Someone has way too much time on their hands. Smoking is becoming a bigger and bigger issue in North America. Me personally… I don’t smoke. I think smoking is as dumb as shoving a fork up your ass for jollies (only the fork up your ass is less bad for your health). However… smoking is LEGAL. So if it’s not illegal… then leave the smokers alone. Let them do what they want to do.
But apparently some folks are accusing the movie industry of promoting smoking. So some scientist said to themselves “we need to do a study on this”. So they watched 450 movies made since 1990 to determine if film really does promote smoking. Here’s what the BBC reports of their findings:
The study in the journal Chest, which examined almost 450 hit US films made since 1990, found 35% of villains smoked compared with 20% of heroes.
It also said smoking was not much more common on screen than in real life. And independent film-makers were more likely to show characters lighting up than the big studios, it found. “Children and adults of all ages can be influenced by what they view in movies,” said Paul Kvale, president of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).
“This study emphasises the need for responsible film-making when it comes to portraying smoking.”
Overall, 23.3% of lead characters smoked on screen, it said – compared with 21.8% of people in US society. Men and white people were more likely to smoke in films than women and ethnic minorities – the same pattern as in real life. And 46% of independent movies studied featured a lead character who smoked, compared with 18% of films made by the big studios.
Dr Karan Omidvari of St Michael’s Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey – the lead researcher on the study – said: “Independent movie-makers, who work outside the Hollywood system, are much more callous and ‘guilty’ when it comes to portraying smoking indiscriminately.”
Hahaha… so what’s the point? “Yeah, we have no problem with that guy shooting the hooker in the face with a shotgun… but SWEET MERCY!!!! Make sure he doesn’t have a smoke in his hand when he does it!
