Talk:Trainspotting (film)/Archive 1

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Archive 1

Merge?

Both this article and the one for the book are rather short. Wouldn't it be best if we just merged the 2 articles together? After all, they aren't really that different of subjects, at least not enough to justify having more than one article. -- LGagnon — Preceding undated comment added 17:44, 19 March 2004 (UTC)

I think the default on Wikipedia should be that when movies are adapted into books, both the book and the movie should be covered in one article. I would say that some film adaptations are so different to the book that they should be covered in seperate articles, and since I haven't read the book I don't know whether its one of those exceptions (although I suspect that it isn't). Saul Taylor 04:53, 21 Mar 2004 (UTC)
I have read the book. Most of the scenes in the film are taken from the book, but there is a fairly big difference between the two. It's not enough to justify two separate articles though. -- Jim Regan 06:27, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Wrong link

The link to Andrew Macdonald on this article goes to a different Andrew Macdonald.

Tbe real one's bio is at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0531602/bio and has nothing to do with Nazi Germany. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.209.248.106 (talk) 17:23, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Captions

Captions from the movie [1] 70.181.65.95 08:30, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

Methadone

When Renton takes part in the treatment program for heroin addicts, wouldn't it make more sense that he is prescribed the real-life treatment opiate, methadone, rather than 'methadin'? After all, when spoken with a Scottish accent, methadone sounds like 'Methadun'. -- Jiggssaw — Preceding undated comment added 02:48, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

No Critical reviews??

I was disgusted to find that a film of this stature did not have a section on critical reviews. I have added a pretty in depth one, although I am sure more users will want to add to it. Notable additions, I assume, would be a negative review. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Macca7174 (talk • contribs) 12:28, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, if you were disgusted by not finding a reviews section then add it. You're as responsible for that section being missing as any of us are (also it would be helpful that you signed your comments.) --Screech 19:36, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
The negative reviews that are linked from the Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic pages are pretty unreliable - that is, they are "internet reviews", or are dead links, or are merely 100 words long.--Macca7174 00:24, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Introduction too large

I think a large section of the introduction should be placed within the main body of the article. It's full of additional information that really doesn't fit as an introduction Canking 01:02, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Trainspotting movie.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 02:38, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Original research/uncited claims

This article contains several instances of original research and uncited claims. Examples:

  • Plot
"The cause of death is neglect while they were all present: an infant's distorted wails play over the preceding drug montage" - the cause of death is never explicitly stated in the film, nor is any 'distorted wail' apparent in the soundtrack for said montage. Any such inference, if uncited, would fall under the auspice of WP:NOR.
  • Renton's Narration
"At the end of the film he pledges to "choose life" (and go straight) but the £14,000 slung over his shoulder along with his recent reintroduction to heroin use, make his statement questionable, especially since during his last hit in the film he narrated, "there are final hits and final hits. Which one was this going to be?" - The statement that Renton's words are 'questionable' are the editor's personal interpretation. Also the question ending this section reads more like an essay and implies a personal agenda on the part of the editor.
  • Other versions
"Because of the strong Scottish accents and language of the characters, it was believed that American audiences might have difficulty understanding them." - any claim of motivation for an action needs to be cited.
  • Soundtracks
"The Trainspotting soundtracks were two best-selling albums of music centred around the film" - rather than using a general qualification like 'best-selling', it would be better to put cited figures showing sales figures for said album.
  • Locations
"Despite being set in Edinburgh almost all of the film was filmed in Glasgow, apart from the opening scenes of the film which were filmed in Edinburgh and the final scenes which were filmed in London." - this statement needs to cited.

Rather than tagging the article with multiple {{Fact}} templates I put these observations here.

LeilaniLad (talk) 17:08, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

something to consider

trainspotting has also come to mean taking an interest in trivia or some other form of esoterica... in the movie, sickboy originally gets off of heroin by becoming a sean connery/bond film buff (liberation through becoming a trainspotter). Furthermore, when taking this into context, the overarching theme of the movie can be interpreted as salvation through trainspotting: coming to appreciate the trivial aspects in life. In the case of the main character, renton, his opening monologue suggests that it is the triviality of life that he is rejecting...in the end, not only does he comes to appreciate these trivialities, but they actually become the guiding force in turning his life around. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.54.144.188 (talk) 04:30, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Um, the usage of 'trainspotting' to mean 'taking an obsessive interest in trivial things' comes from the actually hobby of train spotting, where enthusiasts write down the numbers and types of trains they see in a book, and predates the film by some time. People who were obsessively anal about things most people wouldn't think about were (and still are) pejoratively called 'trainspotters'. It's roughly synonymous with geek. I see your point though, and taking that into context, the film's title does make more sense. I'd always seen the title as saying that, if they hadn't rejected the norms of society, they would be too bothered by the trivialities and mundanities of life, just as trainspotters are. --Stevefarrell 23:10, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
Renton is comparing his heroin addiction with the countless other addictions those around him indulge in. Having a house, a job, a family, these could all be classified as addictions. We work (most of us) 40 hours or more a week, all so we can earn money to live in our house and support our family until the day we die. To some, this might seem pointless. To others, it is the glue that holds our minds and bodies together. If these things were taken away from us, we would react in much the same way as a drug addict without his drugs. We would be lost, hurting and in complete and utter despair. Without our homes, our family, our money we are nothing. Without his heroin, Renton is nothing. He is lost, hurting and in complete and utter despair. The movie draws more clearly the similarities between what we see as acceptable addictions and unacceptable ones. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.88.179.74 (talk) 21:59, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

"The screenplay, by John Hodge, was adapted from Welsh's novel. It does not contain any references to the non-drug-related hobby of train spotting." Now, I may be missing something but...I don't know if these two sentences are linked to say that the actual screenplay doesn't contain any reference but the film definitely does. When renton is going cold turkey he has to stare at the children's train wallpaper. --Chrisjwowen (talk) 13:08, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

'Trainspotting' is a British slang term for injecting heroin :) 91.104.78.220 (talk) 20:45, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

"choose life"

MIght mention that it was the catch phrase of Anti-drug (addiction) television adverts in the 80's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Timtak (talk • contribs) 08:59, 6 August 2008 (UTC)

  1. Don't choose the booze
  2. If you choose the booze, you lose

The Just Say 'No' to Drugs campaign that was heralded in when Ronald Regan was president, may have been a good start in bringing national awareness to the drug problem in the U. S. Critics, then and now say that this campaign does not go far enough. Other critics say that this campaign has had the "forbidden fruit" effect of making drugs more enticing.

”This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” ( Deuteronomy 30:19)

You mean these ones or else. Kasaalan (talk) 00:38, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Parodies

Now I'm in no way a Simpsons expert but I read that the Treehouse of Horror episode mentioned in the parodies section actually aired in 1990, 6 years before Trainspotting was released. Could someone maybe check and/or delete it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.242.223.202 (talk) 21:37, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

It's linking to the original Treehouse of Horror, not a specific episode. I vaguely remember it, so I will try and find a more specific link. (eventually) Anrkist 09:40, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
Nevermind, it's fine. Don't Wiki when drinking. Choose Beer. Anrkist 09:47, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Articles

To use with this article--J.D. (talk) 19:08, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Year of setting

"follows a group of heroin addicts in early 1990s economically-depressed Edinburgh"

I thought it was set in about 1986, even though music from the 90's is used. Is there a canonical source on this? The article on the book says "The novel is set in the mid to late 1980s." So why is the film not the same? I thought that Renton being a property agent was supposed to be during the Thatcher boom?--LeedsKing (talk) 08:14, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

Unusual DVD

The DVD copy of Trainspotting I rented had a double-sided disc inside, with one side containing the film in 4:3, and one in 16:9. Is this unusual DVD worth noting on the article? I know there is a Unusual types of gramophone records list. Is there an equivalent for DVDs on which this disc belongs?

58.173.226.91 (talk) 10:49, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

No, that's totally frivolous, there are millions of DVDs with fullscreen on one side and widescreen on the other... how is that unusual at all? AC (talk) 05:30, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Scotland

Why is 'country' listed as both 'United Kingdom' and 'Scotland'? Billy Elliot is not listed as 'United Kingdom' and 'England', so why is there any need for more detail here? Kohran 11:17, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Here --- Politics of Scotland TheAsianGURU (talk) 21:46, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Why is England mentioned but not Scotland: "Trainspotting was the second highest-grossing British-made film in England". It is either because they are only reffering to England or they are one of these individuals who thinks that everyone living on this island refers to it as England and not Britain! 11:10 1 January 2009 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.46.18.37 (talk) 11:17, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

The cited source states 'was threatening to become the second-biggest homegrown film in Britain's history', which doesn't back up the claim in the article, and doesn't mention 'England' anyway.--Michig (talk) 11:34, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Inaccurate quote

In the plot section it reads 'Begbie is shown supplying his addicted friends with money procured through armed robbery, but warns Renton not to spend it "on smack."' even though the words spoken in the scene are "No fucking skag". If people are going to put things in quotation marks it would make more sense if they are actual quotes. 60.242.66.148 (talk) 15:57, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Diane

Diane is mentioned throughout the plot summary, but never introduced (she's the underaged girl, right?). I'd fix it, but it's been too long since I've seen the movie. Czolgolz (talk) 02:10, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

Poster

There's not a word about the film's iconic poster, even though it was very widely imitated for several years afterwards. It deserves a section of its own, if someone more knowledgeable than I is willing to start it. ProhibitOnions (T) 22:10, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Trivia

"James Bond-obsessed amoral con artist Sick Boy (Miller)"

"Jonny Lee Miller's maternal grandfather was actor Bernard Lee, famous for playing the character M in the first eleven James Bond films." - Jonny Lee Miller — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.115.118.178 (talk) 02:57, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Crosslands pub

The Crosslands pub mentioned in filming locations has recently changed name to 'so, what happens next'. http://www.sowhatcomesnext.co.uk/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.246.224.77 (talk) 19:46, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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  • Hi I just checked the link, it just redirects straight to the LA Times homepage rather than an article, any chance you could fix this?

AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 14:23, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Diane's age

The plot section says she's 15, the casting section says 14. Which is correct? --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 16:07, 8 September 2015 (UTC)

Hi, I will copy what I have said in a more recent post on the topic, hope this helps:
Diane is 15 in the film, I have searched the film and towards the end Renton asks her 'And what age are you? Thirteen? Fourteen?' to which she replies 'Sixteen next month'. This is the only explicit allusion to her age throughout the film. 16:07, 16 February 2016 (UTC)AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk)

Drinking age in England, and Diane

//In the morning, he realises that Diane is a 15-year-old schoolgirl and that her "flatmates" are actually her parents. Horrified, Renton tries to shake the incident, but is forced to remain in touch after Diane blackmails him.//

Uum. Granted, the drinking age in England is 18, as opposed to 21 in the USA, but still, it's not 15.

They met in a night club. As in, she would have to be drinking age to be in the building, let alone leave with a guy.

Furthermore, it is far from unheard of for people to turn 18 while they are still Upperclassmen (either Seniors or Juniors) in High School.

The 3 facts above are what I know for sure. Although I could be mistaken, I believe the setting of the movie takes place at a time when statutory rape in England was 21, before it was lowered to 18. The drinking age in Britain, unlike the USA, was 18, but statutory rape was 21 at the time (later lowered to 18, irrelevant to the events of the film given its setting). Is anyone able to dispute these points?

Not to mention, I've actually seen this movie, and I don't remember Diane saying she was a Freshman. It makes sense that she was an 18-year-old Upperclassmen, maybe even a 19-year-old Senior for all we know (of drinking age in the UK), but it was still statutory rape because statutory rape was 21 in the UK at the time. The Mysterious El Willstro (talk) 03:52, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

They met in a night club. As in, she would have to be drinking age to be in the building - Theoretically, perhaps. But in practice... hardly! Especially back then, you wouldn't have had to show ID unless it was a members only club. They might have had someone on the door to weed out the more obviously underage, but I don't think someone like Diane would have been at all hindered by it! --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 08:59, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
Diane is 15 in the film, I have searched the film and towards the end Renton asks her 'And what age are you? Thirteen? Fourteen?' to which she replies 'Sixteen next month'. This is the only explicit allusion to her age throughout the film. AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 16:04, 16 February 2016 (UTC)
  • The film isn't set in England so I am not sure how relevant this is. --John (talk) 13:15, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
The film is set in Scotland, which is part of the UK and therefore has the same drinking laws. I believe this is therefore relevant and has also led to us making a change to inaccuracies on the page.AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 13:25, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
Scotland and England are different countries with different legal systems. You're right that the drinking age is the same in both countries though. John (talk) 18:08, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
The drink driving limits have been different for a while now. Lower in Scotland. --John (talk) 21:23, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
And the age of consent has been 16 in both countries for a good long time now. --John (talk) 18:52, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Popular Culture Section

I have taken the trouble to add a 'In Popular Culture' section under the 'reception' heading as I feel with a film as iconic and that has been referenced as much as Trainspotting, it will be useful for people to see how far the films influence has spread. Please feel free to add more to the list if you can find any. AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 11:04, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

I'll give you a couple from British television, both from 1999, but I can't reference them. (1) The first episode of Miami 7 had a parody of the worst toilet in Scotland scene. I remember being surprised at the time that a joke which relied on familiarity with an 18-rated film had been allowed to appear in a kids' show. (2) The opening scene of the first episode of Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll is a parody of the opening scene of Trainspotting, set to "You Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes, which according to the Lust for Life (song) article, is the original source for the famous "Lust for Life" beat (and even if it isn't, there's no mistaking the similarity). --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 11:30, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
  • No point unless it's referenced. --John (talk) 13:16, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
Hi John, we will undo your changes and then add reference to these, apologies for this mistake as we are doing a student research project so aren't too familiar with the 'do's and do not's' of wikipedia. Please can you message one of us or post on our section on the talk page before undoing our hard work next time so we can make the relevent changes and improve not only the page, but also our knowledge of how to edit Wikipedia. We would also like to know why you undid our removals of some of the irrelevant information on the 'Filming Locations' page, for example the exact school attended by Diane and the exact flat and number that Renton shows people around, as far as we can tell this is trivial and largely useless to most people who visit this page.AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 13:35, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
See WP:V. John (talk) 18:10, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
WP:IPC is also worth a look. For any of these items to be worth including we would need proper third-party sources testifying to their notability. I have removed them again. --John (talk) 18:39, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
As regards the "Filming locations" material, I have inspected the source and it appears to be valid and contain the information it supports. If you wished to remove it, I think you would have to make an argument here and achieve consensus here before removing it. I am not sure how I feel about it myself, but as it is referenced and seems relevant to the article, we should at least discuss it here first. I hope that makes sense. --John (talk) 20:37, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
Okay John thanks for this, we will open a discussion about the Filming Locations section and will leave the popular culture part until we can find third-party sources. Thanks for your explaination and help! --AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 11:32, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Student Research Project

Our group will be working to better this page, please message us if you have any questions about our edits

Rickqmul (talk) 12:08, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 12:09, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

THETitusBramble (talk) 12:10, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

Majasyska (talk) 12:11, 22 January 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here are the areas we will be working on over the next few weeks :

  • Citations – Checking for dead or confusing citations, cleaning up external/internal links through the page
  • Check external / archived links
  • Filming Locations - We believe this section is largely irrelevant so will be cleaning it up and keeping only the information that is largely useful
  • Fact checking - There are a few factual inconsistencies throughout the page which we are looking to correct
  • Popular Culture - As a 'cult' film, there are many references to this in external media and we are looking to start a collection here for people to contribute to

Overall, we are here to make a difference and by making quality changes, rather than changes in quantity, we hope to wholly improve the standard of this page.

AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 13:28, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

- Citation link for Interview magazine article Trainspotting's Engine That Could previously lead to Interview magazine's Wiki page. This has now been changed to link to the article in question here - http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/new-again-trainspotting/#_

THETitusBramble (talk) 15:30, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have participated in some talk page discussions and have updated the page to reflect Diane's real age in the film. I have also added an interesting quote to the critical receptions page in which Boyle and Macdonald indirectly responded to some of the accusations against the film. AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 16:05, 16 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have scoured the web for a source that states Danny Boyle made his actors watch certain films to inspire their roles and managed to find a review from a 1996 film magazine so have added that to replace the [citation needed] note it had before. I have also fixed inconsistencies with the budget throughout the article to align with the source given by Walker in his text.AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 16:50, 16 February 2016 (UTC)


_________________________________________________________________________________________________

One of the sources for 'Grundy' was not referenced properly throughout and was formatted incorrectly so I changed it. Also this statement:

Macdonald worked with Miramax Films to sell the film as a British Pulp Fiction, flooding the market with postcards, posters, books, soundtrack albums and a revamped music video for "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop directed by Boyle

is linked to a source which makes no mention of any of the points made, nor can I find anything that reinforces them, so I have added a 'citation needed' tag so that hopefully the original author can point us in the direction of where they got the information


AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 10:25, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi everyone, since you're doing this anyway, maybe you can look into this and add it with citations? I seem to recall that in the special edition DVD extras (and probably elsewhere), Danny Boyle mentioned that they cast Keith Allen as the drug dealer in Trainspotting with the idea that it was the same character whose death sets up the main plot of Shallow Grave (and so Trainspotting necessarily takes place before Shallow Grave). Possibly worth mentioning in the "casting" section? --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 11:10, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
Hi Walnuts go kapow, that's really interesting and I actually managed to find out about this in a text about Danny Boyle's films so have now added it in under the casting section as you suggested! Thankyou for your help.AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 13:08, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Under the 'Filming Locations' section, we have decided to delete a number of filming locations (3) from the list; we thought the list was too long, and contained locations of settings that were not particularly memorable or interesting THETitusBramble (talk) 12:52, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Just updated some grammatical inconsistencies in the 'Legacy' section THETitusBramble (talk) 13:18, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Little point to note, film titles should appear in italics, this is good practice on or off Wikipedia! Just saying as I noticed a few recent edits missed them. --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 18:40, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for this! We'll incorporate this into all future changes AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 11:30, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have changed the distributor information which was originally just cited as 'Miramax' to 'PolyGram Pictures (UK) // Miramax Films (USA)' and then linked relevant sources from the reading that I found AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk) 11:30, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Added citation to the opening paragraph about release date. Majasyska (talk) 12:25, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Also found the Live Forever documentary and managed to find the part with Trainspotting in, despite being a small part I added the reference into the article. Majasyska (talk) 12:39, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Added a "Styles and Themes" section to the page, detailing Boyle's use of music and visual style for effect. Also, we took two sentences referring to influences on the look of the film (namely Francis Bacon and Gravity's Rainbow) and put them under this header, which we felt was more appropriate. Rickqmul (talk) 12:56, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Filming Locations Section

I feel like some of the trivia in the 'Filming Location' section isn't useful and whilst it is cited accurately, the information appears far more specific than anything else on the page or that anyone is likely to need, for example:

  • A shoplifting scene was filmed in the music department of a Princes Street John Menzies, now a Next.
The fact a shoplifting scene was filmed is interesting, the history of the shop is not useful to a Trainspotting page.
  • The chase ending is on Calton Road, Edinburgh, near the rear entrance of Waverley Station.
Is it likely anyone will need this information ? It may be true but is it useful?
  • The flat that Renton shows the young couple around [...]is 78A Talgarth Road in West Kensington, London, opposite West Kensington tube station.
Seems very specific for what is ultimately a very minor section of the film
  • The school attended by Diane is Jordanhill in Glasgow's West End
Again very specific, largely useless and trivial

Much of the other information I can understand may be useful to some people, these just seem very insignificant unless someone can provide me with some reasons I may be mistaken I believe these should be removed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by AwolAKAtheYoungJoeCole (talk • contribs) 11:47, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

I think you should leave the location details in. This is partly a matter of personal preference: your "trivial" may be my "fascinating". And in some cases, detailed location information has become of interest because of how the area has changed since filming. Examples: The Third Man, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World, and Vertigo. I recently added a locations section to Hail, Caesar! (Coen Brothers: coming to the UK soon) Because of the disappearance of Los Angeles period locations, my attitude is that no documented shooting location is too small to mention.Barte (talk) 15:51, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
Agree with Barte, especially since with Google Streetview people are able to see for themselves how locations have changed from when they appeared in the film.yorkshiresky (talk) 18:26, 19 February 2016 (UTC)

Improving Soundtrack section

We're students at QMUL and have been tasked with improving this page. We've noticed that there is very little on the soundtrack section. While there is a link which leads to a separate page of the soundtrack itself, it doesn't have any detail other than the songs.

This section has great potential to be improved due to how iconic the soundtrack is as well as defining music from that era. We have a set of academic sources to refer to but any suggestions from where to look for information regarded the creation and influence for the soundtrack would be appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JMasonManning (talk • contribs) 17:36, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

Inaccuracies in article corrected

Corrected the lines below for the following reasons

>>Renton urges people from all walks of life to "choose life" - meaning they should choose to live a traditional family lifestyle<<

Renton doesn't urge people to do that at all he simply states it. It sounded more like an ironic take on a marketing campaign to me.

>>Gail tries to reopen their sex life<< Gail says "let's see what I'm missing" so she obviously hadn't seen his penis before hence she was trying to start their sex life.

Not so, it can just as easily be read as what is she missing out this particular night. Which is the way I've generally seen it. Either which way, I don't believe it should be conclusively stated either way without other supporting statements. Mathmo Talk 08:50, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
Another editor already made that point so I amended the article at the time to reflect that. Valenciano 07:56, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

>>Dianne, is an underage high school student.<< There aren't any high schools in Scotland even if there were the essential point is that she's under the age of sexual consent.

> No High Schools in Scotland? This is nonsense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.106.58.228 (talk) 13:28, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

>>Begbie puts up much of the payment money, having just won a large bet<< Begbie put 5 pound on at 16-1 so he won 80 pounds. He complains about not getting much from the robbery so it seems a fair bet that the rest of the money came from Sick Boy's pimping and pushing.

>>Taking the money and his passport, he leaves the country<< Not in the film where we see him walking through Central London in the last scene. Valenciano 21:27, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I removed 'parents' from the plot discussion, as Spud passes out in Gail's bed, hence her saying that she slept fine on the sofa. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.58.120.11 (talk) 07:45, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Location of locker

Subheader added. --Netizen 18:25, 10 August 2007 (UTC)
>>Spud, however, finds £2000 in a locker at the airport<< But after putting it there we see Renton walking through Central London. It doesn't seem logical that he would go to Heathrow airport on the edge of London then return to the centre afterwards. This also contradicts the point about him leaving the country above. Further it looks more like a train station locker to me. Valenciano 21:27, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Wrong, we see Spud pick up the money from the locker. Mathmo Talk 08:50, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
You miss the point. The point is not about him picking the money from a locker - it's the location of the locker which obviously isn;t in an airport. Valenciano 07:56, 10 August 2007 (UTC)
I think the point is that Renton wishes to leave Spud some money. Where exactly that locker is located I find to be unimportant. --Netizen 18:28, 10 August 2007 (UTC)
Absolutely, so we can just omit that info from the article. Valenciano 12:14, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

All the above may very well be in the book but as this article is about the film we should stick to what's in that.Valenciano 21:27, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Trainspotting plot section

Hey, you said to go to the talk page after a recent edit I made that reverted the changes you made on the Trainspotting plot section, so I've made an account in response. The original edit was perfectly fine, and the changes you made to it only served to bring in even more edits in order to clean up what you had started. Plus, I feel the original edit flows more nicely and introduces each character in a far better way. There was no need for the change in the first place. SickBoy1995 (talk) 14:09, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles should contain no unnecessary words. Plot summaries, as per WP:FILMPLOT, should be concise.
The current summary is overwritten. For example, it describes Sick Boy as an "amoral con artist". As opposed to a moral con artist? Franco is described as an "aggressive and pugnacious psychopath". That kind of writing is purple prose, inappropriate for an encyclopaedia, which should be clear and direct.
Let's break it down a bit more. The first sentence begins: "Heroin addict Mark Renton and his circle of friends are introduced".
First, that's a nasty use of passive voice. Second, we don't need to write that the characters are introduced. We can just introduce them ourselves. The simplest way to do that is to introduce them when the plot summary requires them, as I did in my edit.
Here's an example of the improvement my approach brings: in the current version of the summary, in the opening paragraph, we have: "amoral con artist Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson (also an addict); slow-witted, kind-hearted Daniel "Spud" Murphy (another addict)". So we have to mention, twice, that they're addicts. Later, we have: "Spud, Sick Boy, and Renton start using heroin again."
Let's kill three birds with one stone. We omit the lengthy introductory paragraph explaining who all the characters are, then write: "Renton and his friends Spud and Sick Boy start using heroin again." This way we learn that Spud and Sick Boy are Renton's friends, and that they're also addicts. Before this point, we don't need to know about them. This is a much cleaner way to summarise the plot. Popcornduff (talk) 07:10, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
It seems to me that introducing all the characters and who they are at the start, as is done in the film, is a far cleaner and quicker way than introducing them when necessary as you've done. You haven't even described who Spud and Sick Boy are, other than the fact that they're Renton's friends, and later Tommy and Begbie are brought up with little to no indication as to who they are or why they are associated with Renton. As for the distinction of Sick Boy being an "amoral" con artist, that seems perfectly reasonable to me, as it highlights the character's duplicitous, manipulative nature without going into too much detail. SickBoy1995 (talk) 13:49, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
"It seems to me that introducing all the characters and who they are at the start, as is done in the film, is a far cleaner and quicker way than introducing them when necessary as you've done." And yet my version does it in 549 characters fewer than yours.
"Tommy and Begbie are brought up with little to no indication as to who they are or why they are associated with Renton". The only information omitted is that they are Renton's friends, which isn't important (or necessarily accurate), and overwritten description like "aggressive and pugnacious psychopath" rather than "aggressive".
The construction "amoral con artist" is symptomatic of the overwriting in the current version. Being a con artist, by definition, is at least immoral. We can simply say he's a con artist and readers understand that the guy isn't very nice. Saying he's also amoral is overkill. Popcornduff (talk) 14:06, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
"And yet my version does it in 549 characters fewer than yours." That's because you're not really introducing them.
"The only information omitted is that they are Renton's friends, which isn't important (or necessarily accurate), and overwritten description like "aggressive and pugnacious psychopath" rather than "aggressive"." Then who are they? They're just names if you're not giving them context. Also, "isn't necessarily accurate" that they're his friends? That's really splitting hairs, and your own opinion. They are introduced as his "friends", whether they live up to that title or not is your opinion.
"The construction "amoral con artist" is symptomatic of the overwriting in the current version. Being a con artist, by definition, is at least immoral. We can simply say he's a con artist and readers understand that the guy isn't very nice. Saying he's also amoral is overkill." I do agree with you on this point, but I'd like to point out you got rid of both the "amoral" and "con artist" part in your rewrite. You didn't even bother to explain who he and Spud are as people beyond being Renton's friends and fellow addicts. May I suggest we either add a little description for each character in the Cast section (which would go against your policy of keeping the word count down), or leave it in its original state, which has been there for quite some time before you decided to make changes? SickBoy1995 (talk) 18:19, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
Lots of things on Wikipedia are bad for a long time before someone fixes them.
If you think we need to add more information, like the fact that they're Renton's friends or whatever, we can add that to the plot when we introduce them. Frontloading the plot summary with all that character information first only bloats it.
The cast section is in fact the ideal place to flesh out character descriptions, and I was going to suggest that myself. I'll attempt to find a compromise by moving the contested information there. Popcornduff (talk) 11:12, 11 October 2017 (UTC)
I don't see how it was bad, beyond maybe overwritten, but less is not always more.
Okay, done.
I will help you with that. SickBoy1995 (talk) 12:20, 11 October 2017 (UTC)
The infant daughter of Allison, it became pretty clear that Sick Boy was the father and was bearing ´as much responsibility as the mother. It's actually typically for the movie that they ignore anything, how tragic it might be, there are simply no feelings left in them. (talk) 02:59, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

References to use

Please add to the list references that can be used for the film article.
  • Gilmore, Richard Allen (2005). "Into the Toilet: Some Classical Aesthetic Themes Raised by a Scene in Trainspotting". Doing Philosophy At The Movies. State University of New York Press. pp. 109–120. ISBN 0791463915.

User:DoNotArchiveUntil 18:36, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Britishness of the film

As per the 2011 Census, less than 40% of the people that reside in the place that the movie is set in ar (Edinburgh) are British. I think this should reflect in the Wikipedia page. Calling it a British film is not accurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.147.190.126 (talk) 19:18, 6 July 2022 (UTC)

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