How does Irvine Welsh portray nihilism in Trainspotting?
I don’t actually think that’s an answer and besides whenever has trainspotting been a homework assignment. Well Mark Renton’s complete disregard for morality at the beginning of the film, as long as he can feed his addiction shows a nihilist attitude to life. He seems to support the nihilist ideal that humanity is bereft of any capacity of making meaningful choices. He is doomed to die and any ‘advances’, so to speak, in his life are futile, so he is just speeding up the inevitable with heroin. This is also quintessentially a very hedonistic attitude. He makes a dramatic change nearing the end of the film, taking more of an Existentialist attitude towards life, as he shows that he values the choices he makes, he values life, despite the fact he is aware of his inevitable death.
