Disney's Big Decision
Disney recently announced their pledge to ban smoking in it's films. According to the news, they are the first major studio to do so, and anti-smoking groups have applauded the decision.
While I find Disney's attempts at being socially conscious to be commendable, I worry that they're merely pandering to families and that, ultimately, the company's mission of telling the "best story possible" will suffer from the creation of such restrictions. To quote Robert McKee: Stories are metaphor for life and in real life, people smoke.
Some of the most interesting people I've known are smokers. People in my family smoke. The fact that a person smokes, or even the way that a person smokes, often leads to a much richer characterization of that person. And where does it stop? Will studios next eliminate all overweight characters from their films? After all, being heavy is not exactly the best thing for one's health, and according to many studies, overeating is addictive and obesity in children is on the rise.
While it is unfortunate that parents appear to be doing a worse job of raising their children than ever before, I have never felt that it's the responsibility of a major corporation to do it. As a child, I watched countless films featuring smoking children (PAPER MOON) and teens (THE BAD NEWS BEARS) and never once felt the urge to try it. Not once. And you know what? Neither did most of my peers, many of whom watched the same movies and grew up with smoking parents, friends and celebrities as role models.
What worries me most are the rumors that Disney plans to go into it's vaults and erase any and all smoking from their classic films. The cigarette-rolling scene in Disney's PECOS BILL animated short has already been digitally altered and the character's actions now make no sense whatsoever.
I simply cannot imagine Cruella de Ville without that beautifully insidius wreath of toxin about her head. And it frightens me how the studio's banning of tobacco might affect that endearingly flawed - but very human - character of Wilhelmina Bertha Packard in ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE.
One more thing: I can't be the only parent out there who uses the moviegoing experience as just another tool to discuss alcohol, drugs, swearing and smoking with my "little roommates". What will these parents talk about when every film features perfectly unrealistic, overly sanitized human beings?
And as human beings, are we not beautiful in our imperfection?
While I find Disney's attempts at being socially conscious to be commendable, I worry that they're merely pandering to families and that, ultimately, the company's mission of telling the "best story possible" will suffer from the creation of such restrictions. To quote Robert McKee: Stories are metaphor for life and in real life, people smoke.
Some of the most interesting people I've known are smokers. People in my family smoke. The fact that a person smokes, or even the way that a person smokes, often leads to a much richer characterization of that person. And where does it stop? Will studios next eliminate all overweight characters from their films? After all, being heavy is not exactly the best thing for one's health, and according to many studies, overeating is addictive and obesity in children is on the rise.
While it is unfortunate that parents appear to be doing a worse job of raising their children than ever before, I have never felt that it's the responsibility of a major corporation to do it. As a child, I watched countless films featuring smoking children (PAPER MOON) and teens (THE BAD NEWS BEARS) and never once felt the urge to try it. Not once. And you know what? Neither did most of my peers, many of whom watched the same movies and grew up with smoking parents, friends and celebrities as role models.
What worries me most are the rumors that Disney plans to go into it's vaults and erase any and all smoking from their classic films. The cigarette-rolling scene in Disney's PECOS BILL animated short has already been digitally altered and the character's actions now make no sense whatsoever.
I simply cannot imagine Cruella de Ville without that beautifully insidius wreath of toxin about her head. And it frightens me how the studio's banning of tobacco might affect that endearingly flawed - but very human - character of Wilhelmina Bertha Packard in ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE.
One more thing: I can't be the only parent out there who uses the moviegoing experience as just another tool to discuss alcohol, drugs, swearing and smoking with my "little roommates". What will these parents talk about when every film features perfectly unrealistic, overly sanitized human beings?
And as human beings, are we not beautiful in our imperfection?
posted by Rochelle Smith at 5:47 PM
5 Comments:
I'm with you brother 100%! I'm not a smoker, never have been and can't stand smoke in general but I remember being completely APPALLED when Pecos Bill's cigarette scenes were altered. It's totally ridiculous!
I agree with you too, Rochelle.
Pecos Bill was the first thing i thought of when I read about them going back and erasing cigarettes.
Excellent post.
Does anybody know if a similar situation occurred with "The Lion King?" I just bought the DVD and felt ripped off to find that they cut one of my favorite scenes (with a horrible edit no less). The scene -- after Mufasa saves the cubs at the Elephant Graveyard, he "disciplines" Simba. The scene insinuates physical discipline, which (like smoking) is now condemned in society. I assume it received too much criticism and was cut.
rock! Didn't they make this decision years ago? I remember taking all the smoking scenes out of John Henry while the chain smoker in Atlantis stayed in ...
Thanks, Kitty and Tony!
Webb: My discs have the original scenes intact but I acquired them a while back. I'll have to check out the newly released version to see what you're talking about.
Sean: Maybe the studio sought to appease on a case-by-case basis before. This new press release sounds more like a company-wide "blanket promise" going forward. Disney even mentioned their plans to do their best to discourage the depiction of smoking in movies that are released by companies owned by Disney but that don't feature the "Walt Disney Pictures" logo on them.
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