Trainspotting Question

Trainspotting Question 

How does the aesthetic quality of “Trainspotting” depict ideological issues of youth and addiction?” Your answer must refer to 2 scenes.  

Trainspotting, a 1996 British black comedy crime film by Danny Boyle, represents the youth of the time as violent and mischievous, causing crimes of vandalism, shoplifting and overall drug misuse, which is the most common crime in the film, making the movie's plot evolve around the consequences of drugs and the effects it has on not only the user but family, friends and the public in general. 

https://youtu.be/RCxgqHqakXc 

The opening scene of “Trainspotting”, or the scene otherwise known as “Choose Life” is already portraying the young generation as thieving, drug addicted criminals, as the first few shots we’re shown are Mark Renton (played by Ewan McGregor) and Spud (played by Ewen Bremner) running away from what seems to be either security guards, shop owners or general members of the public, whilst wallets and cash (the focus of this scene) are falling out from their pockets and underneath their shirts as they rush down the street full of excitement and ambition. This portrays their characters as reckless, uncaring youths, pushed to crime and hate of society. Even from the music to the camera shots in this scene, were shown how little they care about their consequences and it creates an atmosphere where we shouldn’t care about their actions either, as Danny Boyles goal is to put us in the shoes of a useless, criminal minded young adult, who cares very little about his life. For example, the opening shot of “Trainspotting” is a low-level establishing shot of London, already representing a sense of familiarity within the movie. The character Mark Renton is first shown in this shot as his characters legs appear as a close-up and then change to a mid-shot as he runs over the camera. This shot lasts less than a second but gives time for the audience to recognize his locations and what's happening in frame, it could also symbolize that he thinks he's higher up than us or knows more about us in society, as that’s how Danny Boyle portrays the young minded to think. The music is quite fun and fast paced, this connects with the characters young age and makes the criminal side of it seem more fun instead of dark, it also represents the whole idea of not caring about society and forces the scene to be quite up-beat and quick, this is also why each clip is so short, it connects with the fast non-diegetic music. 

Five seconds in and were introduced to the sound of Mark Renton's voice being used as a non-diegetic sound being played over the chase scene, almost as a narrator. It’s used to break away from social realism to create this lighter atmosphere against such a dark topic, it's also a direct address to the audience to detach himself from the topic and the fact that he doesn't care about life, this being the life of a portrayed young adult who doesn't care about his place in society and the issues he's faced with. The reason for the distance of a more realistic styled film, is because Danny Boyle attempts to put us in the mind of a young drug addict, someone who doesn't see life to clearly, or, in Mark Renton's case, to clear enough. The style seems bouncier in a way, more fun but slightly broken up. This is to represent the characters were introduced to, wanting to have fun as every youthful adult does, but broken by the harsh reality of it all. 

As well as youth, addiction is also a key theme within “Trainspotting”. For example, in the scene known as “The Worst Toilet in Scotland” Mark Renton's character is used to show us how far addicts will go when obsessed to something as addictive as drugs. The camera movement when Mark enters the betting shop puts us in the perspective and mind of what he can see, were approached with close-up oblique camera angles as he stumbles through his surroundings, creating a disorientated atmosphere as were shown what the mind-set of a drug addicted young adult is like. As the scene goes on, the camera shots continuously switch between a first-person, disorientated shaky camera view to mid-shots and close-ups of his facial expressions and body language as he rushes his way to the bathroom. Even though the duration of these clips are shorter, which usually makes the scene pace seem quicker, they've done it in a style to make his journey to the “Worst Toilet in Scotland” last longer than it would in reality, because once again were being put in his mind and how he feels in this situation. 

After Mark finishes on the toilet were introduced to a close-up reaction shot to his face looking shocked and worried about something, this is him remembering what's happened with the drugs he received earlier and because of how his characters been shown so far, this small reaction shot already gives away what he's about to do next. Not long after and were shown a low-level camera angle of the cubical he's in and the filthy toilet he's been using, where were next shown how far addictive drugs can be when so involved as Mark Renton is. Everything in frame seems to be completely filthy and overly ruined, even the low-key lighting seems to create this dirty, awful atmosphere to represent the character shown on set. The scene was filmed to make us feel uncomfortable, to show us the awful reality of being a drug addict. This is also one of the many introduction scenes where were not followed but Mark Renton’s smug narrating, because he of all people know, in this scene, he's at the lowest of the low, he's ashamed of himself, but he can’t help it, and that's what Danny Boyle is trying to show us. 

I believe, what Danny Boyle wanted to do in this movie, was to create this fake, cocky reality, narrated by a youthful drug addicted character to show us the process in his mind and how incredibly dark the truth really is, by using this uncoordinated styled atmosphere to control his audience of being put in the mind of the young and the addicted.  

James Toone