In the film Raging Bull, the character of Jake La Motta as played by Robert De Niro is the central character around which the film revolves. A characteristic of Scorsese films is that they are made self-consciously, and many of them are about self-consciousness. Scorsese's films often concern small time hoods or individuals on the edge or over the edge of psychosis, they are, on a more complex level, about style and reputation, about how it looks and feels to be in the world, looking at people and being looked at, seen, recognized and hurt by the glance of others (kolker 89). .
That is what Jake La Motta does in Raging Bull. He tries to control his body which is represented by his hurting of other people physically or by getting fat. La Motta tries to control his world through violence and jealous rages and imposing his body on others (Kolker 90). Raging Bull is not a film about boxing but about a man with paralyzing jealousy and sexual insecurity, for whom being punished in the ring serves as confession, penance and absolution. .
For Scorsese, the life of LaMotta was like an illustration of a theme always present in his work, the inability of his characters to trust and relate with women. The engine that drives the LaMotta character in the film is not boxing, but a jealous obsession with his wife, Vickie, and a fear of sexuality. From the time he first sees her, as a girl of 15, LaMotta is mesmerized by the cool, distant blond goddess, who seems so much older than her age, and in many shots seems taller and even stronger than the boxer (Ebert). As the author of our book states, the film is finally a meditation on the inability to get control, or on always being controlled. .