Teen project rates movies by ashtrays

• Study authors propose R rating for smoker scenes

Advertiser Staff and News Services

The portrayal of smoking as sexy earned “Lost in Translation” thumbs-down from teen reviewer Jon Valdez. Advertiser library photo • Sept. 25, 2003

Students critiqued Oscar-nominated films and popular teen movies for the extent and type of tobacco use, who uses tobacco, specific brands shown, perceived messages of tobacco use, special situations of tobacco use, and anti-tobacco messages displayed.

"Thumbs Down!" was given to movies that they say include and glamorize smoking, while "Thumbs Up!" was given to movies that show no smoking, or have anti-smoking messages. Students shared the information they gathered in their classes and wrote articles in school newspapers.

Among the flicks that received a "Thumbs Down!" were "Mona Lisa Smile" and "Lost in Translation."

"The reason Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson were 'Lost In Translation' is the fact that they were in a cloud of smoke," participant Jon Valdez wrote. "I give this movie a thumbs-down because tobacco was portrayed as sexy, something to help cope with stress and an activity that cool folks engage in."

Films that received positive reviews from students included "Dirty Dancing II: Havana Nights," "The Perfect Score" and "50 First Dates."

"Despite the smoking, I give 'Havana Nights' a thumbs-up because although there was one woman smoking in a bar, her role was brief and a guy who sat next to her ignored her," wrote Tanya Rivera. "Some sexy and attractive people may smoke, but in the long run, their teeth and gums won't look so great."

"Seabiscuit" received high marks from high-schooler Philamer Felicitas.

"The movie deserves a thumbs-up because the tobacco use was not overused," Felicitas wrote. "Smoking was evident in a few scenes, but was used to enhance the historical accuracy of the film. ... It is a bit disturbing to see them smoking away like there was no bad side to this horrid habit, but it gave the viewer a sense of how tobacco was used then."

The entertainment industry plays a significant role in influencing young people in terms of tobacco use, both positively and negatively, according to Hackademy Awards organizers. Actors or actresses on screen send a message to millions of young people in theaters across the nation and around the world.

The "Thumbs Up! Thumbs Down!" Project aims to increase awareness about the impact of tobacco use in movies, videos and television on young people.

Last year, two out of three films rated G, PG, and PG-13 showed smoking or tobacco products, organizers reported. In 2000, 89 percent of Hawai'i high school students and 81 percent of Hawai'i middle school students who watch TV or movies reported seeing actors using tobacco most or some of the time.

A study by Dartmouth College medical school suggests that up to 52 percent of the initiation of tobacco use among adolescents is directly attributable to tobacco use in movies. Children who had viewed the most smoking in movies were three times as likely to start smoking as those who had seen the least. Major movie characters tend to light up three times more frequently than do people in America on average, noted the study.

The Hawai'i project is a collaboration between the state health department's Tobacco Prevention and Education Program, Consolidated Theaters, Signature Theaters, Wallace Theaters, the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, REAL Hawaii Youth Movement Against Tobacco Use and the state Department of Education.

The participating schools were Baldwin High School, Campbell High School, Iolani School, Kapa'a High School, King Kekaulike High School, Konawaena High School, Pahoa High and Intermediate School, Roosevelt High School, St. Joseph High School, Waiakea High School and Waipahu High School.

Study authors propose R rating for smoker scenes

LOS ANGELES — If Nicolas Cage lights a cigarette in a movie, Hollywood's ratings board should respond as if he used a profanity, according to authors of a new study that criticizes glamorous images of smoking in movies rated for children under 17.

Nearly 80 percent of movies rated PG-13 feature some form of tobacco use, and 50 percent of G and PG rated films depict smoking, said Stanton Glantz, co-author of the study, which examined 775 U.S. movies over the past five years. The study was funded in part by the National Cancer Institute.

"No one is saying there should never be any smoking in the movies," Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco, said Tuesday at a press conference at Hollywood High School. "What we're simply asking for is that smoking be treated by Hollywood as seriously as it treats offensive language." He'd like to see more PG-13 movies that feature smoking — such as "Matchstick Men," "Seabiscuit" and the Oscar-winning "Chicago" — get slapped with an R rating.

Since R-rated films typically earn less money because they are not open to most teens, Glantz said such a policy could discourage filmmakers from depicting unnecessary smoking (Glantz cited the nicotine-addicted worm aliens in "Men in Black" as an example).

The proposal makes an exception for historical figures who smoked as part of their public life, Glantz added: "If they wanted to make a movie about Winston Churchill, they could show him with a cigar without triggering an R rating, but the number of movies where that actually happens is very small."

Glantz singled out the Walt Disney Co. for smoking in the PG-rated "Holes" and G-rated "102 Dalmatians," and Time Warner for its PG "Secondhand Lions" and "What a Girl Wants."

Correction: A study by Dartmouth College was cited about the Hackademy Awards. The name of the college was incorrect in a previous version of this story.