CMT Trainspotting

According to Wikipedia, a character arc “is the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story.” You may not realize it, but character arcs are the most essential parts of fiction. In order for us to stay interested, the protagonist has to face challenges. If they're not forced to become another person, then those challenges aren't challenging enough.

Everyone is a product of nature and nurture; half of who we are is determined by our environment. Once we are comfortable with our identities, we hold onto them with everything we have. It takes a constant wave of pressure and tragedy, to get us to think twice about ourselves. So when someone is edging toward the brink and they can't continue the life they're used to, it's a traumatizing experience for them, and it fascinates those of us watching it.

Sadism isn't the only attraction for people. We can be gripped with genuine concern. More importantly, there is a curiosity that's strong enough, to tie us to our seats. The next plot point can be entertaining enough, but we want to see how the characters react to them.

Classic Movie Trailers – Trainspotting (1996)

There is a reason why people act the way they do. There is a reason why we can be so obstinate. You can state a hundred indisputable facts, but some people will refuse to believe them. You can have a life threatening heart attack, but that doesn't mean you'll diet and exercise. Even in the face of mortal consequences, change is a hurdle that we just can't manage.

We spend years being who we are, and who we are isn't perfect. Our lives have good things that we are proud of, but there are other things that we'd rather leave behind. The positives and negatives are fused together, and a monumental force is needed to separate them.

I'm living with things I experienced as a child, even though I don't remember them. Try to unlearn something you accepted as a preteen, and you might find that it takes the rest of your life. Humans are capable of dismissing evidence, and we can jump through an endless path of mental hoops. It's easier to adopt a popular lie, than it is to agree with the truth, because that truth means change.

We can leave our homes and jobs, to go somewhere else. We can leave the people around us and go to another group. We can blame the blameless and leave every relationship, before we can leave who we are today. So yes, people know the right thing to do, but that doesn't mean they're capable of doing it.

Addiction is an involuntary change. We can choose the drug but we don't choose dependency. Ultimately the problem isn't the high they give us, the problem is the change required to walk away. We already have a strong mental resistance, but drugs make change a physical conflict, that escalates into war.

Many people never survive the battle. Many more are killed, before they start fighting. Some are lucky enough to win the change they needed, but they live in constant fear of losing to their past. You can learn every martial art that's ever been invented, but they don't help you to defeat yourself.

So we come back to TV every day. We see characters struggle, like we do in our lives. We want to know the things that help them to change, and we want to know how they finally do it. We take inspiration and hope from stories, even when our lives seem utterly hopeless.

No one wants to see someone stuck in a rut; we want to see the triumph that we are capable of. Even if success proves to be short lived, there's satisfaction when we see it happen. Fiction is life, with the dull bits taken out, and life is always a battle for change.

Trailer Here.

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See “Trainspotting” on Netflix!

Next week: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance