Philosophical Vegan Forum

I wanted to ask this because I recently have been getting quite hyperfixated on a movie called 'Trainspotting' which if any of you guys haven't seen it, it's a film about a group of heroin addicts and criminals in 90's Edinburgh.

I loved the film, but there were some things that really bothered me about it. For one, there's a scene where the main character, Mark Renton, and his mate Sick Boy get clean from heroin, and to alleviate the boredom of not having drugs in their life, go to a park with an air gun to shoot people with. Mark ends up shooting a dog with it which makes it freak out, and attack it's owner.

I might sound like a sissy by saying this, but I didn't really like the scene. I researched a bit, and found out that whilst the dog wasn't actually shot by an air gun, the director Danny Boyle said he screamed at it to get it agitated which whilst isn't as bad actually shooting it, still scared the poor dog.

So I guess after rewatching a lot of the film again, I've been wondering, if I should boycott it, and stick to the novel which my mom got for me? (I still don't have any money for myself yet embarrassingly) I suppose I could just only watch my favourite clips of it on YouTube, or like I said earlier just read the novel.

I'd just like to know your thoughts. And if this post sounds stupid or it sounds like I'm an idiot or bad person, I'm very sorry.

Hi Retro, no of course it doesn't sound like you're an idiot or a bad person.

Trainspotting is old, three decades ago MANY movies had borderline animal cruelty or overt animal cruelty. It was even worse 40+ years ago. The '90s just started to see a widening public appreciation of animal protection in media.
A modern movie would use a trained dog who has been taught to play fight on command.

I think it's rather after the fact to talk about boycotting these films which aren't made like this anymore, like an old old medication that was developed by testing on monkeys to establish LD50 back in the '30s, but it's certainly understandable if you don't want to watch it anymore. Sometimes knowing how cruelly a movie was made can ruin the experience.