Smoke a cigarette, get an R rating?
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 younger than 17.
Nearly 80% of movies rated PG-13 feature some form of tobacco use, while 50% of films rated G and PG depict smoking, said Stanton Glantz, coauthor of the study, which examined 775 U.S. movies over the last five years.
“No one is saying there should never be any smoking in the movies,” Glantz, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, said Tuesday at a news 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 -- like “Matchstick Men,” “Seabiscuit” and the Oscar-winning “Chicago” -- get slapped with an R rating.
Because R-rated films typically earn less money because they are not open to most teenagers, Glantz said he hoped such a policy would discourage filmmakers from depicting unnecessary smoking.
From Associated Press
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
