Trainspotting Contextualised

Areas like Greater Manchester and London were a few of many English and Scottish cities that experiences major heroin outbreaks during the mind 1980s, Western Britain being mostly effected in particular. These outbreaks affected predominantly 18 to 25 year olds who more mostly unemployed and living in deprived urban areas. Addictions usually lasted many years and led to involvement tin crimes like drug dealing and prostitution. Young people largely avoided heroin in the early 1990s, but rumours in 199 indicated that the ‘heavy end’ drug may be making a return.

Danny Boyle directed and produced Trainspotting. In interviews he has claimed that he likes to shoot low budget and work through his films “inch by inch” with a sense of naivety in the filmmaking process, not having a fully formulated, rigid plan to stick to. He prefers to shoot through wide shots, framing characters in landscapes. He also like his actors to “physicalise” his films and convey their emotions through their body language, likely due to his history as a state director. He also aims to create a “visceral energy” through. His films through the pace and movement of it. He also claims that 70-80% of a movie is sound, and without good sound a movie cannot succeed.

The author of the original Trainspotting book, Irvine Welsh, has said that he likes to include moral complexity in his works, avoiding clearly cut good/bad guys, using interesting characters to for the audience to follow. He wants his readers to think “God, these are real people that are going through real conflicts; life isn’t coming easy to them, they have to make decisions and try to navigate the consequences of their actions.”.

The film revitalised the career of Iggy Pop, a rock/punk artist at his height in the 1990s. His song ‘Lust For Life’ became deeply connected with the I’ll, many people recognising it as being from Trainspotting. Released in 1977, the track is an exemplification of rock/dance music of the time the film is set in, one cultural aspect of the late 1980s and early 1990s that are depicted in the film.