Trainspotting: Difference between revisions

=== Provides examples of the following tropes: ===

* [[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. (For what it's worth, Mark acknowledges many times that he must be quite shaming to his parents.)

* [[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.

* [[Bi the Way]]: Mark ends up hooking up with a few men over the course of the novel, and doesn't see it as a big deal, although he feels more comfortable with women.

* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: At least among the major characters. Some of their family members are good, responsible citizens.

* [[Bonnie Scotland]]: Darkly and amusingly subverted.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Tommie is completely and utterly destroyed over the course of the second act.

* [[Britain Is Only London]] Over the top montage of tourist sights when Renton moves to London.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Spud!

* [[The Can Kicked Him]]: Nobody dies in them, but toilets provide the setting for some of the movie's nastiest scenes, and at one point Begbie beats a man in a pub toilet until his blood mixes with the urine.

* [[Chained to A Railway]]: The trailer for the film, even though it doesn't happen.

{{quote| For a vegetarian, Mark, you're a fucking EVIL shot}}

** Begbie also tends to fight dirty.

* [[Heroic Sociopath]]: Begbie's friends try to treat him this way, though he turns his rage on them often enough.

* [[Home Porn Movie]]: Renton makes off with one made by Tommy and Lizzie. Hilarity does not ensue.

* [[Improvised Weapon]]: As an accomplished bar brawler, Begbie makes plenty of use of these. The book mentions that he has an arsenal of Stanley knives, knuckledusters, sharpened screwdrivers, and knitting needles (because there's less chance they get stuck in the victim's ribcage). Renton states that he does not actually rate Begbie as a terribly strong fighter without his arsenal.

* [[In Da Club]]: Well, sort of, since there are two clubbing scenes, but it's subverted. The music isn't always banging, the lighting isn't always perfect, and not everyone is attractive, stylishly dressed, or having fun. Least of all Renton.

** 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]]

* [[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'").

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Mark's brother Davie.

* [[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}}.

* [[Unconventional Formatting]]: In the novel, slightly unusual textual layouts when Renton is hallucinating because of withdrawal.

* [[The Unintelligible]]:

* [[Violent Glaswegian]]: Begbie, and plenty more besides.

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Renton and Sick Boy. In the book, Renton notes that the insults which began as jokes are becoming more and more deeply meant.

* [[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.

* [[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.