Trainspotting: Difference between revisions
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* [[Amazingly Embarrassing Parents]]: At the celebration dinner following the suspension of his sentence, Mark Renton's mother: tells Begbie and Sick Boy all about her periods; pinches Renton's cheek and calls him her wee bairn, gleefully informing Begbie and Sick Boy that he ''hates'' being called that; then tops it all off by singing Mark his former 'favorite song,' a little ditty about momma's little baby loving his shortbread. Sick Boy joins in. It's enough to make Renton wish he'd gone to prison instead of Spud. He also feels humiliated many, many times during House Arrest, but as it's the degradation of his own addiction that's being rubbed in his face, that's not exactly applicable
* [[Anti-Hero]]: Mark Renton, Despite being a heroin addict who shoplifts, sells drugs, takes sexual advantage of his late brother's widow, and
* [[Armoured Closet Gay]]: Begbie. Robert Carlyle played him as a closeted homosexual whose bursts of rage stemmed partially from his fear of being outed, and [[Word of God]] agreed with the interpretation. This is insinuated with a scene in which Begbie makes Renton put a cigarette in his mouth, which is charged with sexual tension.
* [[Author Tract]]: Renton's rant against the British involvement in Northern Ireland and Unionism.
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* [[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.
* [[Erudite Stoner]]: Sick Boy.
{{quote|'''Renton''' He's always been lacking in moral fibre.
'''Swanny''' He knows a lot about [[Sean Connery]].
'''Renton''' That's hardly a substitute.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: In the book, Begbie gets some last-minute characterization as it's explained that his father essentially abandoned him as a child. Paralleling this is the fashion in which Begbie treats his own children.
* [[Fun with Subtitles]]:
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** After his overdose his parents lock him in his room and force Cold Turkey on him.
* [[Good Times Montage]]: In the film, there's a brief one when Spud, Renton, and Sick Boy start using heroin again. Predictably, though, [[It Got Worse|the good times don't last]].
* [[Groin Attack]]: Renton does this to a pitbull with an air rifle.
{{quote|For a vegetarian, Mark, you're a fucking EVIL shot.}}
** Begbie also tends to fight dirty.
* [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]: Begbie is almost as dangerous to his "mates" as he is to everyone else. Renton even outlines a number of Begbie's myths that the gang must play along with so as not to get beaten up.
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* [[No Periods, Period]]: Even more thoroughly and explicitly averted than [[Nobody Poops]], and even more [[Squick|Squicktastic]].
** 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]].
{{quote|-- '''Begbie''' Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck... [[Cluster F-Bomb|FUCK!]]}}
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: In the book, Begbie abandons his and June's son. He's previously had kids with other women as well. It's implied that the same thing happened to him as a child; Renton and Frank run into an "auld drunkard" in a train station who Renton only later realizes was Begbie's father (this scene also provides the book's title, as Begbie's father asks the two if they are "trainspottin'").
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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.
* [[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...
* [[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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* [[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.
* [[Xanatos Roulette]]: Used and lampshaded in the novel's ''Bad Blood'' chapter, where the HIV-positive character Davie pulls this on Alan Venters, the man who gave the HIV to the former's girlfriend by raping her, thus leading to Davie's own contraction of the virus. His plan is to make friends with a dying Venters, so that he is allowed to visit him in hospital, and also seduces the mother of the rapist's only son so that one day she may trust him enough to let him babysit for her. When this happens,
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