Trainspotters’ job interviews
Recruitment scenes or the depiction of job interviews in feature films often serve to continue the plot (“The Shining”), can occur as a main theme in short films (“The Interviewer”) or can be meaningful individual scenes (“Step Brothers”). Since there is always inevitably an unequal power balance in the recruitment process, films that show the interviewer in a less favourable light or that problematise the recruiting process predominate. Sympathy for the side of power seems questionable or immoral. “Trainspotting” (1996) by Danny Boyle based on a novel by David Welsh probably has one of the most fascinating scenes in this regard. It is complex and may lead to misinterpretation ─ a reason to take a closer look.
The job interview with Spud accurately and yet confusingly exposes his circumstances. Spud lives in Leith, an economically and socially marginalised suburb of Edinburgh in the 1980s. He belongs to a group of young people who, as part of the punk culture, reject bourgeois existence and the corresponding values. Other circumstances of significance are the drug milieu, lower class living conditions and linguistic idiosyncrasies. Spud’s linguistic ability is reduced to the excessive use of his regional dialect, his individual mode of expression and an inescapable milieu-related linguistic peculiarity. This is especially true of the novel ─ in order to remain comprehensible, the individual idiom as well as other linguistic varieties that occur, have been somehow polished up into “RP English” in the movie.
Spud, pressured by the “dole office”, presents himself for an interview. Since he wants to continue living on unemployment benefits, he must not be successful under any circumstances. And so, we see Spud “on speed” hastily answering rehearsed recruitment questions, which in their predictability add to the satirical character of the scene.
Spud is alone at one end of a large room, and the composition of the scene makes him appear trapped, at the other end three recruiters. The spatial distance also suggests social distance. The scene is reminiscent of a tribunal, the question of guilt seems to be settled: the applicant is obviously a member of the lower class. Spud gives the impression of being a very confused person, but in a certain way he seems sovereign and also amiable, and one can also laugh at him in (hopefully) solidarity. The most striking feature is the language in his responses, there are clear echoes of so-called nonsense literature, a genre characterised by its potential to transgress norms, as well as surrealist comedy. An example of this kind, and at the same time a humorous highlight, shall be quoted here:
Interviewer: “Mr. Murphy [Spud], …, do you see yourself as having any weaknesses?
Spud: No. Well, yes. I have to admit it: I’m a perfectionist. For me, it’s the best or nothing at all. If things go badly, I can’t be bothered, but I have a good feeling about this interview. Seems to me like it’s gone pretty well. We’ve touched on a lot of subjects, a lot of things to think about, for all of us.
This is followed by the farewell. The other side ─ the side of power ─ is at a loss. The personnel officer in charge closes with the usual words: “Thank you. We’ll let you know!”, you can see their contempt dripping from their cynical smiles. Spud, for his part, abandons the interview almost enthusiastically; he is obviously satisfied with his performance. Those who don’t know him might take this for another provocation ─ it remains ambiguous in any case, and it is precisely this ambiguity that impresses.
Feature films with recruitment scenes often offer interesting approaches to unsettle the responsible HR managers.
Dr. Reinhold Gaubitsch is a political scientist and was, until his retirement, project manager in the Department of Labor Market and Career Information of the Public Employment Service Austria and responsible, among other things, for vocational guidance films.
Trainspotting (1996), Danny Boyle, job interview scene with Spud (Ewen Bremner)
Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick, The Interview with Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson)
The Interviewer (2015), Bus Stop Films
Step Brothers (2008), Adam McKay, Interview scene with Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C. Reilly),
Filmstill, The Interviewer (2015)
© Bus Stop Films
Fimstill, Trainspotting (1996), Danny Boyle
Trainspotters’ job interviews
Recruitment scenes or the depiction of job interviews in feature films often serve to continue the plot (“The Shining”), can occur as a main theme in short films (“The Interviewer”) or can be meaningful individual scenes (“Step Brothers”). Since there is always inevitably an unequal power balance in the recruitment process, films that show the interviewer in a less favourable light or that problematise the recruiting process predominate. Sympathy for the side of power seems questionable or immoral. “Trainspotting” (1996) by Danny Boyle based on a novel by David Welsh probably has one of the most fascinating scenes in this regard. It is complex and may lead to misinterpretation ─ a reason to take a closer look.
The job interview with Spud accurately and yet confusingly exposes his circumstances. Spud lives in Leith, an economically and socially marginalised suburb of Edinburgh in the 1980s. He belongs to a group of young people who, as part of the punk culture, reject bourgeois existence and the corresponding values. Other circumstances of significance are the drug milieu, lower class living conditions and linguistic idiosyncrasies. Spud’s linguistic ability is reduced to the excessive use of his regional dialect, his individual mode of expression and an inescapable milieu-related linguistic peculiarity. This is especially true of the novel ─ in order to remain comprehensible, the individual idiom as well as other linguistic varieties that occur, have been somehow polished up into “RP English” in the movie.
Spud, pressured by the “dole office”, presents himself for an interview. Since he wants to continue living on unemployment benefits, he must not be successful under any circumstances. And so, we see Spud “on speed” hastily answering rehearsed recruitment questions, which in their predictability add to the satirical character of the scene.
Spud is alone at one end of a large room, and the composition of the scene makes him appear trapped, at the other end three recruiters. The spatial distance also suggests social distance. The scene is reminiscent of a tribunal, the question of guilt seems to be settled: the applicant is obviously a member of the lower class. Spud gives the impression of being a very confused person, but in a certain way he seems sovereign and also amiable, and one can also laugh at him in (hopefully) solidarity. The most striking feature is the language in his responses, there are clear echoes of so-called nonsense literature, a genre characterised by its potential to transgress norms, as well as surrealist comedy. An example of this kind, and at the same time a humorous highlight, shall be quoted here:
Interviewer: “Mr. Murphy [Spud], …, do you see yourself as having any weaknesses?
Spud: No. Well, yes. I have to admit it: I’m a perfectionist. For me, it’s the best or nothing at all. If things go badly, I can’t be bothered, but I have a good feeling about this interview. Seems to me like it’s gone pretty well. We’ve touched on a lot of subjects, a lot of things to think about, for all of us.
This is followed by the farewell. The other side ─ the side of power ─ is at a loss. The personnel officer in charge closes with the usual words: “Thank you. We’ll let you know!”, you can see their contempt dripping from their cynical smiles. Spud, for his part, abandons the interview almost enthusiastically; he is obviously satisfied with his performance. Those who don’t know him might take this for another provocation ─ it remains ambiguous in any case, and it is precisely this ambiguity that impresses.
Feature films with recruitment scenes often offer interesting approaches to unsettle the responsible HR managers.
Dr. Reinhold Gaubitsch is a political scientist and was, until his retirement, project manager in the Department of Labor Market and Career Information of the Public Employment Service Austria and responsible, among other things, for vocational guidance films.
Trainspotting (1996), Danny Boyle, job interview scene with Spud (Ewen Bremner)
Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick, The Interview with Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson)
The Interviewer (2015), Bus Stop Films
Step Brothers (2008), Adam McKay, Interview scene with Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C. Reilly),
Filmstill, The Interviewer (2015)
© Bus Stop Films
Fimstill, Trainspotting (1996), Danny Boyle
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