Emslie Montero they've lost their aesthetic in real life; tobacco free companies have soiled their image (which is for the better), but in movies they just look so damn cool and classy
Not to mention how cigarettes were used in the Production code days to signify sex/sexual attraction when one character lights another's cigarette. Prime example being Now, Voyager; but it's used in plenty of other films too, even Pulp Fiction when Vincent hands Mia his cigarette and then lights it. Instant attraction without a word.
As cigarettes continue to be more and more stigmatized by the public, i believe this will just further solidify their 'cool' factor. As the video pointed out, the very nature of the cigarette is a stark opposition to the status quo. Even if less and less people smoked cigarettes, for the ones that do, they will be either socially shunned or secretly adored - maybe even both.
I honestly don't get how you don't have the same amount of views as someone like say nerdwriter1! I mean I don't know a lot about film and writing, but your videos definetely have the same feel to them as videos from nerdwriter. At least in my humble opinion. Well done man! :)
I always really liked Tom Cruise in Rain Man he almost always has a cigarette lit in that movie but hardly ever takes a drag on it I think this is symbolic of his phoney life style and he smokes less as his bond with Dustin Hoffmann grows
Another epic scene is from Apocalypse Now; Martin Sheen's refuses a cigarette/refuses the mission. When he takes a cigarette/accepts the mission..."with extreme prejudice"
Interesting perspective and very insightful. I took a film class in college and the professor also make the argument that smoking in film also adds an illusion of depth to the images, making a two dimensional image appear three dimensional.
The use of cigarettes in mainstream superhero comics (Marvel to be exact) was always such a fantastic way of not only showcasing different aspects of a character's personality, but also some closeness to the real world in the sense that even the heroes (or "heroes" or the heroes' friends) smoke and have flaws. But it was ruined when the editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, decided to ban all cigarettes from the comics due to his father's death connected to them. Some greatest and most iconic characters-cigarettes/cigars duos in Marvel comics: Nick Fury Sr. - a soldier. Old man. Ruined. Classic usage of cigarettes and cigars. Wolverine - he just doesn't give a shit, and doesn't need to due to his healing factor (mentioned in the movie). Ben Urich - a news reporter who just cannot stop smoking. Just like he cannot stop searching for the truth and risking his life when doing field research for his articles. He always tells himself he is going to stop, but he can't, and both when it comes to smoking and his newspaper work and unraveling of the truth, he is constantly advised to stop risking his life by Daredevil.
I have been saying this for years. Cigarettes are super cool aesthetically. I quit smoking a long time ago but I recognize how they look cool as hell. Too bad they stink and make you stink.
Wonderful essay. But are you aware that in most movies, plays, and other artistic works the cigarettes smoked by actors and performers are herbal(non tobacco/nicotine free) cigarettes. Because of smoking bans and the issue of tobacco advertising/promotion they are often used in place of the real thing. In addition to their use in the arts they are also commonly sold in pharmacies and health shops as a tobacco cessation aid. They are like non alcoholic beer and wine in certain regards
Interesting point. Could you explain what you mean by "motive?" That is, quite simply, [how] did these thinkers use the cigarette as motive, as you claim?
I was thinking about this the other day while watching Fleabag. For a 2019 show, the main character smokes quite a lot. And despite this leading me to go buy fake cigarettes to compose a cosplay (which leads me to believe that some people wouldn't have the tiniest problem getting a real one, and, seriously, it's really not good for you), I understand the cigarettes are extremely necessary in the show. Fleabag is, in many ways, broken. She's lost and she's struggling to see herself and to be seen. In season one she engages in many harmful habits and in season two she's fighting against her own urges in order to "be good". That all can be visually intensified by the figure of the cigarette. The characters that smoke it and the moments they're smoking it are clearly trying to avoid some trouble or doing something "bad". Or they're in a difficult situation where they don't really care about anything. I still don't think cigarettes making a come back to media is a good thing for our modern society. Nicotin is a extremely harmful and dependable drug and may cause long term diseases and problems. But it's moments like these that make me understand why a character is smoking and that if you still wanna smoke after watching them doing it, you just haven't interpreted the scene very well.
A good movie that I wish you would of included would of been Terminator 2. The great scene where Sarah Connor goes to meet up with some of her Mexican compadres to grab some firepower. The part where she is at the picnic table preparing and cleaning the rifle and she is looking all bad ass and buff with the sunglasses on and a cigarette in her mouth. A far contrast to her character in the previous Terminator. Even though she did smoke in the first movie, it tended to make her look more nervous and on edge rather than dominant and tough. Obviously context plays a huge part.
You make a very good point here. Especially when you tell us to pay attention to who smokes what and how he smokes it. It is important to those scenes. Still I get it why they mostly removed smoking from the more modern films. There are more ways to characterise a person of course than to give him a cigarette, but taking away the big pipe from the scene where that pipe was clearly the object of subject in the scene would obviously have taken down that very scene as a whole. I personally think it's good if cigarette's don't appear in modern movies anymore, since they don't represent the timespirit we want to live in; a non-smoking society. Movies that are about to appear in times where cigarette's were still smoked should have them in them, if it supports the story. I just don't know if it's wise to do it always; here in the Netherlands children at the age of 10 smoked in the 1910's for example and it was all fine back then. I think it might be hard to implement that in a movie that is set in the early 20th century and getting away with it by just calling it authentic and being important to the story itself.
Cigarattes should be gone for good, they are harmful and even though they have importance in art, they are a thing that should be left in the past. As every other harmful thing that have been consider art before. Art represents the evolution of society, and as long as ours dont evolve, cigarettes will keep popping up. This is a bad thing, no matter the dept it may have.
