Trainspotting: Difference between revisions

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* [[Character Development]]: the first time around, both book- and movie-wise, Dianne is portrayed as a sex-crazed, club-hopping teenager; by the time ''Porno'' comes up she's toned her recreational drug use down and she matured into a pretty well-adjusted university student, working on her thesis and being more than capable to hold her own in a conversation. She still loves to party, though.

* [[Character Filibuster]]: Renton's "Choose life" rant.

** Serves as an [[Ironic Echo]] as this is what Renton states he intends to do {{spoiler|with the money he stole from his friends.}}

** Serves as an [[Ironic Echo]] as this is what Renton states he intends to do {{spoiler|with the money he stole from his friends}}.

* [[Comforting the Widow]]: Spud's mother receives this from Renton and his parents, but Begbie twists it into a rant that blames her for her son's imprisonment. In the book, Renton says: "There were no sacred cows for Begbie. Not even old ones from Leith whose laddie had just gone to prison." Additionally, Mark puts in a great deal of effort comforting his brother Billy's widow immediately after his funeral.

* [[Composite Character]]: Several in the film. Justified in that the book had such a huge cast that they had to be trimmed for the film.

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* [[Disgusting Public Toilet]]: "The Worst Toilet In Scotland".

* [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing]]: Mostly averted. The movie portrays casual drug use as it really is - a series of enjoyable interludes inevitably followed by crashes into depression or worse. For the habitual users, their fix is a desperate need, and while their lives perhaps remain "fun" by their own definition, they appear squalid, wretched, and disgusting from the perspective of a sober person.

* [[Dramatic Ellipsis]]: In the movie Renton, while narrating his own inner thoughts in the third person, says them out loud. "Dot, Dot, DOT."

* [[Dramatic Ellipsis]]: In the movie, Renton, while narrating his own inner thoughts in the third person, says them out loud. "Dot, Dot, DOT."

* [[Dropped a Bridget On Him]]: In the movie, but not the novel. One of Begbie's club hookups turns out to be packing a salami surprise. His reaction is [[Oh Crap|predictable]], though much less violent than might have been anticipated. In the book, this happened to ''Renton'', not Begbie. However, as opposed to panicking, Mark admits to probably just being bisexual and ends up getting to third base with him. Eventually, the violently homophobic Begbie caught Renton fondling the transvestite and beat him until he couldn't walk for a couple days.

* [[Drugs Are Bad]]: Seemingly averted at first, but ultimately played straight. Renton gives an articulate and fierce defense of his lifestyle in the beginning, and the gang seem to be living fast and carefree at times, but tragedy and horror strike often. Ultimately Renton leaves the life.

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* [[Informed Attribute]]:

** An in-universe example: Begbie fondly says of Mark: "This is a useless bastard; but he's goat style. A man ay wit. A man ay class. A man not unlike my good self." Immediately following this, Mark snarkily narrates: "Begbie always constructed imaginary qualities in his friends, then shamelessly claimed them for himself." He also notes that in spite of Begbie's fearsome reputation, he's not that tough without using a weapon.

** The drug-dealing, pimping Sick Boy is supposedly an exceedingly awful human being, but compared to Frank Begbie and Alan Venters, he comes off as just a lovable rogue. {{spoiler|He does become a lot worse in the sequel. He's not above blackmailing city officials and pimping out girls for his own ends.}}

** The drug-dealing, pimping Sick Boy is supposedly an exceedingly awful human being, but compared to Frank Begbie and Alan Venters, he comes off as just a lovable rogue. {{spoiler|He does become a lot worse in the sequel. He's not above blackmailing city officials and pimping out girls for his own ends}}.

** A more subtle one: Renton is, presumably, ''supposedly'' good at [[The Beautiful Game|football]]. We never really get to see his skills, but he does wear the sacred #10 jersey.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: The "Choose Life" speech. The first time Renton delivers it, he's being sarcastic and cynical. The second time, he's fully sincere about living that life.

* [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope]]: Not exactly, since the "heroes" are the ones who introduced him to the habit in the first place, but Tommy goes from soothing the pain of a breakup with drugs to ruining his entire life with drugs in the space of a few scenes.

* [[Just for Pun]]

* [[Karma Houdini]]: By the end of the story Renton in particular escaped any particular punishment. [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] or averted in other cases:

* [[Karma Houdini]]: By the end of the story, Renton in particular escaped any particular punishment. [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] or averted in other cases:

** Spud did time near the middle of the movie.

** Sick Boy and Allison lost their child.

** Begbie {{spoiler|lost his money and presumably had to deal with the cops in the end.}}

** Begbie {{spoiler|lost his money and presumably had to deal with the cops in the end}}.

** Mother Superior got his just desserts only in the deleted scenes. {{spoiler|He lost one of his legs and became a beggar.}}

** Mother Superior got his just desserts only in the deleted scenes. {{spoiler|He lost one of his legs and became a beggar}}.

** Alan Venters gets one of the most horrifically justified comeuppances of any character in fiction.

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: Excluding one-shot characters, let's see: Mark, Spud, Sick Boy, Second Prize, Begbie, Tommy, Johnny Swan, Kelly, Alison, Donnelly, Stevie, Alan Venters, Gavin Temperley, Mark's parents and brothers - and these are just the characters introduced within the first 70 pages. The cast is cut down significantly in the film to deal mostly with Renton's story.

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* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]: Screenwriter John Hodge has pretty much said he considered the book unfilmable, so huge amounts were cut and new bits added to give the remaining fragments some sense of being part of an actual narrative.

* [[School Uniforms Are the New Black]]: After the first scene with Dianne in the club/having sex with Renton, she is never seen again not wearing her school uniform.

* [[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.}}

* [[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.}}

* [[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}}.

* [[Single-Issue Psychology]]: Subverted: when Mark is undergoing rehab he sees a succession of psychologists and counselors, each of whom try to attribute his heroin addiction to a single event in his life or facet of his personality (guilt over his brother Davie's death, his refusal to integrate himself into society). Mark, to his credit, doesn't believe a word of it.

* [[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.

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* [[With Friends Like These...]]: Everyone is terrified by Begbie, and they all understand that he could turn on them at the drop of a hat. In the book, Renton elaborates that Begbie's friends have to pretend to believe several myths about him to keep in his good graces.

** "Mother Superior". Most of them seem to look at him as a mentor, or possibly even father figure, at least in the movie. Of course, he's also the one encouraging their addictions, since he's the one selling them smack and thus making money off of keeping them hooked.

* [[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.

* [[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.

** Also, when Second Prize tries to stop Venters publicly beating up his girlfriend, the woman suddenly turns into a [[Violently Protective Girlfriend]], and quite viciously attacks Second Prize. Even though he's shocked by the sudden assault, his "don't hit girls" instinct is so strong that instead of doing anything to her, he turns around and punches someone else, who had annoyed him by ignoring Venters hitting her.