I recently saw – and enjoyed – T2: Trainspotting. As I’m sure most people have done, I re-watched the original, which had been a huge film when I was in my teens. The scene where Renton is detoxing was genuinely unsettling at the time, and the film as a whole has parts that certainly made you wince.
As I left the cinema, I began to wonder about the last cultural thing that genuinely shocked me. The internet allows a plethora of death, decay and nudity into all our lives – to the point where desensitisation occurs. It’s very difficult for films, bands and artists to shock; any actions designed to elicit shock seem somehow contrived and cheap.
So, my question is simple: what do you find shocking these days? And to what extent has ‘shock’ been sublimated into the everyday?
