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| Delicious Carole Lombard [photo source] |
...with glamour. It's total glamourcide!
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| Dangerous Lauren Bacall |
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| Dreamy Tony Leung |
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| Smokin' Daniel Craig |
Today is the annual Great American Smokeout... another encouragement to quit, if you're still breathing in those cancer sticks with abandon. I don't much relish or even condone the slow lobbying progress to end smoking in the movies -- those wispy tendrils and sensuous lip clouds are just way too yummy to film and watch -- but movies don't give you cancer. So, I say let people smoke away onscreen. Voyeurism is good for you!
But offscreen everyone should quit!
That doesn't sound as good.
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22 comments:
Looool
I am always trying to quit and not quit!
I had quit for some months and then started again. Then I quit for some days, then for a year, then etc
I started those nicotine gums and yesterday I managed not to smoke even one cigarette. But today I drank my coffee and then I made tea and said: Oh, I'll have one.
And during that one, I see your post :p
It's weird. When I smoke too much, I feel certain I want to quit. And when I'm close to quitting I forget why I decided it is bad for me.
So I wrote down my reasons for quitting. I think the gums are a good method. As long as I manage to quit those too :p
And I do love watching people smoke in the movies. But it's hard for someone who never smoked to understand how tempted you are to smoke when you are reminded of how cool it is.
I tried smoking for about a week, then quit after I realized it made me feel a lot less like Humphrey Bogart than I was hoping it would.
I agree, banning smoking in the movies or on TV is stupid.
Cigarette packs in NYC have had warnings like "Smoking Kills" on them before. And I think it was London where I saw them with pictures of tarred cancer lungs and whatnot. Gross.
I always quit kind of effortlessly for a few years, like it just happens, and then I randomly start up again. Not sure how one gets out of that cycle, since it is not as common.
Don't actors often smoke non-tobacco when they smoke onscreen? I always remember reading that Sarah Jessica Parker smoked tea on the set of Sex and the City. How does that work? Tea? Anybody know of any instances of real smoking of tobacco (or gasp...the evil Mari J. Uana?) on screen? Obviously back in the day it was all real.
There's a day for everything, it seems.
One of the things I hated most when I was quitting smoking was to listen to those who bragged about it, and said how easy it had been for them. :)
It isn't, apart from your willingness to quit and your strength, changing your routines (coffee included, I'm afraid) and all, there's that pesky brain of yours that needs its nicotine. So, I could only quit smoking with medical help, taking pills to cancel that physical need in your brain. I don't know if they fully worked, I don't think they work without your determination to do it, but they're so pricey (around €60 every 2 weeks), money becomes another important reason to do it.
What worries me now is that the government here is passing an anti-smoking law which won't allow showing smoking on TV, not even in fiction. The way I understand it, it should only refer to new series and other stuff produced by the main TV channels, but still I think that's going too far. Seeing someone smoking on TV might make want to smoke again for about 10 seconds, but I haven't heard of any law, medical treatment or similar that makes you forget the after sex cigarette.
While it is obviously true that movies do not cause cancer and some anti-smoking groups might have gone overboard in trying to ban or limit smoking in films, I do not believe that we can completely dismiss any connection between glamorous actors lighting up and its possible effect on impressionable teenagers. This is the group that causes concern.
I've never smoked in my life, but after watching two back to back Asian cinema films (In The Mood For Love, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance), i had a HUGE craving for a cigarette.
Both films had their share of people smoking, and boy, they were enjoying it. The relief and pleasure on their faces and the elegant streams of smoke that would come from their cigarettes and their mouths!
It was like watching someone eat a fantastic looking burger and walking out with the intent of shoving one in your mouth.
I quit last year cold turkey and I finally got to the point recently where I really don't think about it anymore. After quitting, I'd have one or two here and there every now and then, but I eventually was getting absolutely nothing from it and felt profoundly guilty. Honestly, I know it sounds so obvious, but if you just Google the effects of it and really allow what it's doing to you to sink in, there's no better way to kick the habit. Smokers rationalize their smoking and put up blinders, but if you take them off, the truth is really scary. When I see smokers now, and think about my smoking, what keeps coming to mind is that there's definitely a degree of insanity in people who smoke. It's poison, people. Period. And you're happily inviting it into your body. If that's not crazy...
Smoking makes your lungs stronger. Cough!
Paul D said...
While it is obviously true that movies do not cause cancer and some anti-smoking groups might have gone overboard in trying to ban or limit smoking in films, I do not believe that we can completely dismiss any connection between glamorous actors lighting up and its possible effect on impressionable teenagers. This is the group that causes concern.
Really? More people start smoking, not because they saw mom or dad or their best friend doing it, but because they saw some actor in a movie light a cigarette? I dunno. Especially these days, when people are really informed and it is actually becoming increasingly UNCOOL to smoke, I just don't buy the Hollywood Glamour argument like we're watching Casablance in 1942 or something. And I can think of many older examples of teen-oriented movies with smoking, and pretty much none these days, so the lack of an official ban hasn't meant there's been no change. Kids these days are way too media savvy for their own good, which is why we are constantly bombarded with new forms of techie and viral marketing. Showing them something and trying to make it look cool just isn't enough anymore.
There's this German documentary about the history of German cinema, "Eye to Eye: All About German Film". It has lots of wonderful montages and one of them is about smoking in German films:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TRZYOh86Xo
It's not my favourite of the montages, but still worth seeing (love that opening scene featuring a very young Horst Buchholz!).
Nathaniel, you'll probably like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHO-C3Y5m54
;)
(I might have posted this before, I'm not sure)
smoking will always be COOL folks.
Brandz? You're an idiot.
Two and a half years quitter here and I'm amazed every day that I really haven't had any desire at all to go back. I'll see people smoking, hell a friend can blow smoke right in my face, and it does nothing for me. Well the latter's annoying, but that's it.
But it does look GREAT on-screen. And I'll take this opportunity to link to the two anniversary posts - year one, year two - that I did celebrating my quitting that are full of pictures of sexy men smoking cigarettes because it seems apt.
On December 12th I'll be celebrating 6 years without a cigarette (and YES, I'm very proud of myself since I was smoking since I was 13 :S)
I would say a good 70% of movie stars smoke regularly off screen.
4 years quitter here - but I gotta tell you, it's the hardest thing I ever did. even to this day i can't believe I actually did it - cold turkey mind you, don't recommend it to anybody.
adelutza, JA, fernando, kurtis.... I salute you! well done.
JA -- i remember those posts. yummy.
It may look sexy, but there is absolutely nothing half as bad as kissing a smoker. You may eat an onion like an apple and kiss me and it'll be ok, but never come close to me and my face with your mouth full of smoke.
After I've experienced this, I started to watch movies and think: "This girl, Rita, looks so sexy, but I wouldn't kiss her, at least without an one hour session of Listerine".
Volvagia, you don't even know me, you fool. Like it or not, smoking will always be cool and glamorous. That's why kids smoke today, dontcha know!
cal roth - Completely agreed on the kissing thing. As cool as it looks, the taste negates the whole experience.
I'm from Iceland - Reykingar drepa never had any effect on me :)
What did the trick, 6 years ago, was I started to learn to sing. Figured I needed every advantage I could scrape up to advance and that proved to be enough of a carrot so I could quit cold turkey. Stopped singing but didn't start smoking again.
I'm a non-smoker since April.
Smoking is cooler in black and white
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