8/10

memoribal scene: the black taxi scene

Young People:

Trainspotting represents young people as unconcerned with life and taking any opportunity to get drunk or high on drugs. An example would be Diane, who is only 15 years old, being present in a nightclub, where she will gladly take drinks from men that approach her, although will then show her disinterest in the men themselves. Another example, although he is older than Diane, is Renton, who makes the decision to take heroin the same day he evades a prison sentence and promises to go to rehab.

Older People:

While there aren’t many older people in Trainspotting, Renton’s parents are represented as being sympathetic towards their son that drugs have impacted his life negatively, while also realising the difficult task of keeping him in his room off of any medication in order to stop him from relapsing, as cruel as it may be perceived from Renton’s perspective.

Working Class People:

Trainspotting does not try to glamourize the working class, instead it shows that despite now having a steady income, Renton still lives on the bare minimum. However, compared to the drug-centric life he lived beforehand, he says he feels ‘almost content’ with this new life.

Scottish People:

Scottish people are represented as being bitter and ashamed at the fact that they are from Scotland, with Renton referring to them as ‘the lowest of the low’ and ‘the scum of the earth’. He also expresses his annoyance with the fact they ‘can’t even find a good culture to be colonized by’, in reference to the English.

Addicts:

Addicts in Trainspotting are shown to feel sorry for themselves and each other that they can’t give up drugs, but make no attempt to stop each other. The character of Tommy doesn’t take heroin until his girlfriend leaves him, but by the end of the film he becomes addicted, leading to a positive HIV test (despite Renton being more at risk to it but testing negative) and his eventual fatal stroke.

Men:

Men are represented as being very much influenced by their heterosexual and masculine identities. For example, Begbie is horrified when he discovers a potential love interest is transgender, and is overly aggressive towards other men, taking any opportunity to start a fight.

Women:

Most women in Trainspotting are mainly used as love interests to the main characters, and aren’t really focused on past the first act of the film. However, Diane recurs throughout the film and is arguably a countertype of women in film, establishing power over Renton with the fact she can report him to the police at any time for sleeping with her.

Young people –

Represented as callous and misguided young people in ‘trainspotting’ are shown to demonstrate this in numerous scenes throughout the duration of the film. For an example of showing callousness, Spud and Renton steal belongings off the elderly all in attempts to feed their drug addictions. This is further backed up with Renton’s narration stating the further acts they did: “we stole drugs. We stole prescriptions or bought them, forged them, photocopied them”.

Another example of young peoples emotionless representation can be seen with Renton’s lack of empathy for his friend, Tommy, who’s girlfriend broke up with him over a missing sex tape, even though it was Renton who stole it.

Older people –

Shown to be docile and remote from the lives of the main characters, when they are in scenes they appear to be oblivious to the effect of drugs has on their children’s minds such as the scene above with Renton’s parents not noticing. Another example of older people being represented as docile and weak can be seen with the first day of Edinburgh festival scene were the gang beat up an old American tourist in the toilets.

Working class people –

The working class are represented as cons, picking up money from anyone or anything they can get, as quoted from the film “after all this was boom town where any fool could make cash and plenty did”. This comes from the part of the film where Renton moves to London (aka ‘boom town’) after getting off heroine. It is here were he also states “for the first time in my adult life, i was almost content” this implies that being apart of the working class frees him from the need drugs as work has supplemented that.

Scottish people –

Depicted as unhappy and incapable to change that, Scottish people are represented as a depressed people due to colonisation from the English. This is shown in the scene above where Mark states to tommy “Its shite being Scottish! We’re the lowest of the low. The scum of the fucking Earth! The most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some hate the English. I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. Can’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by. We’re ruled by effete assholes. It’s a shite state of affairs to be in, Tommy, and all the fresh air in the world won’t make any fucking difference!” – this overall reflects the characters ideas behind their constant states of misery and turn to heroin to escape it all.

Addicts –

With the films main idea to depict Scotlands drug culture in the 1980’s, it accurately shows this by not glamourising the usage of drugs but instead showing the horrible effects it has on people, this is beastly shown with the character tommy’s story arch. After losing his girlfriend he turns to drugs, it is here where he he becomes severely addicted and ends up eventually passing away due to excessive drug use.

Men –

Depicted as violent and sex-crazed, throughout the film they are also represented as womanisers and bullies, by picking fights and making advances on girls at clubs. Mostly representing violence, the character ‘Begbie’ is a good example as he threatens his peers and starts altercations in almost every seen.

Women –

Represented almost as play toys for the men in the film, women are shown in a very stereotypical fashion by being only shown with a man in a relationship. The only counter-type about gender would be with Diane who holds power over Renton as she is capable to report him into the police for sleeping with her since she is only 15.