trainspotting sa

Trainspotting has a unique aesthetic for a film depicting drug addiction being hyper realistic compared to the social realistic aesthetic which would normally be used, a social realist film who use its athletics the ground both itself and the audience in reality so it can present the issues at hand as they truly are, where as the hyper realistic aesthetic of trainspotting does the opposite,  it shows the scenario through a blurred lens which some would argue  distorts the view of reality that films like these are meant to give us. I would argue that it was Boyel’s intention to use the aesthetic of trainspotting to show the world as  it really is and just like how fish tank uses its almost exclusively diegetic sound and long takes to represent reality, I believe that trainspotting uses its unrealistic angels and constant  breaking of reality through non diegetic sound and moments of non linear story telling to show how reality is perceived from the view of a drug addict.

Trainspotting camera work and sound design play together to create scenes in the film that make you feel like you’re on drugs. A social realist film would ground you in reality to show you the issues experienced by its characters and have you relate to them and trainspotting does exactly the same, it conducts itself in a way which is meant to show you how its characters see the world. By making the audience watch the film through the same abstract lens which they see the world thus making it easier to relate.

This is on full display in the scene commonly dubbed as “the worst toilet in Scotland scene.” As Renton enters, we seen some point of view shots which are slightly warped showing us that despite the effects of the heroine wearing off he is still under some influence. It is also important to note that everyone is looking at Renton which could indicate that in his mind everyone is watching him, the stares he gets from everyone in the room could represent how he feels people are watching him where in reality the chances are he is imagining it as most people wouldn’t pay much attention to someone walking in to go to the toilet let alone the whole room. As he enters the bathroom we see the state it is in, and it is important to realise that this scene is clearly not an exact depiction of reality, while bad toilets exist it is clear that this toilet has been exaggerated which could be a way of representing the exaggerated aspects that drugs can cause, but more importantly I think the toilet and by extension the bathroom itself is a visual representation 0f 90’s Edinburgh and 90’s Scotland respectively. A common Scottish slang for a bad place is a shit hole and that is exactly what the toilet is. The toilet is a metaphor for Edinburgh as 90’s Edinburgh was very much a shit hole and the fact that Renton has no choice but to use that toilet is a representation of how he is stuck in Edinburgh, further more the rest of the bathroom being equally disgusting represents how just as Edinburgh was bad the rest of Scotland wasn’t much better. Renton’s dialogue stating he’d settle for anywhere is meant to represent that he has no choice but to live in Edinburgh, he didn’t choose to be born there and him having no choice but to use that toilet represents how he didn’t get a choice in where he grew up, furthermore the fact he doesn’t try another toilet represents how he could move from Edinburgh  but the rest of Scotland is no better as he could try another toilet but the rest are no better, he could always move to another country just as he could try find another toilet but the fact is he’s desperate and doesn’t think he could make it away from his family and friends just as he couldn’t make it to another toilet on his own. When he tries to retrieve his drugs from the toilet it represents him going deeper into the shit hole and the fact he is going down there for drugs represents how the people of Scotland had been gripped so tightly by drugs that they are willing to go to anything to get them. This scene over all represents how bad Scotland’s drug problem was in the 90’s and the imagery of Renton diving down through a visual representation of the shit hole that Edinburgh was just to get his drugs tells the audience how bad it really was.

The representation of addiction culminates when Renton must get another hit even though he is meant to be in rehab. His entrance being a jump cut from the previous shot is another aesthetic showing us how the drugs make him see the world as Renton literally jumping from shot to shot tells us he is still looking through the lens brought by being an addict, but after he takes the shot we see him sinking into the floor symbolising he has gone to far and might have to pay the price. Renton sinking slowly into the ground represents him dying as his coffin being slowly lowered into the ground and the shot of Swanney looking down at Renton means two things, one it reinforces the idea of Renton falling into his grave as that is what the shot physically resembles and how Renton is moving further away from life as the light gets further and further away from him but it also supports the idea of the film being shot through a drug lens as the point of view shot as Renton falls deeper into the ground shows the audience what he is seeing and while him falling clearly represents him going further away from life, it also represents how the drugs make reality seem far away from him and almost take him to a different place, it’s as if he’s falling out of reality and into addiction.