-- and Trainspotting

[andrew at cee.hw.ac.uk]

BRIAN ANTONAK writes:

> Rodney Welch writes:

> > > I can't help you one single bit, since I haven't seen the movie --
> > > however, I did see another movie this weekend that clearly suggested a
> > > GR antecedent. The movie is TRAINSPOTTING -- I have no idea what the
> > > title means; presumably it's about mainlining heroin...

> The title is British slang for being boring.  There is a certain
> breed of losers who hang out at train stations and write down the ID
> numbers of the engines as they pass, hoping one day to have
> 'spotted' all the trains in England.  So any bizarre, obsessive
> behavior can be categorized as trainspotting.  E.g.: a music
> collector who not only needs every record by a certain band, but
> also every import copy, every re-issue, every single and EP, etc.
> As for how it connects to the themes of the movie, well, yr on yr
> own...

Not quite. Brian is quite correct that Trainspotting is a geek
pastime. However, the connection with the book is all there in the
book itself. There is a section towards the end of the book called
`Trainspotting at Leith Central Station', which includes a key moment
in the unveiling of Begbie's character. Renton and the Beggar boy are
taking a piss in the station toilets and come across an old drunk who
makes some passing remark to them and asks them if they are in the
station to do a bit of trainspotting. Begbie goes very quiet when the
drunk approaches and mutters something obscene about him as he exits
the toilets. Renton eventually recalls the drunk as Begbie's old man.


Andrew Dinn
-----------
And though Earthliness forget you,
To the stilled Earth say:  I flow.
To the rushing water speak:  I am.