straphanger

The commuters in “Le Métro” hark back to his early streetcar scenes but now there’s an air of mystery to the straphangers, with the central figure’s face obscured and bisected by a subway pole.

When they raise a fist in the air, it looks less like the defiant punch of striking workers or a Black Power salute than like the stance of a straphanger, pendant and insecure.

But as authorities plead for straphangers to ride inside the train, daredevils continue to perform their dangerous stunts on the outside, according to MTA data.

“I don’t want to live in a world in which maintaining public order falls to everyday straphangers.”

Is one of the straphangers the bad guy?