Everybody has Their Own Problem with Avatar

[MadBadger]

Not everybody of course, but so many groups, from the left, the right, the Vatican, has their issues with this movie. The New one...Anti-Smoking Groups.

Los Angeles - A US anti-smoking group blasted the sci-fi blockbuster Avatar on Tuesday, saying that its portrayal of a character who lovingly tugs on a cigarette sent the wrong message to movie-goers.
The group, called Smoke Free Movies, took out full-page advertisements in trade papers Variety and The Hollywood Reporter to protest the on-screen smoking of the scientist Grace Augustine, played by Sigourney Weaver.

The campaign was initiated by Stanton A Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, and argued that for every 100 million dollars the movie earns at the box office, it will 'deliver an estimated 40 million tobacco impressions to theatre audiences.' The organization estimated that this presented the tobacco industry with some 50 million dollars worth of free advertising.
In comments to The New York Times, Avatar director James Cameron said he agreed that role models for young people should not smoke in films, but that 'movies should reflect reality.'
'I wanted Grace to be a character who is initially off-putting and even unpleasant. She's rude, she swears, she drinks, she smokes - we were showing that Grace doesn't care about her human body. Smoking is a filthy habit, which I don't support, and neither, I believe, does Avatar.'

Glantz, however, dismissed the argument, telling the paper that the notion of a chain-smoking environmental scientist was a fantasy.
'I know lots of environmental scientists like the Sigourney Weaver character,' he said. 'Not a single one of them smokes cigarettes.'


Read more: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/health/news/article_1524882.php/Anti-smoking-group-blasts-Avatar#ixzz0cRAsjGOZ

[LaPera]

1. I haven't seen it - I'll catch it on DVD in 4 or 5 month's - Anyway they cut out the sex scene

so I've read....with all due respect though, it's just a film....

I really have no issues with it since I haven't seen it...and probably won't even when I catch it on DVD in a few month's, with the sex scene on the DVD "Extras section" intact. - I'm joking of course...I couldn't care less about the sex scene - But for me, the film can wait....

I had a choice to see Avatar for free but chose "Up in the Air" for free instead...happy I did.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Environmental scientists are our superiors.

Glory to environmental scientist ubermensch.

[kenfrequed]

3. hmm

I would have thought that since she didn't smoke when she shed her human body in favor of the alien body that it spoke to a purification of sorts. By the way, am I the only one that thought it was an odd joke that "Ripley" was possessing the alien body this time?

[howard112211]

4. Cameron pissed everybody off at once and made a shitload of money at the same time.

Talk about having an impact...

[bigwillq]

5. Not me.

Haven't seen it and don't plan on it. No issues with it at all.

[damntexdem]

6. I don't have a problem -- I haven't seen it yet.

But why do those idyllic aliens want to smoke? ;-)

[ibegurpard]

7. My problem was with the script

It was groan-inducing
really wasted on some truly imaginative ideas and fantastic imagery.

[branders seine]

8. 'a chain-smoking environmental scientist was a fantasy'

Never mind the blue giants with tails and tendrils that connect to every living thing on their planet, flying on the backs of dragons. Fantasy.