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Is Hollywood making smoking cool again?
Hollywood films of the 1940s were packed full of people smoking. But portrayals of people smoking in film decreased between 1950 and 1990, coinciding with the decline of smoking among the general population.
But since 1990 the trend has gone in the other direction again, with positive images of smoking increasing in frequency, especially in films aimed at young people. A poster of Uma Thurman smoking in Pulp Fiction and a picture of actor Billy Bob Thornton drawing deeply on a cigarette on the cover of a 2005 edition of Life magazine illustrate the trend.
Now the British Medical Association is calling on Hollywood to cut smoking scenes from films and in the media, according to today’s London Times.
A report called “Forever Cool” says that film censors should take into account pro-smoking elements in films when issuing a license, and films portraying smoking in a “positive” light should be preceded by anti-smoking advertisements.
Vivienne Nathanson, the British Medical Association’s head of science and ethics, singled out the film Independence Day, in which she said actor Will Smith lit a cigar every time he dispatched an alien.
Nathanson said that last year’s smoking ban in public places in England had cut the number of smokers. “Tens of thousands have given up, but smoking is still at high levels and we still have children starting to smoke. The decline in smoking was very fast 20 years ago, but it has slowed. And experience in Ireland, which introduced the smoking ban earlier, shows that people can begin to slip back into smoking.”
And that’s why, she said, it’s so important for Hollywood to act now to cut smoking scenes.
Comments
By Sugar
July 7, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this
I don’t think there is one single thing about a cigarette hanging out of someone’s mouth that looks sexy or cool. I think it is nasty and gross. I smoked briefly as a teenager, I just couldn’t stand it.
I walked into Discover Malls the other day, and had to walk through a crowd of skate-boarding KIDS, all of which had a cig hanging out of their mouths. Honestly, what is sexy about smoking? These kids couldn’t have been 17 years old, and every single one of them had a smoke in their hand or in their mouth.
It’s just a nasty, nasty habit. I am SO glad I didn’t get caught up in that. I could not image me sitting with a cigarette and smoking the nasty thing.
Sorry, but I am very against smoking!!!!! I wont go out with a man who smokes.
By Mike K.
July 7, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this
I just don’t understand why anyone would start smoking when all the health problems are well documented.
I didn’t realize that actors smoking in movies made people want to smoke. They don’t have the choice of smoking or not smoking?