A Level Film Studies

Component 1: British Film ‘Trainspotting’

AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of elements of film.

AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding of elements of film to: 1) analyse and compare films, including
through the use of critical approaches; (2) evaluate the significance of critical approaches.

Task one: find information about Danny Boyle. Summarise the key information, selecting only the detail
that you feel is relevant.

British director - inspired by Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’

Self proclaimed “not an auteur fan” who likes to “work with writers”, however believes “ultimately a film is
a director’s vision”

Does not write his own films however states that they still reflect his own personality

He is a Catholic

‘Trainspotting’ is his second film (his first ‘Shallow Grave’ also starred Ewan McGregor)

Social: A look at the relevant society’s dominant attitudes and beliefs including debates about ethnicity and
gender where relevant.
Cultural: There are two kinds of cultural context. One is general and includes a sense of what fashions were
significant at the time of the film’s production (the 1960s for example). This general cultural context is less
important than any particular cultural context that has directly influenced the film’s look and style. The
latter might include a studio style or an art movement, like expressionism or surrealism.
Political: An exploration of the impact of the contemporary political climate on the themes of the films,
their representations and the production process itself.
Institutional Contexts (including production): Who made the films, what institutional frameworks they
were working within, what funding was available to them and how all of this impacted upon the
restrictions placed on the filmmakers.

Task two: Using the information above, make notes overleaf about the various contexts of
‘Trainspotting’.

Summarise the key information, selecting only the detail that you feel is relevant.

Social
● life under Thatcherism (end of her time as
Prime Minister)
● Consumerism as means of survival (“choose
washing machines, cars, compact disk
players and electrical tin openers”)
● Search for Scottish identity
Cultural
● Consumer culture worsened by Thatcher
due to tax cuts on the wealth and public
services becoming privatised
● drugs as a metaphor for losing hope and
trying to survive
● heroin rejects capitalism as it leads to a lack
of productivity (going against conservative
government)
Political Institutional / production
● Neoliberalism - creates a culture of haves ● Scottish postmodernism - highly critical
and have-nots (Renton and friends are the ● rejection of colonialism
latter) ● Set in Edinburgh but filmed in Glasgow
● “There was no such thing as a society”
directly quoted from Margaret Thatcher
● End of Thatcher’s control due to finishing as
a Prime Minister