Adaptations

10

SPEAKING OUT

The transformations of Trainspotting

Derek Paget

 

Janespotters and trainspotters

In March 1996, a Sunday newspaper article alleged that audiences in British cinemas were self-selecting as either ‘Janespotters’ or ‘Trainspotters’. The film of Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting, adapted by John Hodge and directed by Danny Boyle, had captivated the Trainspotters, while the Janespotters were championing Emma Thompson's adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee. In almost every respect, said writer Martin Wroe, the two films were different: ‘One is about insensible smackheads in Edinburgh, the other about sensible bonnet-heads in middle England. One is about chemical highs, the other about romantic highs.' ...