Social and Political Enviroment - TRAINSPOTTING

How far are the characters in Trainspotting a product of their political and social environment?

Renton can be seen as a product of his political and social environment as he is a great representative of life under Thatcherism in Leith, Edinburgh. During Margaret Thatcher's time as a Prime Minister, Leith faced many problems such as high unemployment, poverty and an increase in the use of drugs - mostly heroin. Renton is a representative of all of these, just like the rest of the boys in the film - most of them participate in the use of heroin, the conditions they live in show poverty and also we are made to believe they are unemployed as we never see them at work. However it is arguable that the reason they are unemployed is by choice and not because of Thatcherism, for example at one part of the film we see pud at an interview however he intentionally messes it up and doesn't take this opportunity seriously which reveals that he is choosing unemployment. It is also strange that out of all the characters it's Spud who we see at an interview because if anyone was to have a job / be at an interview we would expect it to be Tommy as he is the physically fittest and cleanest character so realistically, he would be the one that would find it easiest to get a job however throughout the whole movie we do not see him working which shows even more that they could be choosing unemployment.

Renton, however, opposes to the idea of choosing unemployment as throughout the film he actually choses to move to London and gets a job as an estate agent. London is a Thatcherite place and an estate agent is a Thatcherite job. This shows that Renton is a great product of his political environment as he can be seen as a Thatcherite due to his choice of becoming an individual and going to a Thatcherite place to get a Thatcherite job. Renton could've gone anywhere to get away from his friends and become an individual but he chose London possibly because that is where all the money is - this proves that a factor that effected his decision making in moving away was money and work.

Arguably, Margaret Thatcher is to blame for the unemployment levels, poverty, and use of heroin in Leith as it was her actions that caused all of these factors to begin. In 1974 Margaret Thatcher unveiled the Poll Tax and decided to introduce it to Scotland first. This caused poverty to rise in Scotland.