Smoking is a funny thing. In fact, everything is funnier with a cigarette. Example – guy riding down the street on a bike. Not funny. Guy ridding down the street on a bike with a cigarette hanging from his mouth – funny. It’s a sign of desperation and complete submission to an addiction. In recent years, this comic device has been assaulted with anti-smoking campaigns. All Americans are, by now, familiar with Stand – the anti-smoking group. The funniest thing is that, while smoking is bad for you, it doesn’t tear apart families like alcohol. How many commercials have you seen today that glorified alcohol?
Now this anti-smoking agenda is spilling into the cinema. Back in May, Josh ranted about the the MPAA campaigning for an R rating with any film that has smoking in it. Today, Yahoo! reported that Disney has banned all depictions of smoking from its films – the first Hollywood studio to do so. Additionally, Disney will “discourage” smoking in films from its Touchstone and Miramax labels. And, Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger also said that the studio would place anti-smoking public service announcements on DVDs of any future films that feature cigarette smoking.
While the first reaction to this type of censorship is extreme anger, it highlights the programmed mentality of Hollywood and audiences. Market segments are targeted and then sold entertainment in the forms of movies. Disney is primarily a family-oriented mass producer of movie entertainment, it’s really no surprise that they would jump on a popular public agenda.
If you’re anything like me, when you hear this kind of news or see some anti-smoking commercial smacking you in the face with some “staggering statistics,” your first reaction is to run out and buy and smoke a pack of cigarettes just because you don’t like being told what is right and wrong. Then again, with the legislation banning smoking in public places passed in many states and this trend in cinema censorship, the anti-smoking agenda seems to be our generations red scare.
Perhaps our government and corporations are just preparing us for a uniform future, where we all look the same, think the same and wear those sweet silver jumpsuits on our way to the moon or a neighboring planet. Or it could just be the man trampling on your God given right to smoke a damn cigarette if you want to.
