“Once a Junkie, Always a Junkie”: Analysing Cinematic Representations of Criminality and Deviancy Attributed to Heroin Users

This manuscript examines the cinematic representation of heroin users—referred to as “junkies”—as criminal, deviant, and socially marginalized figures within five major films: Sid and Nancy (1986), The Basketball Diaries (1995), Trainspotting (1996), Requiem for a Dream (2000), and T2 Trainspotting (2017). Situated within the framework of cultural criminology and drawing on Hall’s theory of representation and Hjelm’s social constructionism, the study employs narrative analysis to assess how these films construct and reinforce cultural stereotypes linking heroin use with criminality, moral decay, and membership in a dangerous underclass. Particular attention is given to the gendered dimension of these portrayals, with female heroin users often represented through hypersexualized and derogatory tropes. The article argues that these cinematic narratives mirror and legitimate dominant socio-political discourses that frame heroin users as threats to societal order, contributing to their continued stigmatization and criminalization.