Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema & the Myth of Cool (2001) User Reviews

Go back in time to grade 8 health class

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 3/10 · 16 October 2014]

This little documentary is very biased, and I have no idea what the intentions were, but rather than stating the facts, it's a scare tactic to frighten people out of smoking. Look, I'm not going to get into a debate on whether smoking is life threatening or not; I know smokers and non-smokers who are all on different sides and I'm not on any side. It wasn't the topic of this film that turned me off of enjoying it, it was the massive amount of controlling ideology. Apparently smoking should be censored but I've seen people try to quit smoking, and once you're hooked it can take years to quit. If you're a smoker trying to quit you might know what I mean. If you have no plans to quit, well, imagine if cigarettes suddenly became illegal one morning, like meth or crack? Then you'd be forced to quit. This movie seems to promote that idea more than much else. It was like going back to my grade 8 health class on smoking, the way they chose only the most severe cases of illnesses caused by too much smoking and scared us half to death with it all.

There are two sides to every issue, whether you like it or not. With smoking, film makers have to realize that it isn't just about a perfect solution, it's about showing the voices and opinions of EVERYONE, not just one side. I was hoping this wouldn't be so biased but it really is. Try The Insider (1999) as it shows the sides of news reporters, tobacco companies, families, etc. Avoid this film if you want to know both sides of the smoking debate.

Agena-pushing, fascist, documentary for the advancement of censorship.

[jeklow · 1/10 · 10 September 2007]

I just got this at the library and I was dreadfully disappointed with it. From the box, it sounded like it was going to analyze smoking in film, but it merely pushed an anti-smoking, and ultimately, pro-censorship position. This is little more than a piece of the same propaganda one would receive in a high school health class. I was pleasantly surprised that Sean Penn, someone I had assumed would be all for the PC-ification of the film industry, was calling the filmmakers on their real motives. I was even further surprised that the filmmakers, who were so obviously for the censorship of film and free speech, would leave his comments in the film. While this, and a few other people interviewed, were allowed to voice their opinion, the good majority of the film was comprised of (literally) anti-smoking commercials, anti-smoking facts, and people who were peripherally involved in the film industry voicing their anti-smoking opinions. This film had very little to do with cinema at all. In fact, none of the scenes they use to show how un-cool smoking supposedly is weren't from actual films but appeared to be stock footage or from commercials.

Very educational special which depicts one reason teenagers may start smoking

[Catherine_Grace_Zeh · 9/10 · 11 July 2007]

In my opinion, this is a very educational special which depicts one reason teenagers may start smoking. I must say that seeing it on TV and in movies is absolutely one reason why they might. This is absolutely true for teenage girls. When I heard this, I was really shocked. This was because I figured out that most people who smoke took their first puff when they were teenagers. I can relate to this special very well. This is because some people in my family smoke. In conclusion, if you have children, I strongly recommend that you sit them down and have a detailed conversation with them about the dangers of tobacco and other drugs. It's very, very bad for your health.