Who's afraid of the big bad purists?: It's a question of culture

» Laurelin70 - It's a question of culture

Hi, I'm new here, but I've been reading your articles for long time. Now I was very surprised by your strong attack to the use of smoke in the film. I do know that in the USA there is a huge battle about it, but I think that it shouldn't affect the movies. For example, if you make a movie whose story is placed in the Thirties, you can't cancel the cigarettes from the culture of that time. So, in the Lord of the Rings you have a culture that consider smoking pipe as a good way to relax or pass the time (because it was so for Tolkien himself, I think). I don't think that smokers are prompted by a film, but by a whole culture.
I agree with you about the effects of the smoke, but isn't it a little of "terrorism" from you to say that movies mustn't contain cigarettes/pipes/smokers? I admit that to see Gandalf and Bilbo enjoying a good smoke of pipe communicated to me a sense of peace and intimacy, that's not like I want to smoke pipe! I think that was the intention of the filmaker: to communicate a certain sense of intimacy through an image easy to understand.

-- posted by Laurelin70