Thank You For Smoking, This Film Is Not Yet Rated

Perhaps the recent success of films like This Film Is Not Yet Rated and Thank You For Smoking influenced people more than we might have imagined. In a strange clash between the concepts of the aforementioned films, a group comprised of senators, Lung Associations and pediatricians have called for an “R” rating for any movie that includes actors and cigarettes.

Research published last June in one of the world’s leading medical journals confirms a decade of findings: smoking in movies recruits over half of all new teenage smokers in the United States.

The effect of movie smoking on kids is clear and direct: the more they see, the more likely they are to start smoking. The teens most powerfully influenced are the children of non-smoking parents. -From Smoke Free Movies

That last sentence leads me to believe that there’s no point in setting a good example as a non-smoker for your children since they will be most vulnerable to the evils of pretend people in movie theaters. Surely that’s not the case, and furthermore, probably not what they’re hoping to intimate there.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for positive influences and kids that know how to say no, but this is kind of ridiculous. 101 Dalmatians and The Fox and The Hound being rated R would mean that an adult would be needed just to rent them at Blockbuster. That’s even more insane than assuming children and parents are so stupid they can’t handle seeing things without doing them, and are in dire need of the MPAA to tell them what’s up.

I’m moving to Canada with Alec Baldwin.

Why I think you shouldn’t worry.

MPAA ratings have continuously gotten more liberal since they were implemented and have never trended in a conservative reverse. Movies with G, PG and PG-13 ratings earn more at the box office and, since the MPAA benefits when the industry benefits, I seriously doubt you’ll ever see them reducing the number of G, PG and PG-13 ratings because they create such an impressive revenue base. “Fuck” used to guarantee an instant R rating, but PG-13 was invented in the ’80s with the express purpose of allowing it to be used once in a film without the film cutting its earning potential in half with an R rating.

True, true.

But you know, even if it doesn’t happen, I think it’s so absurd to even propose, for so many different reasons. And on top of all the obvious stuff, the “research” is insulting.

Telling me that a certain percentage of teens who smoke started because of celebrity worship or going to movies is insulting and misleading.

Telling me that a certain percentage of adults believe that watching people smoke makes kids smoke is insulting and misleading.

Ghah.

The puritanical clusters of our society are always some of the loudest, but it’s just noise to the majority.

As a displaced Beaverlander, I strongly encourage you to research the real, rather than political, climate realities of living in Canada before you hitch your wagon to Alex’s U-Haul-of-righteousness.

Cal:

But there’s syrup and beer, what could possibly go wrong?

Welcome to the land of maple syrup, good music and even better beer.

When I was in Canada five years, every radio station sounded like all Sarah Mclachlan, all the time. I’m not even sure if it was her the whole time or if it was that “Arms of an Angel” song continually reverberating in my head due to repeated (and extreme) exposure. It was the musical equivalent of the Dunkin Donuts decor.

It’s funny, Jess, that you mention those things.

I believed them too, until I displaced. Canada has a lot to offer but those items are, surprisingly enough, not differentiators.

Gene: You are suffering from Can Con (Canadian Content) overexposure. You probably didn’t have the antibodies that we develop at an early age. For our American friends, try to imagine the musical diversity of Clear Channel mandated across the entire radio spectrum.

My big complaint against Canada is the weather. In most of the country, it’s terrible, and they’ve done absolutely nothing to fix it!