? And what about the pacing and organization of the narrative? Why does the film skip over some important events, and dwell for a long time on others?
What do you make of the film's emphasis on the male body, particularly the body of De Niro as Jake La Motta? Consider both the goriness and physical intensity of the boxing sequences, and LaMotta's corpulence in the framing narrative and in the later parts of the story. (DeNiro famously gained sixty pounds in order to be able properly to impersonate the aging, retired La Motta).
How does this film envision the nature of traditional masculinity? What attitude do we have as viewers towards the misogyny that is abundantly depicted throughout the film, a misogyny that is certainly attributable to the characters in the film, if not to the makers of it?