The American Medical Association wants Hollywood to stop featuring smoking on the big screen. They say movies that depict images of smoking cause young people to start smoking.
The entertainment industry has stripped dangerous behavior of its consequences before. You could argue that Sex and the City made it seem as if there were no serious emotional or health repercussions to casual sex, when in reality, it can be unfulfilling and risky. While I would never want society to stigmatize healthy sexuality, I wonder if ignoring the dark side of promiscuity encouraged women to emulate the characters on TV without thinking about the real-life consequences.
Can watching unhealthy behavior glamorized on film or television prompt you to do something you wouldn't have done otherwise, or are we all (even the young and impressionable) completely responsible for our own behavior?
Jil Sander
Patrizia Pepe
Rochas
I think that while kids are impressionable, some scenes of smoking in movies aren't going to inspire them to light up a cigarette, especially with all of the anti-smoking propaganda out there. And honestly, I can't even really remember the last time that I saw a cigarette in a movie.
1I actually disagree with the Sex and the City comment- while the writers certainly didn't portray the repercussions of promiscuity consistently, they hit on quite a few of them. Miranda gets chlamydia and can't figure out who gave it to her and has an unwanted pregnancy that resulted in many conversations about abortion amongst all of the women. Carrie had a few consequences I can't remember.... Samantha couldn't find anyone in her little black book of men to help her when she was sick because they were all guys she'd slept with that didn't really care about her.
2So what's next no drinking!?
3Hasn't the AMA been saying this for YEARS?
Where is the followup on the National Safety Association (I think it was them?) pressuring Hollywood to stop showing people driving without seat belts in movies? They've all but stopped showing that kind of thing now [unless the person is doing something bad/is a villain - bad people do bad things, so nobody should want to emulate them]. Has there been a decrease in traffic deaths due to not wearing a seat belt as a result?
I'd want to know whether Hollywood actually HAS that much influence. Though I don't think it's too big to ask, especially in movies that are targeted for teens (PG-13) movies. Not to get rid of individual responsiblity, but if you don't glorify it, impressionable people, kids AND adults, might not be so intent on doing it.
4I do have to say that watching Reality Bites made me want to smoke. I was young and thought Winona Ryder looked cool. (so embarrassing) I remember watching the movie with one of my friends and we started smoking after that. I don't think the movie was the whole reason I started to smoke but it played a part. That being said I still don't think that it needs to be censored. There a lot of things in movies that influence people. People just need to be smarter then the movie. =)
5*I no longer smoke
This is an old story. They've already cut out a lot of smoking from movies. I also think it's stupid. Some people smoke in real like and if you want your character to be genuine they might have to be a smoker. The Sex and the City argument is really lame. That show was marketed towards women in their 20's and up. Sure teenagers watched it, but it also wasn't meant for them.
6We are responsible for own own actions. When I was young and stupid I did what my friends did to be cool. We should ban kids from having friends too.
7I'm far more influenced by my friends and peers than I am by movies. And I think that the people on the censor boards should stop trying to censor things and just make people responsible for their own actions, and, *gasp* maybe make parents look into the things they are letting their kids watch, or not be so afraid to talk to their kids about things like smoking and sex, so the kids get their perspectives before being influenced by the media.
8Anonymous, just because Sex/City "wasn't meant for them" doesn't keep teens from being tremendously influenced by it and other shows of its ilk. It makes them jaded and accepting of casual sex which is rarely a benefit for teens. And it also causes them to think that sleeping around is the norm, so they better get with it and do it too.
9Hollywood can't MAKE you anything. It's ridiculous to say that images of smoking CAUSE people to start smoking. Unless microscopic bugs that program brains to need cigarettes crawl out of the screen and burrow into people's ears, that is not true. Perhaps seeing the images causes them to think about smoking, which may not seem that different, but it is. Nothing can make anyone do anything. If seeing the image of smoking seems to cause someone to start smoking, they were probably already thinking about doing it or were bound to do something like it soon.
10Censoring movies/tv is not going to help anything. And in fact, when you try to censor something, it often tends to make people even more interested and intrigued.
If people in movies and on TV only made good healthy decisions, they would be so boring!
11lame.
12I actually know a lot of people who started smoking because of a movie or TV show. The big one is Grease - Sandy comes out smoking and suddenly she's cool and sexy. And pretty much everyone I know who smokes started between the ages of 12 and 15 - mostly girls trying to look older/cooler/whatever and then of course ten years later they can't stop.
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