How Does the aesthetic quality of "Trainspotting" depict ideological issues of youth and addiction?
The opening sequence starts off with a low angled mid shot of the streets of Edinburgh as we see two sets of legs appear on the screen. There is a straight cut as soon as the legs appear to a mid two-person shot as these two men are running away from the police. One of the character is closer to the camera than the other so this could be an early indicator to establish who is more critical to the plot and who the story revolves around. The fact that they are running away from law enforcement conveys the idea that they have broken the law and this gives youth a negative depiction in society as they are causing chaos. The chaos is emphasized by the quick cuts that are about to follow in the scene. The colour pallet is made of dull colours like brown and grey, which creates a lifeless and pointless atmosphere and could tell the audience that these characters fell out of place in this environment. The facial expression pulled by Ewan McGregor in this shot adds to the mis-en-scene as he obviously in a situation of discomfort.The non-diegetic music also gives a sense of disorientation as it is loud and chaotic.It then cuts to a tracking mid shot of the characters feet as they continue to be chased. This adds tension to the scene as the audience have been thrown straight into the action without being given any information. As they are running, the stuff they are carrying is falling to the ground which could further imply the chaotic nature of the scene. These items clearly look like the things that have been taken and the reactions of Renton and Spud losing these items shows the lack of care they have.It then cuts to the previous shot, making it a shot reverse shot, in which we hear a non-diegetic monologue from Renton which starts with "choose life" and he repeats the first word whilst changing the second word, telling us to choose certain things in life. This could reveal some sort of regret his character has as he had the opportunity to choose those things but he didn't, and he's ended up in this situation. We then see Renton run down some stairs in this low-angled mid tracking shot. the idea of coming down the stairs could imply he is further descending into madness and he can't stop it. this could explicitly show the effects of drug abuse and becoming addicted is a bad thing to do. Renton then gets hit by a car. This could show that he's hit some kind of point where his life has lost meaning and this a physical representation of this.It cuts to spud continuing to run, this could forshadow that Spud hasn't hit that point yet and could stay on this path for a longer time than Renton. It then cuts to a mid shot of Renton from the perspective of the driver of the car. In this shot we see Renton start to laugh. This emphasises the lack of care Renton has and this could show the younger generation as disrespectful and careless.
I am now going to analyse Begbies Bar Brawl scene. The Sequence starts with a mid shot, showing Tommy bench pressing weights. It is established early in the film that Tommy is arguably the best looking and healthiest in the group and this reassures that idea. There are shot reverse shots going back to Tommy and Renton. Renton is looking at Tommys sex tape and swapping it with 100 great goals. This could represent the lack of respect and privacy the youth have. Despite being good mates with Tommy, Renton is willing to go behind his back for his own personal gain which reveals a lot about his character. The location then changes to the pub ( a flashback of sorts) where Tommy and Begbie are playing pool. This lives up to the aesthetic of young men going to the pub and playing pool/darts etc. Tommy states that begbie has a hangover and he's still drinking could indicate that he has an addiction too, just different to the others and this gets him into trouble. the colour of the pub shows the mis-en-scene as one dimensional and boring and this could be trying to replicate the feeling of everyday life for these characters. Begbie Bottles the shot, destroying the pool table and then proceeds to beat a young lad that "put him off" and this captured in a long, two shot which then cuts to a mid shot begbie kicking the lad on the floor who isn't seen in this shot. These two actions from Begbie showcase his physcopathic nature and his liking for chaos and violence which is emphasises when the previous scene resumes and a massive bar fight takes place. The colour pallet in this shot of what looks like an overhead shot is quite varied as you see blue,red, black, pink and this could represent conflict as it such a variety of colours
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