Trainspotting ideological themes & narrative resolutions
There are some ideological themes presented through characters of Tommy and Renton during the movie and some of them are not clear from the beginning. For example Tommy's ideological theme that he later explores is definitely drugs which is kinda ironic as at the beginning he was that good mate who was the fittest, cleanest, doesn't lie, with nice domestic, has girlfriend and mainly didn't take drugs. This all changes during the movie due to some unexpected events and he looses all of this and in the end dies on AIDS, he also represents the binary opposite of life V death because his life quickly changes from "normal life" to life in misery and dying alone in terrible environment. Here is the difference between him and Renton in the binary opposite as Tommy represents death and Renton life. Renton's ideological themes are mainly escape and betrayal. He is basically the opposite of Tommy and from drugs he escapes to try to have "normal life".
The scene where we see Tommy in his miserable life compared to his previous healthy one is when Renton decides to visit him. The entire scene is just so dark and grim, Tommy's domestic interior is much more horrible than his previous flat, in the mise-en-scene we see a poster of Iggy Pop that clearly represents Tommy hanging on a dirty dark wall a bit ripped suggesting that he's not the old Tommy he used to be. Tommy himself looks very tired and just wrecked from the heroine and much more depressed and unhappy than at the beginning. If we take a look at the performance there is obvious physical difference between these two characters, as Tommy just goes to open the doors and goes back to lay down to his "bed", Renton on the other hand looks more active as he's kicking the ball against the wall so it shows the switch as Tommy was always the one doing workouts and now Renton seems more "fit" than him. At one moment Renton comes closer to Tommy and gives him money for heroine, here is a nice unspoken conversation between these two characters as they are both looking at each other and it's clear how Renton should be at his place instead of him and now Renton gives him money for drugs which is ironic as he basically destroyed Tommy. Interesting is that even when they have this unspoken conversation with lots of reading between lines when they both think about the same thing-"this should be you Renton" they both smiles and actually Tommy doesn't blame him from that as it's just up to luck which Tommy unfortunately didn't have. On the other hand for Renton this is also a second time when he gets lucky and should be at someone else's place, before it was a Spud and the prison and now Tommy and drug addiction, AIDS and misery. In this shot is also caught their positions by camera angles, on Renton is used up shot making him seen "higher" and on better positions than Tommy with down shot on him giving the idea of being "low".
Renton's luck gets him out of this all old drug life and he's the only character with good resolution. Him and Tommy are actually only ones with a resolution, Tommy dies on AIDS which is a clear ending for him and Renton's is maybe more ambiguous but all we know is that he started to live a new "normal" life, which we can't tell about the rest of the group as they end betrayed and without money (except from Spud that got some of them) and we basically cannot know how they decided to live now. Renton's resolution starts when he comes second time to London with the boys because of the drug deal. Since then there are more single shots on Renton being separated from the group which is preparing for his leaving. The only scene in there where they are "happy mates" together is after they get the money from the drugs however the scene right after shows the exact opposite when they are in the bar they don't have trust in each other and make "joke threats" so anyone doesn't dare to steal the money. Renton here already thinks about it and wants to commit the betrayal with Spud that is on the other hand very unsure and doesn't think about betraying others. When there is a fighting scene which causes no one else than choleric Begbie everyone except Renton comes to stop him. The framing and mise-en-ecene of Renton staying at the table alone brightly shows how he's fed up with them and conflicts associated with them so he decides to run away with the money alone. In the hotel Renton gets up in the night and goes to the bathroom to "make up his mind" that is presented by classic mirror shot of himself and knowing he will go steal the money. Begbie's position points out that he also probably didn't want to share the money with others. When Renton leaves the room he sees Spud awake looking at him and here comes another unspoken conversation about giving him chance to go with him but Spud just nods that "he cannot go". The ending scene is about Renton "choosing the life", film form is used to create nice atmosphere so we can see bright lighting, music, and him smiling. Renton admits that he's a bad person but he wants to live and as the audience is aligned with him and see that his friends were dragging him down we can excuse his actions and want better life for him in the end. He again lists the "choose life" things that sound a bit depressive again and so ambiguous but it's just the life that other people live. So through the ideological themes of Renton and his escape are related themes of friendship and life and how a person can change his life and get rid of their toxic friends and surroundings to have a "normal life", however the ambiguity is still there through Renton's nihilistic voice of life, it's more up to viewer to decide how they will take this ambiguity.
There are some ideological themes presented through characters of Tommy and Renton during the movie and some of them are not clear from the beginning. For example Tommy's ideological theme that he later explores is definitely drugs which is kinda ironic as at the beginning he was that good mate who was the fittest, cleanest, doesn't lie, with nice domestic, has girlfriend and mainly didn't take drugs. This all changes during the movie due to some unexpected events and he looses all of this and in the end dies on AIDS, he also represents the binary opposite of life V death because his life quickly changes from "normal life" to life in misery and dying alone in terrible environment. Here is the difference between him and Renton in the binary opposite as Tommy represents death and Renton life. Renton's ideological themes are mainly escape and betrayal. He is basically the opposite of Tommy and from drugs he escapes to try to have "normal life".
The scene where we see Tommy in his miserable life compared to his previous healthy one is when Renton decides to visit him. The entire scene is just so dark and grim, Tommy's domestic interior is much more horrible than his previous flat, in the mise-en-scene we see a poster of Iggy Pop that clearly represents Tommy hanging on a dirty dark wall a bit ripped suggesting that he's not the old Tommy he used to be. Tommy himself looks very tired and just wrecked from the heroine and much more depressed and unhappy than at the beginning. If we take a look at the performance there is obvious physical difference between these two characters, as Tommy just goes to open the doors and goes back to lay down to his "bed", Renton on the other hand looks more active as he's kicking the ball against the wall so it shows the switch as Tommy was always the one doing workouts and now Renton seems more "fit" than him. At one moment Renton comes closer to Tommy and gives him money for heroine, here is a nice unspoken conversation between these two characters as they are both looking at each other and it's clear how Renton should be at his place instead of him and now Renton gives him money for drugs which is ironic as he basically destroyed Tommy. Interesting is that even when they have this unspoken conversation with lots of reading between lines when they both think about the same thing-"this should be you Renton" they both smiles and actually Tommy doesn't blame him from that as it's just up to luck which Tommy unfortunately didn't have. On the other hand for Renton this is also a second time when he gets lucky and should be at someone else's place, before it was a Spud and the prison and now Tommy and drug addiction, AIDS and misery. In this shot is also caught their positions by camera angles, on Renton is used up shot making him seen "higher" and on better positions than Tommy with down shot on him giving the idea of being "low".Renton's luck gets him out of this all old drug life and he's the only character with good resolution. Him and Tommy are actually only ones with a resolution, Tommy dies on AIDS which is a clear ending for him and Renton's is maybe more ambiguous but all we know is that he started to live a new "normal" life, which we can't tell about the rest of the group as they end betrayed and without money (except from Spud that got some of them) and we basically cannot know how they decided to live now. Renton's resolution starts when he comes second time to London with the boys because of the drug deal. Since then there are more single shots on Renton being separated from the group which is preparing for his leaving. The only scene in there where they are "happy mates" together is after they get the money from the drugs however the scene right after shows the exact opposite when they are in the bar they don't have trust in each other and make "joke threats" so anyone doesn't dare to steal the money. Renton here already thinks about it and wants to commit the betrayal with Spud that is on the other hand very unsure and doesn't think about betraying others. When there is a fighting scene which causes no one else than choleric Begbie everyone except Renton comes to stop him. The framing and mise-en-ecene of Renton staying at the table alone brightly shows how he's fed up with them and conflicts associated with them so he decides to run away with the money alone. In the hotel Renton gets up in the night and goes to the bathroom to "make up his mind" that is presented by classic mirror shot of himself and knowing he will go steal the money. Begbie's position points out that he also probably didn't want to share the money with others. When Renton leaves the room he sees Spud awake looking at him and here comes another unspoken conversation about giving him chance to go with him but Spud just nods that "he cannot go". The ending scene is about Renton "choosing the life", film form is used to create nice atmosphere so we can see bright lighting, music, and him smiling. Renton admits that he's a bad person but he wants to live and as the audience is aligned with him and see that his friends were dragging him down we can excuse his actions and want better life for him in the end. He again lists the "choose life" things that sound a bit depressive again and so ambiguous but it's just the life that other people live. So through the ideological themes of Renton and his escape are related themes of friendship and life and how a person can change his life and get rid of their toxic friends and surroundings to have a "normal life", however the ambiguity is still there through Renton's nihilistic voice of life, it's more up to viewer to decide how they will take this ambiguity.
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