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The American Medical Association is coming for you Hollywood. They are absolutely furious that Warner Brothers would have the audacity to promote a movie that featured cigarettes in a prominent role. Why should we care? Check this out:
In He’s Just Not that Into You, Jennifer Connelly learns that her husband has been smoking behind her back. This realization comes on the heels of his confessed affair and is the proverbial ‘straw the breaks the camel’s back’ – launching her into melt down mode. Following this discovery, she packs up his stuff, buys a pack of Luckys, and attaches a note to it that says “knock yourself out, I want a divorce.” That – and the fact that Connelly alludes to her father’s ‘death by smoking’ earlier in the movie – is the role cigarettes play in the film. They kill people and marriages. Sounds like the AMA should be happy, right? Nope, they are pissed.
Now, I’m not going to defend big tobacco, that’s not where my problem lies. I’m just a bit unsettled that a scientific institution like the AMA has dubbed the average movie viewer so impressionable. Are we to believe that we’re really so subconsciously affected by movies that, even when a message is presented in a negative context, we will still buy into it? Movies are passed through an audience’s ‘common sense’ filter like every other form of medium. If it’s bad on screen, it’s bad off it; we film fans aren’t beyond this concept.
For example, Leaving Las Vegas didn’t make me want me to drink myself to death. I didn’t eat anyone’s face after seeing Silence of the Lambs. I didn’t go out and buy a blood diamond after Leo’s movie ended. Yes, these aren’t the same as smoking, but I still think there should be cause for concern if the AMA wins this case. If you can’t present ‘bad things’ in a ‘bad light,’ then how do you present them? Do you just ignore them? How bout from now on, before every gun is fired in a movie, the character has to mutter ‘thank God I registered this legal fire arm and know how to use it responsibly.’ Or in every chase sequence, there are constant shots of the odometer to show that the protagonist is going the speed limit. And every sex scene should follow a brief dialogue about condoms. If we are so influenced by what we see, why not make movies a reflection of a utopian society; wouldn’t we all be the better for it?
Now, I get that this is all a little extreme and that the AMA’s concern is simply over the mere presence of cigarettes in a PG13 movie. But there could be a bigger problem here. Those in charge of making, reviewing, and censoring movies need to trust that the people watching it aren’t idiots. If they do so, movies will eventually be void of any potentially controversial lines, moments, or scenes. So, consider this an open letter to the AMA. We appreciate you worrying about us, but we’re not morons. Hollywood, don’t listen to them.
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