The central theme of fantasy in the film Trainspotting is located in the realm of escapism. This escapism is not centrally manifested in the desire to escape the physical location of inner-city Edinburgh but the will to escape from the consciousness of that world and hence to enter a world of fantasy.
Trainspotting is set in the mid-eighties at the height of the Thatcherite years. The north-south divide was economically prevalent. The characters in Trainspotting exist in a poverty-ridden environment, suffocating under a cloud of mass unemployment and boredom.
A new generation has seen its parents abandoned on the employment scrap heap, destined to live the rest of their lives in some pitiful existence. The old generation have not chosen this existence yet accept passively as a fait accompli.
Renton’s generation are part of the postmodern culture that rejects existing structures of society. They favour forms of culture, which are transient, of the moment, superficial, appealing to sense rather than reason. They have rejected the naive and earnest confidence in progress that their parents have been so let down by.
The style of the film actually supports the postmodern tendencies of the characters. It treats issues playfully, superficially and challenges traditional views of drug culture. It is not didactic, it is just text. In fact the whole Trainspotting phenomenon is a pastiche of media texts, it’s a book, a play, a film, a music video, a soundtrack.
The film has been made ten years after the setting of the narrative. Had such a narrative been turned into a film ten years ago it would never have got past the censors. This is not necessarily because attitudes to drugs are changing, but the style of film that would have been made then, would have been too shocking. No doubt ten years ago Mike Leigh or Ken Loach would have directed this film. One can only imagine how black a picture their social realist approach would have portrayed.
In order to situate the setting of the film and the characters socio-historically and to grasp a sympathetic chord with them; Plato’s cave analogy can be usefully applied. By adapting Plato’s cave analogy it enables us to consider all aspects of a given environment and therefore understand the characters contextually.
If we exchange the cave for mid eighties Edinburgh we can begin to expand on the realities of life as perceived by those characters in the film. Plato’s analogy is essentially about perception, the theory that the various stimuli in our environment are simply reflections of that environment manifested to us by way of our sensory powers and the brains processing of those signals.
As mentioned above the reality facing Renton et al is one of urban deprivation, mass unemployment in the height of the Thatcherite years; a world of few prospects. They live in a state of confused morality set up by the paradoxical ideologies of Thatcherism; a return to Victorian values coupled with an attitude of market economic greed; society verses the self. Growing up in such an environment - an environment that holds no prospects for the future - has essentially stripped the individual of hope. Bearing in mind that in terms of Plato’s analogy, this Edinburgh is the protagonists only reality. This forces Renton’s generation to live in the present moment because there is no future project to strive and sacrifice for.
Plato’s analogy is however, in a modern sense, just a test-tube experiment and in that sense he is correct in saying “the truth [ of Plato’s prisoners] would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images” (Republic VII). What Plato fails to do is bestow the prisoners in the cave with any inherent will or desire, they simply exist; their essence precedes their existence.
Kant argued that there is a unifying code of morality which exists in its own right as opposed to something constructed by society. Kant states that “the laws of nature are heteronomous, therefore inclination, craving and desire which compete for action, originate outside our being” ( The Moral Law). And so the prisoners in the cave adhere to a unifying code of morality, which is manifested by its service to the state; the acceptance of the status quo.
I personally find this position untenable, I see morality and desire as two sides of the same coin. The way in which we define our desires sets up our code of morality or conversely our code of morality dictates the desires we pursue.
Wherever they originate, unlike the prisoners in the cave, the prisoners of poverty stricken Edinburgh do have desires and fantasies. Not only are Renton et al products of an environment without hope, they live in a world where the destitution can be measured by comparison to those who have everything. Plato’ prisoners saw only shadows on the wall, Renton et al live in a world of media images which only serve to increase the sense of destitution by enabling them to compare their situation with others. Plato’s cave analogy is used here only to create an understanding of the perceptions of reality - which are no different from reality itself - any further move towards Plato’s theory of Forms is unsustainable in the philosophical context of this film. The theory of Forms is however a useful counter-point to the philosophy of Nietzsche and Sartre with which I propose to discuss the representations of fantasy, desire and morality.
In the Theory of Forms Plato put forward another analogy, he suggested that we think of a person as a chariot with horses. The horses are responsible for driving the chariot, but they can only do harm if they are not properly directed by the charioteer, who comprehends what the goal of the race is. Along the same lines, the person's fantasies, desires and morality are useful to attaining the rightful function of the person, but must be controlled by reason. Plato's view of reason, accords a notion of what is good for the individual and the state, the state being the primary concern.
Renton rejects the state as a primary concern, he absorbs the postmodern tendencies of hedonistic objectives, living only for the fantasy of escapism. Not only escapism from poverty but also escapism from the futility of life. Nietzsche said in Human All Too Human: “ We are clever animals but our cleverness is meaningless, for there is no overarching purpose to life, no larger story in which we play a role. Humanity stands alone, projecting its futile metaphysical dreams upon a dark and indifferent infinity of space”
Once this standpoint is accepted, human life finds itself thrown into an existential turmoil. Existentialism says I am nothing else but my own conscious existence. This explains the central slogan of existentialism; existence precedes essence.
A second existentialist theme is the theme of anxiety, or the sense of anguish, a fear or dread which is not directed to any specific object. Anguish is the dread of the nothingness of human existence.
Renton rejects all of the philosophies, sciences, political theories and religions which fail to reflect his existence. It is perhaps Sick Boy’s ‘unifying theory of life’ that best sums up the absurdity of human existence: “Well, at one time, you’ve got it, and then you lose it, and it’s gone for ever. All walks of life: George Best, for example, had it and lost it, David Bowie, or Lou Reed........merely an uninterrupted downward trajectory.”
And so to protect ourselves from the overwhelming fear of nothingness we conform to a constructed order based on the metaphysical. Abstain from selfishness and do good by others and you will be rewarded in the next world.
It is this constructed order which lays down a sense of morality which we in the main accept.
Jung talks of a collective unconscious which lays down the foundations of morality, this is similar to Kant’s unifying code of morality. Kant stated that: “moral understanding grasps truths in the very heart of our practical, everyday lives. Such truth is not susceptible to proof or disproof but must be obeyed by an obedience that predates our knowledge of our obligation.” (The Moral Law)
Although it is undeniable there are certain moral codes that are identifiable across society and are happily adhered to by the majority, they are not predetermined. I have seen Nietzsche referred to as amoral, and no doubt Renton could have the same accusation levelled at him. Whatever level society operates on there has to be some moral codes, in this sense moral codes become a verb for the essence of life, in the sense that whatever we do, we choose to do, and thereby operate at some level of morality. Therefore it stands to reason that one can be immoral, measured against the codes of moral practice of the society one acts in, yet it is impossible to be amoral because every action pertains to someone’s individual code of morality. I would therefore argue that any notion of a unifying code of morality is misconstrued, ones actions have to be good or bad measured by the ones own morality. Would what we do be acceptable if it was done to us, there by stands every persons moral code. Sartre proposes that people create their own morals and meaning. “Morality is like a painting. Nobody can say what should come from the artist's brush. By creating their own meaning and morals, people not only become something themselves, but serve as an example to humanity.” (Being and Nothingness)
Renton et al have their own code of morality which deems it wholly reasonable to devote your life to the fantasy of escapism through the use of drugs; and why not?
The heroin circle’s code of morality can be measured by Renton’s refusal to put Allison first after the death of her baby. Allison tells Renton she needs a hit he replies “ and so she did, I could understand that. To take the pain away. So I cooked up and she got a hit, but only after me. That went without saying.” Such a moral code may seem to us immoral. Nietzsche however highlights the absurdity of altruism, “if life is the will to power, what is more unnatural, indeed more impossible, than selflessness?” (Human all too Human)
The fantasy of escapism pursued by Renton et al is frowned upon by the moral majority because it is drug orientated. The previous generation frown upon the use of heroin yet fail to realise it is their miserable existence, the fact that they are the personification of the future, that encourages Renton to turn to heroin. Jung to me justifies any such use of drugs to escape reality when he talks of “a merely two-dimensional conceptual world in which the reality of life is well covered up by clear concepts. Experience is stripped of its substance, and instead mere names are substituted, which are henceforth put in the place of reality.”
The film uses very clever mixed metaphors to describe the state of a drug addicts life. When Renton is climbing into the toilet in search of his opium suppositories, the metaphor for the moral majority is naturally that of a drug addict’s life thrown down the toilet. This is far too literal an interpretation, the scene shows how through the lowest point in society one can access their fantasies; the earthly abyss between that stands between fantasy and reality. When Renton passes through the shit which itself has passed through him, he reaches a scene of purity, a rebirth into his fantasy and that fantasy is a chemical reality. And for those who do not see the fantasy as tenable, they are afflicted by a moral prejudice that states that truth is worth more than appearance. (Nietzsche)
It is the moral majority that panic at the use of drugs to fulfil ones fantasies, yet in allowing oneself to fulfil ones desire of fantasy one reaches a state of inner calm. “ I plunged down into the dark depths [of his fantasies] I could not fend off a feeling of panic. But then, abruptly, at not too greater depth, I landed on my feet in a soft, sticky mass. I felt a great relief.” (Jung)
And here Jung sets up the polemic that lies at the heart of most philosophical conjecture. Whether it be the sentient lifestyle juxtaposed with a metaphysical afterlife, or Sartre’s being-in-itself juxtaposed with being-for-itself, or simply the conscious juxtaposed with the unconscious .
Jung talks of the panic (conscious)as he slips into his fantasy. It is this panic that afflicts the herd morality when they see Renton shooting up heroin. Once Jung ceases to fight his descendance into fantasy he is awash with relief (unconscious).
This whole idea is wonderfully demonstrated in the Renton overdose scene, which visually depicts the binary opposites of conscious panic, which occurs outside the fantasy, and unconscious relief which occurs within the fantasy.
As Renton takes his shot of heroin he is immediately consumed by the floor in Swanney’s flat, he is consumed by a conscious grave, all around him is panic and activity, getting him to the hospital and the treatment that follows. The audience’s view switches from seeing Renton and all the conscious panic around him to Renton’s point of view shot. This shot depicts the utter calm of separation from the conscious world. This is reinforced by the soundtrack playing Perfect Day by Lou Reed.
The panic and despair only register with Renton when he has risen from the grave, back to a conscious existence. Renton seems in no way pleased to be alive. He says later, somewhat ironically: “It seems, however, that I really am the luckiest guy in the world.......and now the real battle starts. Depression. Boredom. You feel so fucking low, you’ll want to fucking top yourself.” As Nietzsche says: “it is always consoling to think of suicide: in that way one gets through many a bad night.” (Beyond Good and Evil)
Renton who pursues the fantasy of escapism appears to be left with three choices. A conscious escapism that can be achieved by physically moving. An unconscious escapism achievable through the use of heroin. Or a permanent unconscious state achievable through death. It seems to me perfectly reasonable that Renton should top himself after all as Sartre asks What is death? “Death is my total nonexistence. Death is as absurd as birth-- it is no ultimate, authentic moment of my life, it is nothing but the wiping out of my existence as conscious being. Death is only another witness to the absurdity of human existence.” (Being and Nothingness)
Renton lives this philosophy, understanding the absurdity of life. His opening oration (Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career etc.) specifies his desires. I associate desire with choice and as Renton says: “I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?” Such tendencies are inherent in existentialist thinking; Mankind has free will, life is a series of choices. Such a lifestyle may well promote the prospects of death; but so what. As Nietzsche says: “To want to preserve oneself is the expression of a state of distress, a limitation of the actual basic drive of life.” (The Gay Science)
Renton hardly looks to preserve himself yet he does not choose the option of death as total escapism. Following some advice from Diane, Renton actually attempts to escape by physically moving to London. He says: “I settled in not too badly and I kept myself to myself. After all, this was boom town where any fool could make cash from chaos and plenty did. For the first time in my adult life I was almost content.” Naturally the sense of being almost content is never going to satisfy Renton for he has lived in the world of heroin where pleasure of fantasy is immense; “Take the best orgasm you have ever had, multiply it by a thousand and your still nowhere near” the epic proportions of a fantasy induced by heroin.
The fantasy of escapism is total in Renton’s world of heroin addiction, there is the unconscious escapism of the chemical reality and the conscious escapism of knowing the only thing that matters in life is where your next hit is coming from.
And here lies the absurdity of life for Renton, his only purpose is to escape the life he was born into. Without the desire to locate the next hit, Renton’s conscious world would be overwhelmingly boring, like that of his parents whose notion of excitement switches from the TV screen to Bingo. It is one of the great absurdities of being human that “only the most acute and active animals are capable of boredom. A theme for a great poet would be God’s boredom on the seventh day of creation”. (Nietzsche. The Wanderer and his Shadow)
How then does one come to exist with an attitude to life like Renton’s, bearing in mind that Sartre “conceived humans as beings who create their own world by rebelling against authority and by accepting personal responsibility for their actions, unaided by society, traditional morality, or religious faith.” (Being and Nothingness)
A central theme to issues of urban poverty seems to be the loss of childhood, something that is alluded to in the film. Children growing up in such environments invariable have to grow up quickly, enjoying few of the pleasures of childhood dreams. These dreams are stolen by parents who become the personification of the miserable future that lies ahead. It is interesting to note that perhaps the most mature and together person in the film is Diane; and she is still at school. As the likes of Renton become adults and take the decision to renounce traditional moral values so their fantasies become pathways back to the childhood they never had. Sick Boy’s fascination with Sean Connery as 007 sees him play out fantasies of a childlike manner.
The nature of the film and especially the humour is very puerile, this in one way negates the power of the censors to cut the film and at the same time forces the audience to address huge social issues from a new perspective.
The film raises the issue of infant fatality, which in terms of the theft of childhood can be seen as the ultimate crime. The film deals with the death of baby Dawn in quite a cursory
manner and interestingly offers no sanctimonious morality nor proportions any blame directly. For baby Dawn the future did not look good and as such death was her best option. The further we go through life the more absurd it becomes. However from the point of view of baby Dawn her life was not yet constrained by the construction of a social reality, her thoughts were not yet being vocalised in the constriction of language. Every thought and every movement was one of utter freedom because she was not responsible for the consequences of her actions. Baby Dawn still lived in the world of intrinsic realities not social realities and perhaps in Castenada’s terms she could ‘see’ as apposed to just look.
Perhaps we should celebrate the death of baby Dawn, maybe she decided to die, a realisation of the ultimate fantasy, to never be constrained and therefore to die a baby renders your existence pure. Nietzsche perhaps best sums this up stating “when one does away with oneself one does the most estimable thing possible: one thereby almost deserves to live.” ( Twilight of the idols)
I have attempted to evaluate the desire for fantasy from a postmodern and existential perspective, I believe the two schools of thought to be inextricably linked. The pursuit of fantasies that are not desirable to society, forces the individuals to locate themselves within newly defined codes of morality. The morality of the self. Renton is not out to address the inequalities of life - for the morals of equality lead to the corruption of the human species (Nietzsche Daybreak) - he is just out to escape the ridiculousness of his being. His whole morality is defined by his desire for heroin induced fantasy; his personal chemical reality.
Bibliography
APPLEBAUM, D. 1995. The vision of Kant. Dorset: Element Books
CARSON, R.A. 1974. Sartre: makers of modern thought. London: Lutterworth Press
CASTANEDA, C. 1971. A separate reality. London: Arkana
HODGE, J. 1996. Trainspotting and Shallow grave. London: Faber and Faber
JUNG, C.G. 1963. Memories, Dreams, Reflections. London: Fontana Press
NOVAK, P. 1996. The vision of Nietzsche. Dorset: Element Books
SEARLE, J.R. 1995. The construction of social reality. London: Penguin Books.
