Disney and Paramount and the tobacco companies

[Bawango]

Disney and Paramount will be adopting a "no smoking scenes allowed" in movies made from here on out. Also some in the movie industry are pushing for a rule that if there is a "smoking scene" in a movie that the movie be rated "R". I don't smoke and I think that this is a bit much.

[girdy]

Disney and Paramount will be adopting a "no smoking scenes allowed" in movies made from here on out. Also some in the movie industry are pushing for a rule that if there is a "smoking scene" in a movie that the movie be rated "R". I don't smoke and I think that this is a bit much.

There is no reason for smoking in a movie, governments should have banned it 25 years ago.

[Chinna Dah]

I think that is a great idea. Smoking is discusting, and smokers look trashy.

[jiggypat23]

There is no reason for smoking in a movie, governments should have banned it 25 years ago.

LOL!!!!! Are you serious! Im guessing they should band Drinking alchool and doing drugs on movies too, since they are both bad habbits as well.

and china, you saying Smoking is discusting, and smokers look trashy, is very insluting, and rude.

Smoking is a choice, if I wanna spend $10 a day on smokes, well let me be the fool who is wasting her money, but don't bad mouth and call names. Im sure there is something you do that I would no agree with, but I would never insult or judge you on it.


Back to the subject, I think its a good idea to take smoking out of Children movies, they dont need to see that. IE: 101 Dalmation, cruella devil smokes, but that wasnt needed, kids dont need to see it.

[FutureChief88]

I agree.. Smoking in children movies its definately NOT needed. But somking in a movie that is intended for an adult is rediculous. If thats the case EVERY Movie in the world is going to be Rated R. Wreckless driving, Alcohol, Drugs, Language, Everything you could possibly imagine. They worry about people seeing smoking, Yet in a few movies that my daughter has watched, They say shut up.. and Moron, and whatnot. I would much rather her see soemone going with a cigarette, than hear her re-playing the scene with her toys and screaming shut up and moron.

I think this whole "smoking" insanity that has been going on for a few years now is absolutely rediculous.
I get not being able to smoke in a restaurant and a bar, if you want to smoke.. go outside. and i am a smoker.. and have enough courteosy for people that i dont stand near doorways.. because yes.. i believe that smoking is MY choice and not yours.. so i dont want to subject ANYONE to my bad habit. But they are now talking about making a lawy that you cant smoke in your own vehicle. Like cmon.. There are much more things in this world that these people need to be spending time and evergy on. We ALL now understand that smoking is not socially acceptable anymore.. But banning people from smoking everywhere is not going to make the smokers stop. I mean, they have raised the price of cigarettes more than double in the past 10 years.. and we havent stopped.
China_Dah.. That was one of the most immature things i have ever heard. To insult someone in that manner because you dont do it, is so juvenile. I would think that you would be more of an adult, instead of acting so childish..
but maybe i am wrong?

[girdy]

We might try and stay track on this thread. The thread isn't about banning you from smoking places, it's about not having characters in a movie smoke.

Presumably we all understand smoking is not a healthy activity. Hopefully everyone would prefer that their kids not smoke. Anytime a kid sees a person they respect or want to be smoke, it encourages them to smoke.

I just don't see the need to show people smoking in movies. It's not going to affect the plot of a movie to not have people smoke. There is no point in showing it.

[trinity]

I get that some of the time, smoking is central to the character in the movie, you can't make "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" or shows presenting the gritty side of life-prostitution, street life, gangs, depression etc without it- but in those kinds of movies you expect it.

I think that already, casual smoking in a movie is discouraged almost entirely, you don't need to BAN it or give it an R rating. I agree if you are going to do that, why don't you give all movies with alcohol, fighting, partial nudity, drug use, mature themes like death and destruction etc- an R rating? God knows they want to sugarcoat everything these days and protect our kids from any and every chance of experiencing reality.
I don't smoke and I get very annoyed when I see unnecessary smoking in a movie, but some movies require it, where would one of my all time faves ,The Breakfast Club, be without the pot scene? And even more than smoking, I HATE DRUGS. Words cannot express how low of an opinion I have of them, but I still love that movie and understand the pot scene is about bonding disparate types of students and bringing out what they hide from themselves and others.

The few times that Leonardo di Caprio's character lit up in Blood Diamond was presented to punctuate the difference between our society and his, as well as to reinforce the "living on the edge" his character purported to do, as well as emphasize that people in his line of work, in his country, didn't have to worry about dying from cancer, they generally die young from violence. How menacing would "the smoking man" in the X-Files have been without smoking? His character very clearly was set to represent the dark days of the past, when men hid in secret meeting rooms and decided the fate of the world while the air was blue with smoke. You KNEW he was a bad and powerful guy when he lit up a cigarette in a hospital, or in front of no smoking signs, it underlined his absolute lack of caring for himself or anyone else in the world. In the end though, he died a horrible diseased death which was clearly presented as the result of his smoking AND his nefarious activities.

[Oolong]

I don't know... it's kind of like automatically giving an R rating to films where people are shown enlisting for military service or any other potentially hazardous activity. Smacks of politically correct buncombe to me.

[The_Dave]

Disney and Paramount will be adopting a "no smoking scenes allowed" in movies made from here on out. Also some in the movie industry are pushing for a rule that if there is a "smoking scene" in a movie that the movie be rated "R". I don't smoke and I think that this is a bit much.

I feel this is a step in the right direction. They may even be able to do more.

[The_Dave]

LOL!!!!! Are you serious! Im guessing they should band Drinking alchool and doing drugs on movies too, since they are both bad habbits as well.

and china, you saying Smoking is discusting, and smokers look trashy, is very insluting, and rude.

Smoking is a choice, if I wanna spend $10 a day on smokes, well let me be the fool who is wasting her money, but don't bad mouth and call names. Im sure there is something you do that I would no agree with, but I would never insult or judge you on it.


Back to the subject, I think its a good idea to take smoking out of Children movies, they dont need to see that. IE: 101 Dalmation, cruella devil smokes, but that wasnt needed, kids dont need to see it.

I have to agree with Chinna Dah.

[The_Dave]

I get that some of the time, smoking is central to the character in the movie, you can't make "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" or shows presenting the gritty side of life-prostitution, street life, gangs, depression etc without it- but in those kinds of movies you expect it.

I think that already, casual smoking in a movie is discouraged almost entirely, you don't need to BAN it or give it an R rating. I agree if you are going to do that, why don't you give all movies with alcohol, fighting, partial nudity, drug use, mature themes like death and destruction etc- an R rating? God knows they want to sugarcoat everything these days and protect our kids from any and every chance of experiencing reality.
I don't smoke and I get very annoyed when I see unnecessary smoking in a movie, but some movies require it, where would one of my all time faves ,The Breakfast Club, be without the pot scene? And even more than smoking, I HATE DRUGS. Words cannot express how low of an opinion I have of them, but I still love that movie and understand the pot scene is about bonding disparate types of students and bringing out what they hide from themselves and others.

The few times that Leonardo di Caprio's character lit up in Blood Diamond was presented to punctuate the difference between our society and his, as well as to reinforce the "living on the edge" his character purported to do, as well as emphasize that people in his line of work, in his country, didn't have to worry about dying from cancer, they generally die young from violence. How menacing would "the smoking man" in the X-Files have been without smoking? His character very clearly was set to represent the dark days of the past, when men hid in secret meeting rooms and decided the fate of the world while the air was blue with smoke. You KNEW he was a bad and powerful guy when he lit up a cigarette in a hospital, or in front of no smoking signs, it underlined his absolute lack of caring for himself or anyone else in the world. In the end though, he died a horrible diseased death which was clearly presented as the result of his smoking AND his nefarious activities.

Leonardo di Caprio is a smoker anyway. I think he was playing himself when he smokes in movies. Just because you play a villian or hero, shouldn't mean you smoke.

[dan j]

I think an outright ban is ridiculous. A character as a smoker is part of that character and limits the movie makers from telling their story how they want to tell it. I really dislike smoking but the way a character lives and behaves (including drinking, drugs, smoking, murdering, driving, treats people, etc..) is all part of the character and I don't want studios limited in their creativity in that way.

[The_Dave]

I think an outright ban is ridiculous. A character as a smoker is part of that character and limits the movie makers from telling their story how they want to tell it. I really dislike smoking but the way a character lives and behaves (including drinking, drugs, smoking, murdering, driving, treats people, etc..) is all part of the character and I don't want studios limited in their creativity in that way.

You are right Dan, but to glorify smoking is very wrong.

[Oolong]

Glorifying is one thing... but merely portraying it in a neutral light is another.

Anyway, I reckon they'll ban scenes of unneccessary nudity in films next... cause, you know, being naked is the number one cause of unplanned pregnancies. :-P

[KRS]

Banning smoking in cartoons or childrens movies is a smooth move.
But how are you going to truely portray a character ( fiction or non-fiction) if he can't light up.

The only people that get urges to light a smoke because someone in a movie does are people that have allready smoked.

I think it is a great idea to ban it from childrens movies however.

[girdy]

The thing about entertainment, is that we should be trying to come up with a standard which doesn't adversely influence the people who can be the most influenced, i.e. our kids. If someone they look up to in a movie smokes, it's something they relate to. I hope that even smokers, would prefer that their kids don't smoke.

I think the vast majority of the smoking that goes on in movies, is because the actor is a smoker, and just flatly wants to smoke. If the character wasn't smoking, nothing would be taken away from the plot.

There may be a few cases where smoking is appropriate for the character. But if the character is one where realistically the real person might not smoke, then the character shouldn't be smoking in the movie. Lots of factory workers, cops, what have you may very well smoke, but many don't. So I don't see a need for example to show factory workers or cops smoking in a movie. Same thing as a picture in a bar - you can't smoke in bars anymore, what possible point is made showing people smoking in a bar in a movie?

Also, I think that the general perception towards smokers has done a 180. 30 years ago, it may have been the perception that smokers were tough and cool. That's no longer the case for most of us, and seeing a so-called tough guy in a movie smoking for me makes him less tough that if he was doing the same stuff, but not smoking. The smoking is a crutch, he'd be tougher without the crutch.

With regards to having characters smoke while they're doing drugs, killing or whatever, chances are the movie is at least A anyways if not R anyways if that is happening. Hopefully there aren't a lot of childrens movies out there where we've got intravenous drug users and murderers. And if there are, the points are getting across through creativity, not by having the actor stick a needle in his arm for example.

[orange]

The only people that get urges to light a smoke because someone in a movie does are people that have allready smoked.

The problem with that is that teens are very impressionable, and even under-12 kids see a lot of PG movies.

When movies try to make it look cool to smoke, that influences people to be more willing to try smoking, or keep smoking (I don't think anyone can argue with that point at least... it's Marketing101 & PR101).

I don't think you generally need to show smoking in a movie anyway (the only time you need to show it is to help establish that a character has an unhealthy lifestyle).


EDIT: I wrote this before seeing girdy's post... but I agree totally with how he put it.

[KRS]

Kids are going to be exposed to smoking sooner or later. Like taking your kids over to grampys and he is a smoker.
You can't shelter your children forever. It's not about smoking being 'cool' or 'rebelious' it's about character build and contrast here. We are talking about movies and film. Whether you think it does or not, smoking adds a lot to a character.

FFS, look at popeye! I mean, he smoked a pipe and there was even candy ciggarettes sold with his face on the box! He also taught children that eating spinach would make you big and strong. As a child, I didn't think A) I should start smoking or B) I am all of a sudden in love with spinach.

[girdy]

Kids are going to be exposed to smoking sooner or later. Like taking your kids over to grampys and he is a smoker.
You can't shelter your children forever.

They absolutely will be exposed to it, I agree. But judgement improves over time, a 16 year old is less influenced than a 10 year old, and they're more educated about the effects of smoking. I think exposing later has value.

[Bawango]

The reason behind the ban is that according to studies, kids are more likely to smoke when they see it in movies. Now I've seem a few movies in my day and its safe to say that a lot of members here have. Who here that smokes took up smoking because they saw it in a movie?!?
I personally don't care if smoking gets banned from movies being made specially in movies that are intended for kids. But I see this as step in the wrong direction. Today its smoking not allowed in movies. Whats next? eating red meat? Religious scene? I can see hard core conservatives running away with this.

[orange]

I'm surprised by how many people apparently underestimate the power of subtle advertising.

There's a reason why companies pay millions of dollars for product placement in movies (for all kinds of products - soft drinks, chips, even mustard)... it's because it works, and increases sales.

Similarly, some companies pay celebrities to wear their clothing to parties or to use their products publicly.

People are easily influenced, and many simply do what they see in pop-culture...

The entire fields of marketing and public relations are built-around the fact that people are easily manipulated...