Ask anyone and they will say that teenagers want to rebel against their parents, teachers, peers or society as a whole. They try to reject authority, resist tradition, and break all the rules. However in the movie Trainspotting, directed by Danny Boyle, the characters do not do drugs to rebel, they do drugs for the pleasure. The main character Mark Renton played by Ewan McGregor and a few of his friends do heroin because they are addicted to it. Renton, Sick boy played by Jonny Lee Miller, and Spud played by Ewen Bremmer, spend most of their time searching for the next high. To them, without the drug they have no real existence, so doing heroin has become their current lifestyle. Throughout the movie Renton realizes he isn’t happy with his life and even the worst parts of others’ lives are better than the best parts in his. By the end of the movie Renton moves on to make a better life for himself while his friends are stuck at a dead end road. In the early 1950s and throughout the 1960s teenagers might have rebelled against society or parents but by the 1980s the reasons behind the actions were different. It wasn’t so much as rebellion; it was a lifestyle that became a trend. Trainspotting could be considered as teens rebelling without a cause because Renton chooses to do heroin until he finds something better. According to the definition of rebel they are rejecting and resisting the law by doing heroin but it’s not because they want to rebel against parents, government officials or other peers. To them it’s just a way of life throughout their journey.
A part of young adults’ development is establishing their own identity form their parents or family. In the movie Rebel Without a Cause directed by Nicholas Ray, Jim Stark played by James Dean rebels because of his parents poor parenting which was a common theme in the movie. Judy played by Natalie Wood and Plato played by Sal Mineo also rebelled as teenagers because of the failure of parental guidance. Another common example of rebellion is J.D. Salinger’s’ novel Catcher in the Rye. The main character Holden Caulfield rebels against society because everything is becoming a part of the mass culture. He thinks buying into mass culture will take away his own identity so he tries to reject it all together. On the other hand the novel A Clockwork Orange written by Anthony Burgess shows rebellion in a different way. The main character Alex and his gang rebel by hurting innocent people, steal items from their victims, and have many sexual interactions. It is never clear for the reason of this rebellion but it is breaking rules, and rejecting authority. Rebel Without a Cause, Catcher in the Rye, and A Clockwork Orange are all examples from the 50s or the 60s.
The movie Trainspotting shows how teens do things that are breaking the rules or rejecting authority but are not doing it to rebel. To Sick Boy, Renton and Spud doing heroin was act of entertainment not an act of rebellion. Renton and Sick Boy even try to quit doing the drug so they can live a better lifestyle. Unfortunately they fail the first attempt and continue to use heroin because they are addicted to it. Even when Spud and Renton are caught stealing this wasn’t an act of rebellion either. This was just the way of life for the group of teens. Renton stays sober and moves to London and begins to enjoy life there until his old friends show up. He is convicnced by Sick Boy to give all of his saved money to a professional heroin dealer to receive two kilos of heroin and sell it to other people to make a profit. Again this wasn’t them trying to break the law, go against their parents, or to reject authority; to them it was a chance to make easy cash fast. The next day Renton takes the money and leaves wanting to change his life, live drug free, and be happy.
Life is a journey. When you’re a teenager your journey is being made by your own decisions and not your parent’s decisions. Rebelling against their parents, society, and tradition just give them more decisions of their own. In the 50s and 60s it was a new thing and becoming very common for a young adult to rebel but now the actions those teens were making are not considered rebellion. It’s just a part of the journey they take while being a teen. Renton made it clear in the beginning of the movie that he had many decisions he could make but chose heroin for no specific reason. He said “Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?” (Trainspotting). But once he started to grow up and realize that the choices he had been making were not good choices he changed his mind. He said “Now I've justified this to myself in all sorts of ways. It wasn't a big deal, just a minor betrayal. Or we'd outgrown each other, you know, that sort of thing. But let's face it, I ripped them off - my so called mates. But Begbie, I couldn't give a shit about him. And Sick Boy, well he'd done the same to me, if he'd only thought of it first. And Spud, well okay, I felt sorry for Spud - he never hurt anybody. So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers - all false. The truth is that I'm a bad person. But, that's gonna change - I'm going to change. This is the last of that sort of thing. Now I'm cleaning up and I'm moving on, going straight and choosing life. I'm looking forward to it already. I'm gonna be just like you. The job, the family, the fucking big television. The washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electric tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisure wear, luggage, three piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing gutters, getting by, looking ahead, the day you die” (Trainspotting). He wanted to continue on with his journey and move past his teenage years.
Works Cited
Trainspotting. Dir. Danny Boyle. Perf. Ewan McGregor. DVD. 1996.
