The behavior police are wanting smoking in films to carry an R rating.

I'm not a smoker anymore, I'm all for not making it look appealing, but ...
give me a break.

Wouldn't that make most of the noir films from the 40s R?

-s.

Yeah, and the depiction of "Supersizing" will be next. Society at large is starting to remind me of my high school career at the "gulag".

Ha! Just thought of this, many of those most offended by smoking, at least historically, will not even go to "R" movies.

Since obesity is now the 2nd highest reason for mortality in the US, shouldn't all films that have fat people in them be rated "R"?

-s.

[quote]Since obesity is now the 2nd highest reason for mortality in the US, shouldn't all films that have fat people in them be rated "R"? [/quote]

Or, for that matter, any films preceded by a Coca-cola commercial!

I think that we should do the rebel thing like Drew Carey did and light up a smoke. For you cigar lovers, like Rich and myself please join us in this protest. Whatdya say? Shoot, I'll even link arms with pot smokers (medicinal purposes only please!) :biggrinjester:

R ratings for "non-historical" smoking scenes!

This topic has been moved to the better-suited "Film Criticism and Appreciation" forum...

MPAA is making it official, smoking will be considered. Smoking won't automatically make it R. "Film raters will consider the pervasiveness of tobacco use, whether it glamorizes smoking and the context in which smoking appears, as in movies set in the past when smoking was more common."

Indeed, the Hollywood Reporter, in reporting on the recent smoking decree, states: "A Senate-FCC industry task force has been convened to identify ways of forcing content producers to encourage children to eat healthy foods."

The more the moral/health police try to make smoking taboo, the more appealing it will be a sign of rebellion. And of course, everyone knows that rebellion=cool.

Andrew Ferguson spins it as the natural outgrowth of "family friendly" movie reviews!

"Astonishing," said a friend of mine--like me, a former smoker who holds only fond memories of our old habit, along with the occasional tug of nostalgic yearning. He had just seen the news last week that movies featuring characters who smoke will risk a more restrictive rating, from PG-13 to R, for example. Now, Voyager, the 1942 movie in which Paul Henreid lights two Camels and passes one to Bette Davis, would today earn an NC-17, along with the revulsion of the motion picture community. My friend could scarcely believe it.

But it's not astonishing at all, I said. Clearly he hadn't been reading, as I have for several years now, the "family friendly" film reviewers in the local paper and on various websites.

These tightly wound would-be critics aim to provide a unique public service, a kind of moralizing Consumer Reports for movies. They patrol the latest releases to warn parents away from shows that might not be suitable for the kids, and the moral universe they inhabit astonished me at first, too. It doesn't any longer.

What I want to know is this: Does that scene of Bilbo and Gandalf blowing magically-shaped smoke in The Fellowship of the Ring "glamourize" smoking? Or are there "mitigating historical circumstances" here? (I focus on this particular scene because, on the DVD commentary, IIRC, Ian McKellen says there was talk of tweaking the script so that Gandalf had quit smoking and was now chewing on toffees. I *think* they were serious about this.)

Not much smoking in Waitress, but I wonder if it would have been enough to push it to an R. I doubt it, but it will remain to be seen when ratings including smoke start coming out.

Links to the threads on 'Disney's "No Smoking" Policy' and 'Expunging Smoking From Cartoons'.

Ban smoking on screen?
Most Canadians think that would be a drag
Globe and Mail, August 23

Now, Walden's The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep has been rated PG for "some action/peril, mild language and brief smoking". In this case it's pretty clear that the smoking hasn't affected the rating - it's not like it would have been G otherwise, I'm guessing - but that they want parents to know.

In the descriptions of R-rated movies smoking doesn't seem to come up at all; in PG-13 movies it seems to come up in the context of teen smoking (as in Grace is Gone), and in a PG-rated movie any smoking seems to be worth mention.

That's because the rating system is designed as a parental tool. It may do other things as well, but those are by-products.

Anti-smoking movement catches on
The U.S. movement to reflect smoking depictions in film ratings has reached across the Pond.
A British Medical Assn. report issued last week (ironically titled "Forever Cool") urges the British Board of Film to automatically raise a film's rating a notch -- from, say, 15 to 18 -- if it shows smoking in a positive light.
Variety, July 13

That's pretty lame when "Brief Smoking" is a rating qualification. The first movie that I watched, 101 Dalmatians, had both heros and villains who smoked constantly, and I was also brought up on old classics like Casablanca where smoking was just a part of the culture. Miraculously, I didn't grow up to be a chain smoker! And I totally agree with Bobbin that these measures will only make smoking seem more cool and rebellious rather than off-limits.

There is also the question of whether ratings-board types should really be judging films based on how "positive" they make smoking seem to be. Remember how people used to take a few scenes out of context and complain that Trainspotting made drug use look cool?

Did anybody here catch the smoking notice at the end of the credits for Hellboy II? By the "based on fictional characters, etc." note, it claims that the smoking seen in the film is an artistic choice and not an endorsement. I found it silly, and it's maybe not a big deal, but I've not seen this before.

sanshiro_sugata wrote:
: Did anybody here catch the smoking notice at the end of the credits for Hellboy II? By the "based on fictional characters, etc." note, it claims that the smoking seen in the film is an artistic choice and not an endorsement. I found it silly, and it's maybe not a big deal, but I've not seen this before.

I didn't see it myself, but I think a friend of mine pointed it out.

FWIW, I note that the pass I just got for Mamma Mia! also features the warning "This Film Contains Depictions of Tobacco Consumption". What, are they CHEWING it and SWALLOWING it?

This might be a spoiler, but I think that tobacco and cigarettes are tossed at the bride and groom as they leave the church. You know, because it's not environmentally PC to throw rice anymore, since the poor little birdies can't digest rice properly.