How Trainspotting Uses Poop to Become Goated
In Trainspotting, we get to see Obi Wan Kenobi tweak out over heroin, claw his hands through his feces in the most disgusting toilet you could imagine, have sex with a minor, steal and watch his best friend’s sex tape, and cook up a hit after emotionlessly looking at a dead baby. I fucking loved it.
In a way, though, Trainspotting isn’t the typical film I would enjoy. Much of the narrative, in taking from the collection of short stories it’s based on, is structured without a specific mission/set of events playing out. That said, Trainspotting works around this by finding ways to incorporate crazy shit (both literally and figuratively) into its short segments in a way that is fun and pushes the overall story forward. In terms of this overall story, while it is true that there is not necessarily an overarching plot playing out, we do not need it.
In understanding why the above is the case, it is important to say that it wasn’t until the last minute of the movie that I was fully convinced by it. Where Trainspotting really breaks ground is in the powerful parallel between its opening and closing monologues, encapsulated by the phrase “Choose Life”. What does it mean to choose life, you ask? It means having to care about the fact that you just clawed your hands through a toilet full of shit, the fact that you stole and watched your best friend’s sex tape, the fact that you looked emotionlessly at a deceased baby and your first thought was to shoot up more heroin. Choosing life means that you have to take everything seriously and when you take everything seriously, nothing is fun. Such being the case, Mark, the main character heroin addict played by Obi Wan Kenobi, responds to this notion of choosing life at the start of the film by saying “Now why would I wanna go and do a thing like that?”
As Mark’s attitude becomes apparent, the film’s mirrors this. In dealing with intense moments, rather than highlighting the emotion within them, Trainspotting both accentuates the discomfort of these scenes and humors itself through them. In either case, there is a sense of avoiding or ignoring the severity of what’s at hand. Where this helps Trainspotting establish a fun and offbeat tone, the real glory of it comes through the parallel it creates between audience and characters. For those who are truly able to buy into what this film sells, you are left somewhat overlooking those wild and sometimes harsh moments in the same way the characters do as the story forgets and moves on.
This is why the parallel at the end cuts so deeply. When Mark’s attitude flips and he says he’s cleaning up his act and choosing life at the end of the film - where an added tension is placed as he steals from his friends in order to do so - we’re left with something that sticks for once. This time around, in contrast to the previous and fatal efforts from Mark to resist his drug addiction, his commitment towards getting better feels more firm. Ultimately, we’ll never know (unless we watch Trainspotting 2) how it ends up for Mark and his fight against addiction (still probably not great), but that doesn’t matter because what really makes this closing monologue hit its mark is the decisiveness in which it is told.
That said, going into Trainspotting, I thought its short story-ish format would leave me at most liking it, but never loving it. However, the wacky scenes it buys into and the way it frames these scenes through its opening and closing monologue proved my initial thoughts wrong. Truly, this is one of the great films to convince you that you absolutely must go on a bender. As an even better bonus, if you are someone with an affinity for poop, you’ll find yourself jumping for joy by the end of the first thirty minutes. In any case, I recommend you get watching.