Trainspotting

pp. 182-192

in: Jill Forbes, Sarah Street, European cinema, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2000

Abstract

[T]he most interesting type of British cinema, and the one which is most worthy of support, differs from the type which is often hoped for — a British cinema capable of competing with Hollywood and exemplifying the virtues and values of Britain. A different conception of British cinema recognises that its economic ambitions will have to be more modest. However, its cultural ambitions can, and should, be correspondingly more ambitious: the provision of diverse and challenging representations adequate to the complexities of contemporary Britain. (Hill, 18–19)