Trainspotting themes & Binary Opposites
Upon first viewing of Trainspotting, many believe it's a film solely functioning in portraying the use of heroine. Although it does this, it also proves to be much more than that.
Some of it's core themes include: Drugs, Friendship, Betrayal, Life, Family and toxic masculinity.
Furthermore Trainspotting explores the notion of binary opposites, in particular Heroin Vs Sex, Heroine Vs Family, Past Vs Future and finally Begie Vs Spud. Each of these binary opposites are symbolised in what they represent.
There were quite mixed reviews at the time as the movie wasn’t conveyed as a socialist realist drama. Boyle often uses hyperkinetic editing, a vibrant colour palette and upbeat music to defy this genre. It shows a glamorised account of drug use yet also displays the extremely dark and sinister possibilities which results in active spectatorship for the opinion of drug use.
Clearly drugs is clearly emphasised within the movie with all of the main characters and protagonist being addicted to heroine. The movie is centred around their journey through life being addicted to it and attempting to “get off the skag”. Yet this is clearly not an anti-drug film. The effects of heroin aren’t shown in every aspect as being miserable and horrible. Renton tells the audience through voiceover “we do it because it feels good”, however it’s also not a pro-drug film as it shows the death of a baby and a main character, the dismantlement of a family and the horrible experience that is withdrawal symptoms.
However as the movie progresses the theme of friendship is also portrayed. The characters friendship develops over time yet we soon realise the limits of friendship. As Renton attempts to get a hold of his life by moving to London, sick boy and Begbie soon follow. Ultimately he ends up back within the realm of heroine. His friends hold him back from achieving a “normal” lifestyle and essentially our main protagonists outgrows his friends; a real life portrayal of what sometimes happens.
The end of the movie is bittersweet in my opinion. The theme of betrayal is highlighted when Renton scams his friends out of £16,000. Obviously this would usually depict a character as unsympathetic, yet we know his friends have been holding him back and ultimately by the end he chooses life. This doesn’t excuse him, and although he admits this makes him a bad person it’s not a very straightforward black and white situation.
Renton’s escape in hope for a better life can be seen to tie in with the theme of escapism, yet if u look closely we can evaluate that Tommy can represent this theme too. Essentially Tommy reverts to heroin as a form of escapism once his girlfriend breaks up with him. It’s ironic because one character is attempting to escape from heroin and another is using it to escape.
The theme of life crops us many times- Tommy gets aids and dies, addressing the huge aids epidemic particularly destructive in Edinburgh at one point. Each character near the beginning of the film experiences various kinds of sexual encounters; no heroin involved- just young kids enjoying life. Once again there is a balance between ultimate bleakness and pure excitement and fun.
Past versus future can also be looked at as a theme which is less obvious than some of the others. We are introduced to this theme through the eyes of our main character. He sees the boys symbolically representing the past and Diane representing the future. The boys are wrapped up in their own junkie worlds and Diane explicitly states “ you need something new”. Where Leith represents the past London represents the future and Iggy Pop represents the past and Techno music represents the future and finally heroin represents the past and acid and ecstasy represent the future. All these binary opposites are heavily contrasted to represent this theme, mostly through club scenes where the audience is introduced to the youth of the time. What drugs they’re taking and what music they’re dancing to...
Finally as a less subtle theme and binary opposite we can look at toxic masculinity represented by Begbie and Sick Boy Vs Spud. Sick Boy references Sean Connery multiple times throughout the film as a macho-masculine uber cool and mysterious male icon. Clearly through use of costume the audience can infer that Sick Boy looks up to him- he’s also dressed wearing some kind of suit or long blazer. He’s also used to represent the type of person who consciously glamorises heroin and drug use. Similarly yet on a more extreme scale, Begbie is concerned with putting up a macho-masculine Stanley Kowalksi type of front. He’s always concerned with beating men up who threaten his masculinity and relishes in being the “stronger” more dominant male- for example beating someone up for looking at him and “putting him off his game” whilst playing pool. We find out from Tommy he’s just bad at playing pool and couldn’t handle the humiliation of losing. Contrasting these two figures with Spud highlights the theme of toxic masculinity and their binary opposites. Spud is complacent and just goes along with what the others are doing and saying. He isn’t concerned with how he looks or who he can beat up, he’s much more humble.
There were quite mixed reviews at the time as the movie wasn’t conveyed as a socialist realist drama. Boyle often uses hyperkinetic editing, a vibrant colour palette and upbeat music to defy this genre. It shows a glamorised account of drug use yet also displays the extremely dark and sinister possibilities which results in active spectatorship for the opinion of drug use.
Clearly drugs is clearly emphasised within the movie with all of the main characters and protagonist being addicted to heroine. The movie is centred around their journey through life being addicted to it and attempting to “get off the skag”. Yet this is clearly not an anti-drug film. The effects of heroin aren’t shown in every aspect as being miserable and horrible. Renton tells the audience through voiceover “we do it because it feels good”, however it’s also not a pro-drug film as it shows the death of a baby and a main character, the dismantlement of a family and the horrible experience that is withdrawal symptoms.
However as the movie progresses the theme of friendship is also portrayed. The characters friendship develops over time yet we soon realise the limits of friendship. As Renton attempts to get a hold of his life by moving to London, sick boy and Begbie soon follow. Ultimately he ends up back within the realm of heroine. His friends hold him back from achieving a “normal” lifestyle and essentially our main protagonists outgrows his friends; a real life portrayal of what sometimes happens.
The end of the movie is bittersweet in my opinion. The theme of betrayal is highlighted when Renton scams his friends out of £16,000. Obviously this would usually depict a character as unsympathetic, yet we know his friends have been holding him back and ultimately by the end he chooses life. This doesn’t excuse him, and although he admits this makes him a bad person it’s not a very straightforward black and white situation.
Renton’s escape in hope for a better life can be seen to tie in with the theme of escapism, yet if u look closely we can evaluate that Tommy can represent this theme too. Essentially Tommy reverts to heroin as a form of escapism once his girlfriend breaks up with him. It’s ironic because one character is attempting to escape from heroin and another is using it to escape.
The theme of life crops us many times- Tommy gets aids and dies, addressing the huge aids epidemic particularly destructive in Edinburgh at one point. Each character near the beginning of the film experiences various kinds of sexual encounters; no heroin involved- just young kids enjoying life. Once again there is a balance between ultimate bleakness and pure excitement and fun.
Past versus future can also be looked at as a theme which is less obvious than some of the others. We are introduced to this theme through the eyes of our main character. He sees the boys symbolically representing the past and Diane representing the future. The boys are wrapped up in their own junkie worlds and Diane explicitly states “ you need something new”. Where Leith represents the past London represents the future and Iggy Pop represents the past and Techno music represents the future and finally heroin represents the past and acid and ecstasy represent the future. All these binary opposites are heavily contrasted to represent this theme, mostly through club scenes where the audience is introduced to the youth of the time. What drugs they’re taking and what music they’re dancing to...
Finally as a less subtle theme and binary opposite we can look at toxic masculinity represented by Begbie and Sick Boy Vs Spud. Sick Boy references Sean Connery multiple times throughout the film as a macho-masculine uber cool and mysterious male icon. Clearly through use of costume the audience can infer that Sick Boy looks up to him- he’s also dressed wearing some kind of suit or long blazer. He’s also used to represent the type of person who consciously glamorises heroin and drug use. Similarly yet on a more extreme scale, Begbie is concerned with putting up a macho-masculine Stanley Kowalksi type of front. He’s always concerned with beating men up who threaten his masculinity and relishes in being the “stronger” more dominant male- for example beating someone up for looking at him and “putting him off his game” whilst playing pool. We find out from Tommy he’s just bad at playing pool and couldn’t handle the humiliation of losing. Contrasting these two figures with Spud highlights the theme of toxic masculinity and their binary opposites. Spud is complacent and just goes along with what the others are doing and saying. He isn’t concerned with how he looks or who he can beat up, he’s much more humble.
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