McElvaine Trainspotting

The political and social message in the film, Trainspotting, is that people will use any excuse to victimize themselves and to justify that victimization. The film centers on aWho group of men who blame their addictions and problems on the state of their country and the town in which they live. Throughout the film, the men say that they have nothing better to live for than heroin. The film is kicked off with a narrative from Mark Renton saying, "Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?". Later in the film, Renton says that he hates being Scottish because they are "the lowest of the fucking low, the scum of the earth, the most wretched, servile, miserable, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization." All of the addicts in the film have lost faith in their government, in society, and in each other and the only thing that they can count on is heroin.But, rather than striving to make changes in their lives they choose a stagnant, poisonous state of being and blame their situation on their surroundings. Mise en Scene is used to portray this sense of being trapped on many occasions throughout the film. A specific example is when Renton overdoses on heroin and hallucinates that he has sunken into the carpet. For the remainder of the scene, we see Renton's world with red carpet lining either side of the shot to symbolize Renton's detachment from the world.

This film does impart somewhat of a positive message to its audience, however. The film leaves the audience with the knowledge that they have the power to choose life. We all have the option of choosing a family, a job, a future, happiness, and that if we choose drugs and addiction we are choosing to become victims.