Trainspotting: Difference between revisions

* [[The Napoleon]]: In the book, Begbie is a physically massive bully, but director Danny Boyle cast the relatively short Robert Carlyle on the belief that smaller guys are more dangerous.

* [[Nobody Poops]]: Thoroughly averted in a disgusting scene where Spud has a hilarious accident with shit, piss and vomit (in the book, semen as well - and Davie's the victim, rather than Spud). Also averted in Renton's sudden attack of diarrhea. In the film, he goes diving into a toilet. The filmmakers in the commentary note that the water he swims in was supposed to look disgusting and filled with excrement, but it actually looks quite pleasant.

** In fact, almost every chapter narrated by a female character features an aversion of this. [[Sarcasm Mode|In no way does one get a sense that Welsh has some difficulty writing female characters.]]

* [[Oh Crap]]: Begbie's reaction in the movie when he discovers that the girl he just picked up [[Dropped a Bridget On Him|isn't quite what she seems]]. As it comes [[Mood Whiplash|shortly after a lot of extremely dark stuff]] it's [[Crowning Moment of Funny|quite a welcome change of mood]]

* [[Sex Equals Love]]: Averted with Mark and Dianne in both the novel and film adaption. {{spoiler|That said, they end up together at the end of ''Porno,'' making this trope applicable even though it takes them ten years to get there.}}

* [[Shaggy Dog Story]]: In ''Porno'' much of Begbie's part of the plot involves his obsessive search for Mark Renton to take what we can assume will be painful and violent retribution on him for the events of ''Trainspotting''. At the end, Begbie happens quite by chance to see Renton on the other side of the street, and begins to cross to reintroduce himself... {{spoiler|only to be hit by a car and knocked into a coma, which also serves to alert Renton that Begbie is after him and flee the country.}}

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" plays as Renton has a near-fatal heroin overdose, though the song is probably about Lou Reed's heroin addiction.

* [[Throw the Dog A Bone]]: Spud spends most of the movie as a [[The Unintelligible|semi-coherent]] [[Butt Monkey|walking joke]], but in the end {{spoiler|he's the only one who gets sent his fair share of the loot from Renton}}.

* [[What Happened to The Mouse?|What Happened to the Kitten?]]: [[Subverted]]! "The kitten is fine."

* [[Where Did We Go Wrong?]]: Renton's parents had this basic reaction towards his addiction.

* [[Word Salad Title]]: No one "trainspots" or even says the word in the film. In the book there is a brief scene where an old drunk later implied to be Begbie's father asks Renton and Begbie if they are trainspotting. The term is a slang reference to a junkie's search for a vein to inject drugs in. Fans often speculate as to the various levels of significance the title has to the story's themes.

* [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]]: Viciously averted by Begbie, Alan Venters and Mark's brother Billy. Subverted by Second Prize: when he sees Venters beating up his girlfriend in the pub, he remembers his dad telling him never to hit a girl, advice he claims to have followed; but then observes that holding his girlfriend so she can't walk away from their arguments doesn't really count. Renton disagrees, and says it's the same principle.

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Trainspotting]]