PUBLIC FORUM : ROW OVER SMOKING IN FILMS SPREADS TO SEX, VIOLENCE, DRUGS.I'm a screenwriter, and using a cigarette in a scene is simply a piece of business or physical action. In a film like ``Titanic'' or ``L.A. Confidential,'' where smoking cigarettes and cigars was very chic, it would have looked odd without paying attention Noun 1. paying attention - paying particular notice (as to children or helpless people); "his attentiveness to her wishes"; "he spends without heed to the consequences" attentiveness, heed, regard to it. Men wore more suits, and both men and women wore hats because of fashion, to relate to what was popular at the time. Maybe you have those ``no smoking'' signs in your homes or cars or restaurants. That's fine. We don't smoke in my home. But you have to remember that if I'm doing a scene in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. in the '50s or '60s or even now, there is going to be smoke and smokers. If a person lights up a cigarette in a film, it doesn't bother me. Did the screenwriter make him a smoker? Did the director think that it would be a more effective scene if he put a cigarette in his hand? Trust me, from a writer's viewpoint we're not thinking about using a cigarette to sell a film. There are no kickbacks. We just try to observe and capture life on paper and tell a story. I know for myself that we screenwriters don't play the game of agendas. We just write a bunch of words, and if we are lucky enough they get made into film. - Aubrey K. Rattan rattan (rătăn`), name for a number of plants of the genera Calamus, Daemonorops, and Korthalsia climbing palms of tropical Asia, belonging to the family Palmae (palm family). Burbank I noted, with interest, ``Activists denounce rise in on-screen on·screen or on-screen adj. & adv. 1. As shown on a movie, television, or display screen. 2. Within public view; in public. tobacco use'' in the March 4 Daily News. It quotes a spokeswoman as saying, ``They are kind of showing a lifestyle as the norm, (but) it is a bad image.'' I am in total agreement with this, and I feel that a like situation exists in the use of gutter language in today's movies. For instance, ``Good Will Hunting,'' which is being touted for an Academy Award, contains some of the filthiest dialogue I have ever heard in a film. Isn't this another lifestyle that the movies are showing as the norm? - Theodore Perlman West Hills Big Brother is watching the movies. Stanton Glantz (Daily News, March 4) has charged the movie industry with smoking in films. How long will it take for him to check your home or your bedroom and see what he can control within your own home? He is trying to take away our freedom of choice and civil rights. This is pure censorship of personal behavior. What next? Will it be something you are doing, saying, eating or using, that the health police will try to censor or prohibit? - Louis Rosenberg Canoga Park Regarding ``Movies are smokin','' Daily News, March 4: I just don't get all the hoopla hoop·la n. Informal 1. a. Boisterous, jovial commotion or excitement. b. Extravagant publicity: The new sedan was introduced to the public with much hoopla. 2. . This may sell papers, but it sure doesn't address the most important issue regarding Hollywood's influence upon the world's children. Let's get the violence out of our programs and really do something to protect our children. - Dan Huard Palmdale Please tell me how do I get on the committee that decides who gets free speech and who doesn't. The Daily News, which depends on the First Amendment for its very existence, should be ashamed of itself for playing this stupid game with our rights - Larry D. Spears North Hollywood Has anyone read the movie reviews in the LA Life section lately and looked at the ratings? One or two might not have nudity, violence, drug use, etc., all factors which also influence our teen-agers. That part seems to be OK as long as they don't smoke. We are spending $67.5 million on state ad campaigns to show the dangers of smoking. If there is anyone out there who is not yet aware of what we have been hearing for the last few years about smoking, then I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. why we spent hundreds of millions in the past to preach that message. And teen smoking is up, because the more we tell them not to do something, the more they will do it. Imagine what those millions could have done for real research. - Otto Mueksch North Hollywood The bottom line is money. Studios need money to make movies. Businesses spend to get their products prominent roles in movies. Car manufacturers have done it for years. In the case of tobacco, it is one of the most effective and least regulated forms of advertising to the target market, adolescents. Our kids are spending money to watch two-hour commercials for cigarettes and the glamorous lifestyle that comes with them. - Richard Williams La Canada Flintridge As a longtime movie fan, I say, shame on Hollywood. Actors smoking on screen should be banned. This is a step backward in the noble crusade against Joe Camel Joe Camel (officially Old Joe) was the advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes from late 1987 to July 12, 1997, appearing in magazine advertisements, billboards, and other print media. and the Marlboro Man Marlboro Man cigarette advertising campaign established new symbol of virility. [Am. Pop. Culture: Misc.] See : Virility . - Bill Clarke William Hillary (Bill) Clarke (born 5 July 1933 in Toronto, Ontario) was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a Chartered Accountant and businessman by career. Llano lla·no n. pl. lla·nos A large, grassy, almost treeless plain, especially one in Latin America. [Spanish, plain, from Latin pl As a woman who watched her father die of lung cancer lung cancer, cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. , I am disgusted by the current trend toward the glamorization glam·or·ize also glam·our·ize tr.v. glam·or·ized, glam·or·iz·ing, glam·or·iz·es 1. To make glamorous: tried to glamorize the bathroom with expensive fixtures. 2. of smoking in Hollywood films. Young viewers are highly impressionable and influenced by the behavior of their favorite celebrities. I do, however, approve of one actress who smokes on screen. Although her performance is rather difficult to watch, she appears on television inhaling a cigarette through the hole that cancer has left in her neck. Hopefully, the realism of this image will gain power over the false sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. recently seen in this era of morally irresponsible filmmaking. - Patricia A. Prevatil Sherman Oaks The fact that a few so-called researchers - stop watches in hand and heads brimming with self-righteous hysteria - saw less than half a dozen recent motion pictures and jotted down the number of cigarettes lighted is a meaningless and manipulative extension of the passive-aggressive fascism which California's policy makers have deliberately bred and popularized. Clearly, the era of overblown o·ver·blown v. Past participle of overblow. adj. 1. a. Done to excess; overdone: overblown decorations. b. nonstatistics has reached its highest flowering, and whether or not little Buddy or Sis is deceived into thinking ``smoking is cool'' is nowhere near as disturbing as the fact that this cut-rate ``survey'' was accorded large-type headlines on Page 1. - Jonny Whiteside Burbank Methinks me·thinks intr.v. Past tense me·thought Archaic It seems to me. [Middle English me thinkes, from Old English m that the pendulum of political correctness politically correct adj. Abbr. PC 1. Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. has once again swung too far to the right. On-screen smoking might be harmful to impressionable young people? Funny: I don't hear all of the do-gooders putting the same effort behind ridding the movies of blood-splattered bodies, deviant sex and graphic nudity. Oh wait. I forgot. That's entertainment. - Mark Taylor People known as Mark Taylor include:
Woodland Hills Of all the preposterous crusades the modern herd of reformers has essayed, this is the most preposterous. I am not a fan of the movies. They are too long, too boring, and too laden with political messages to fetch me. Every leap year leap year: see calendar. or so I am dragged to one. Once in a while I scan the reviews to see what kind of drivel driv·el v. driv·eled or driv·elled, driv·el·ing or driv·el·ling, driv·els v.intr. 1. To slobber; drool. 2. To flow like spittle or saliva. 3. is being foisted off on the public at $6 and up per seat. And what is being foisted off, you ask? Murder and mayhem - no problem. Egregious sex - no problem. Daddy is an idiot - no problem. Bash the Christians - no problem. Steal anything that isn't nailed down and bring a hammer for the rest - no problem. Political correctness taken to the nth degree - no problem. Drug use - no problem. Crime of all sorts, most of which pays - no problem. Smoking? Call out the Marines. It must be a part of that vast right-wing conspiracy "Vast right-wing conspiracy" was a phrase used by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1998 in defense of her husband President Bill Clinton and his administration during the Lewinsky scandal, characterizing the Lewinsky charges as the latest in a long, organized, collaborative . - Alexander Hicks Sylmar If anyone thinks movies and TV don't influence impressionable young people, as well as some that are not so young, he is living in that fantasy created by the industry. Anyone with this kind of influence has an increased responsibility to the public that they cater to. Like it or not, what is cool is more important to some people than what is good or healthy or right. And to some of those people, if Brad Pitt, Jodie Foster Alicia Christian Foster (born November 19 1962), better known as Jodie Foster, is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress, director, and producer. She has also won two Golden Globes, 3 BAFTA awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, making her one of the few select , Robert DeNiro or any number of other actors do it, then it is cool. It would be nice to see the industry project a better image, not because of any official censorship, but because it is the right thing to do. Stop confusing freedom of expression with freedom from responsibility. - G. Scott Henderson Northridge Normal, emotionally healthy people - and I emphasize healthy - know that film, no matter how realistic, is still film. If watching movies influences the population to believe that smoking is a healthy lifestyle alternative, then we'd better stop producing all the action films before people start hijacking hijacking Crime of seizing possession or control of a vehicle from another by force or threat of force. Although by the late 20th century hijacking most frequently involved the seizure of an airplane and its forcible diversion to destinations chosen by the air pirates, when planes and single-handedly killing their enemies with a bloody vengeance. While we're at it, let's get rid of all of the hard-core drug scenes before li'l Johnny decides that smack sure looks like fun. As a matter of fact, let's only make G-rated films about puppies and kittens. Society is best left in the dark. Let's not limit the artistic license of entertainment. Instead, let's take responsibility for the decisions we make in our lives and for the guidance of our children. - Renee Roland Los Angeles When people complain about cigarette smoking in movies, they often cite the puffing done by Julia Roberts' character in ``My Best Friend's Wedding.'' I regarded that character's use of tobacco to be a neurotic reaction, which comes to the fore when she has difficulty coping. This doesn't make smoking seem desirable. I realize that Hillary Clinton has berated those scenes, but mightn't it be that she misunderstood the negative connotation, or that she has distorted the reality to further her political agenda? For the record, I don't smoke and regard cigarette odor to be repulsive. - David P. Hayes Simi Valley Movies definitely influence behavior. Every time an actor lights a cigarette, hundreds of children take up the habit. And no one is more aware of this than the tobacco industry. We will never prove the tobacco industry is behind the recent proliferation of smoking scenes, and we will never dissuade producer-directors from promoting child addiction via on-screen smoking. But those actors who consent to smoking on screen can be made to feel the rage and indignation of the nation's parents, who live in constant fear for their children's health Children's Health Definition Children's health encompasses the physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being of children from infancy through adolescence. . Parents and those who care can take note of those actors who smoke in movies and then make conscious efforts to avoid those movies in which these actors appear. Fred W. Coble co·ble n. 1. Nautical A small flatbottom fishing boat with a lugsail on a raking mast. 2. Scots A kind of flatbottom rowboat. North Hills CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Susan Sarandon, playing an actress who is trying to kick the habit, appears with Paul Newman in ``Twilight.'' |
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