R-Rating Sought in Some Smoking Films

[demdave]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - If Nicolas Cage lights a cigarette in a movie, Hollywood's ratings board should respond as if he used a profanity, according to authors of a new study that criticizes glamorous images of smoking in movies rated for children under 17.

Nearly 80 percent of movies rated PG-13 feature some form of tobacco use, while 50 percent of G and PG rated films depict smoking, said Stanton Glantz, co-author of the study, which examined 775 U.S. movies over the past five years.

"No one is saying there should never be any smoking in the movies," Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said Tuesday at a press conference at Hollywood High School. "What we're simply asking for is that smoking be treated by Hollywood as seriously as it treats offensive language."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040309/D8173NV00.html

[Ediacara]

1. ya because smoking a cigarette

is as graphic as eviscerating someone with a pitchfork....

[MidwestMomma]

23. Thank Goodness Janet wasn't smoking when she flashed the world

OH THE HORROR!!!!!

[mobuto]

29. I'll tell you

Advertising, whether overt or covertly hidden in a movie, that persuades kids to start smoking does a hell of a lot more harm then any nipple ever has. If you're going to put R ratings on anything, it might as well be for this.

[CTLawGuy]

41. do all the anti-drug PSAs

prevent kids from using drugs?

[thebigidea]

2. and the same should go for ALL dangerous activity in movies

I want safe, clean movies where absolutely nothing interesting ever happens.

[Carni]

19. You just came damned near to a barrage

of crap from me lol...but then I realized you were being sarcastic!
WTF? So now are real time smokers going to be rated "R" maybe they can throw them in smokers colonies- man, I hate this whacked out regime.

[kid shelleen]

25. Here ya go...

[thebigidea]

32. nothing is more dangerous to American Youth than Parisian influence

that's even more insidious than smoking!

Since Ashcroft is recuperating, I thought I'd take his place for a while.

[kid shelleen]

36. Indeed!

Why do you think they call it the left bank??

[bif]

3. Give me a break!

What utter bullshit.

[bigwillq]

4. They're not only taking my right to smoke away

But my favorite movie characters' rights as well! What is this country turning into?



edit: spelling

[Uber Llama]

5. I don't understand

Smoking is probably the most dangerous thing that a person can do. A cigarrette contains over four thousand harmful chemicals. It shouldn't even be legal to manufacture them, let alone put them in movies.

[maveric]

8. Movies can reflect reality.

And the reality is that some people smoke. Why censor movies that show people smoking. Whats next? No swearing, no drinking, no depictions of women in positions of power?

So lets all live in a clean, puritanical Disney world.

This is bullshit!!

[SoCalDem]

18. That WILL be next

The fundamentalist types are content to nibble at issues.. Eventually they get pretty far.. They have time (and ignorant people) on their side..

[sandnsea]

26. But this isn't the fundies

This is the far-left politically correct. If both sides keep getting their way, there won't be anything left to do in this country.

[Vladimir]

39. Not all the far-left!

I loooooove a good smoke. Particularly roll your own, preferably with flavoured tobacco. Mmmmmm... I think I'll roll one now actually.

V

[PapaClay]

16. If you think...

that smoking is probably the most dangerous thing that a person can do, then I would have to agree...You don't understand. Or you've led a sheltered life.

As for making it illegal, well one need only look at prohibition and the WOD to see what a keen idea that would be.




:smoke:

[Carni]

21. OK so let's take all sexual inn, eating, driving, sports etc etc etc

Out of movies and just watch Mr freaking Rogers reruns on a wide screen- Give me a break.

[DerBeppo]

30. you've got it.

no, not really.

it should be illegal for them to be in movies? How about all dangers should be illegal and illegal to talk about, write about, or watch in a movie.

interesting sig though.

[Florida_Geek]

6. Frodo and Sam without their pipes

:wow::wow::wow::wow::wow:

[Warpy]

7. What makes you think that was TOBACCO?

[LifeDuringWartime]

12. its in the books

although they make it sound like pot in the movie.

[NashVegas]

9. Oh My Fucking Lord

Beyond belief.

[FeebMaster]

10. After careful consideration,

I've decided to support this on the condition that you be allowed to smoke in the movies that end up rated R because of smoking.

[Sandpiper]

11. The children!!!! We must protect the children!!!

I get so tired of having the neo puritans shove their morality up my ass. And the most tiresome part is, it's always about "protecting the children."

Kids see people smoke in the real world all the time. Who fucking cares if they see someone do it on film?!?!

[Athame]

24. Are these the same people

who want to lower the VOTING age to 14???

Please, give me a break!

[0007]

42. The lady below protected her children - how wonderful they all turned out,

junior - Jebb - Neil
&
No need to go into the history of their lovly mates

[SoCalDem]

13. This movie is rated... T A

Taliban Approved :eyes:

[salin]

14. lol... well the movie got an N-17 rating due to excessive cigarettes.

coming soon to a movie critic near you. *snicker*

[brook]

15. What bs!

All you have to do is have Cage smoke, say, 30 cigarettes. Then you barter it down...say, 20 cigarettes, 4 G**dam's and one F***. We used to purposely load a script with obscenity just to have something to bargain. Ratings are a joke. They satisfy the "Protect the Children" folks - the same ones threatening the lives of the council in Multanomah County.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

17. Virtually EVERY movie made before 1970 includes smoking...

Casablanca rated R?
Citizen Kane?

Films of Truman, Roosevelt, Kennedy? All R?

Christ. The stupidity is amazing.

[Muddleoftheroad]

20. Maybe what they meant

Was, "Man, that film is smokin'!)

[MidwestMomma]

22. I want my country back from intolerant narrow-minded Puritans!

People like this are so worried about 'protecting' the kids from boobs and cussing and sex and drugs and rap and smoking, yet they will vote for the biggest threat to their children's well-being in November.

People like this should be worried about the poisoning of the environment by the corporations, the shambles of our education system and the endless war of this admin if they're so concerned about 'protecting' their children.

[sandnsea]

27. Smoking is the lefties

Not the fundies. We better be honest about where some of this crap comes from.

[FeebMaster]

34. You don't have to be religious

to be a puritan anymore.

[NashVegas]

40. The "I Know What's Best for You" Lobby

Has invaded both parties, but all too often finds more sympathy on the left.

[freeforall]

28. What about smoking joints?

These people are getting more absurd by the minute. I don't see them rating movies as "Restricted" which show people drinking.

Utter nonsense!

[elvisbear]

31. Damn, so much for kids watching Bugs Bunny.....

[jpgray]

33. Casablanca would be fucking NC-17

Smoking does not equal a curse word, and should have no effect on rating at all. Jesus, Indiana Jones has hearts being ripped out and girls stripping, and that kept to PG/PG-13, if I remember.

[my cuppa tea]

35. Can they do the same thing

for movies in which people don't wash their hands after using the bathroom? Because that'd be awesome.

Seriously, though, I don't know if this is a bad idea. I wonder how many people (the young especially, but not always) consciously or unconsciously think of the positive images they see in films when they start or continue a behavior. Smoking where it doesn't bother anyone else is an American's right, certainly, but considering how many die from it, maybe less smoking on film where it can make a huge impact, particularly on kids, is a good idea. At least in theory.

[Dr Fate]

37. Sherlock Holmes? FDR? Mark Twain?

Who are they protecting us from anyway??...

[JackDragna]

38. Meanwhile, somebody got his testicles ripped off with pliers..

..and HIS movie didn't budge from PG-13. The MPAA has devloved into lunacy.