How does the aesthetic quality of ‘Trainspotting’ depict youth and drug addiction?

The opening scene is one of the best and most important scenes as it sets the tone for the whole film. We see Renton and his friends running down a busy street to the non-diegetic music, Iggy pops ‘Lust for life’. The fast pace of this song gives the audience a feeling of the rush and euphoria the group experience throughout their high points in the film. It could also represent the groups fast paced lifestyle as none of them have jobs and are forced to cheat and steal in order to get the money for their next fix. This immediately engages the audience, causing them to question why they are running or what they are running from, a question that is soon answered as the camera angle changes from a close up of their feet hitting the ground to a close up of Renton’s face as we see that there are men in suits chasing them. This seen quickly indicates that these are not a group ordinary, law-abiding young men. This is the theme throughout the film as they are always running away and they use their drug use as a way of doing so. We see them running away from authority, employment, conformity, family and friends. However, most predominantly we see them running from their own responsibilities and the consequences of their actions. The non-diegetic monologue over the music during this scene of Renton saying:  “Choose life, choose a job, choose a career, choose a family…” This gives his philosophy of a typical, middle class life. The monologue ends with “I chose not to choose life” again reflecting that he is running away from conformity. Later in the film we see him with his parents in a house that looks quite suitable for a middle class family however the impression we get from him is very different. He surrounds himself with people of the underclass which he has now also become as he does not work and him and his friends rely on stealing to make a living. This also shows Renton’s rebellion against his parents and the middle class people in general. His views are an accurate representation of working and underclass people at this time due to Margret Thatcher’s introduction of the poll tax to Scotland. This was first tested on Scotland to see how they reacted as the government knew that the Scottish people were already not on their side so losing their votes would not make a huge difference. The poll tax involved taxing people based on the number of people living in a house rather than the value of the house as it was done previously. This meant that many people, typically young groups of men, who could not afford to live on their own were now being individually taxed rather than splitting it between their household. This meant that many Scottish people felt that the government did not care about them as they could not afford to pay this tax. This increased the underclass peoples need to steal in order to gain money to pay their taxes due to it costing them more than before. This could explain why Renton rejects everything that is stereotypically desired by people as he does not want to be part of this society. This point is supported later in the film as Renton famously says “it’s shite being Scottish” and explaining that they are “colonised by wankers” which shows exactly how he feels about the English people which could possibly be due to them neglecting the Scottish.

                The opening scene also quickly cuts to clips of the group playing football against a team of well-groomed and more skilled players. Throughout the film masculinity is symbolised in different ways and one of these ways it through football. The fact that they are seen to have very poor football skills in these scenes may show that they are not very masculine characters and the team they are playing against represent the men they could be if they didn’t spend all their time and money on doing drugs. The parallel editing between these two scenes would usually show two things happening at the same time however in this film this is not the case as the shots show the same people doing different things. However, I feel that both scenes show that the group are losers in every way. We see Renton getting tackled to the ground by a very middle class looking man in a suit and in the football shots we see them being clearly beaten by a group of men in expensive looking, clean football uniforms. Both of these groups of people are seemingly middle class or at least not underclass like Renton and his friends, this could show that the underclass are the losers in society and are always beaten by the people in the higher classes.

                Although all the scenes are hard hitting and draw the viewer deeper in to the story, there are certain scenes that stand out to me. One of these scenes is when Renton climbs into the filthy “worst toilet in Scotland” to retrieve his opium suppository. The natural lighting and grey walls in the bathroom create a depressing atmosphere, showing just how Renton is feeling at the time. In my eyes this scene represents how degrading and dehumanising being an addict can be as he is willing to retrieve drugs from a dirty toilet. This also shows how far addicts are willing to go to get a hit. The lack of lyrics in the tranquil classical music during this scene creates a juxtaposition forcing the audience to focus on the gruesome scene in front of them. The mid shot used in this scene takes the viewer close to the toilet, enveloping the audience in Renton’s  experience and showing just how filthy it actually is which helps them to empathise with him a little more. As the scene progresses the director chooses to take the viewer on a dream -like, hallucinogenic fuelled journey with Renton into the toilet itself. To me this represents just how all- consuming it was for him to retrieve his drugs and how detached from reality he had become. During this scene the colour scheme changes from the dull grey to a beautiful deep blue, reflecting the change in Renton’s mind once he had retrieved his drugs. This shows how much addicts depend on drugs to change their mood and the contrast between the colours in these shots shows how much drugs change the way Renton perceives this situation. Overall colour plays a big part in the film as there are many bright colours in the film however they appear dull and dirty looking. This gives the film a depressive feel as even the bright yellow colours seem to be dim and miserable. The film is a surrealist twist on a realist style film as many of the scenes in the film seem like very gritty depictions of real social issues. However, the exaggerated effects and odd scene choices make this film stand out from the normal realist films. I feel that this adds to the effectiveness of the film as through the eyes of a drug user the world may seem like a very surreal place due to the drugs altering the way they perceive things. I think that this film purposely breaks the conventions of a realist film in order to get across the idea that Renton sees the world in a very different way to the way we see it. The drugs cloud his judgement making him unable to distinguish between what is real and what is not and we, as an audience, are shown what he is seeing rather than what is actually going on.