Abstract – “Are American Films the Conduit for Smoking Habits in the United States?”
Objective: This paper aims to focus on the immortalization of smoking and Hollywood’s attempts to portray smoking as a fashionable and attractive habit in films from the 1980s to the 1990s.
Methods: In order to better comprehend the issue at hand and the development of smoking as a customary “social” act, I will consider the subtle methods by which America endorsed smoking through still images and film. Specifically, the paper will thoroughly examine still images (on billboards and in Manhattan) and commercials in New York, as well as the effect Hollywood’s films had on the New York area through the use of personal interviews, testimonies, old films, documentaries, commercials, scholarly books and journal articles.
Results: The data will suggest that the “celebration” of smoking as a testament to one’s desirability is what promoted such an unhealthy act throughout most of the twentieth century.
Annotated Bibliography
Patrick E, Jamieson. “Trends In US Movie Tobacco Portrayal Since 1950: A Historical
Analysis.” Tobacco Control 19.3 (2010): 179-184. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Sept. 2012
Jamieson takes a different, however still useful approach to my argument. He endeavors to debunk the claim that Hollywood is the direct link to underage smoking by shedding light on the inconsistency in the portrayal of smoking in American films from the 1950s. His research includes an analysis of smoking content from a “half-sample” of the 30 top grossing films in the U.S. per year from 1950 to 2006. His analysis is crucial to my argument in that it divulges the development of smoking trends in relation to the films and commercials of their time.
Mekemson, C. and S.A. Glantz. “How the Tobacco Industry Built its Relationship with Hollywood.” Tobacco Control. 11.1 (2002): i81 – i91. Web. 10 Sep. 2012.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/20208008>.
Mekemson and Glantz delve deep into the relationship between the tobacco and entertainment industries. They contend that the tobacco industry successfully generated business and “recruited new smokers” by working in conjunction with film industries to subtly implant positive messages about smoking in American films during the 1980s and 1990s (i81). Their conclusions were the end product of reviews and analyses of over 1500 documents that signified a link between the tobacco and entertainment industries, as well as oral interviews with actors who have worked in tobacco commercials and films. Their research is paramount to my argument in that it reveals how Hollywood managed to subliminally implicate smoking with fashion in the minds of the general public through still images, commercials and films.
Pechmann, Cornelia and Chuan-Fong Shih. “Smoking Scenes in Movies and Antismoking
Advertisements before Movies: Effects on Youth.” Journal of Marketing. 6.3 (1999): 1-13. Web. 4 Sept. 2012 < http://www.jstor.org/stable/1251772>.
This article effectively underscores the link between adolescent smoking rates and the portrayal of smoking through film and commercials. Pechmann and Shih corroborate their argument through a sample of eight hundred ninth graders – recording their reactions to films without smoking and films with smoking. This is tremendously helpful to my argument because it demonstrates how the presence of smoking in films incentivizes the pubic, especially children and adolescents, to smoke.
Stockwell, Theresa F. “Tobacco Use is Increasing in Popular Films.” Tobacco Control. 6.4
(1997): 282-284. Web. 10 Sep. 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20207394>.
Theresa Stockwell asserts that smoking in films resurfaced in the 1990s after a decade of near silence in the film industry. She believes that 1990s films illustrated smokers as “rich,” “successful,” and “attractive” white males—a conclusion that she reached after sampling the top twenty grossing films each year from 1990-1996. Her article supports my claim that the association that Hollywood films made between smoking and social status and fashion was overwhelmingly noticeable and may have been a direct link to an increase in smoking.
Tickle Jennifer T., James D. Sargent, et. al. “Favourite Movie Stars, Their Tobacco Use in
Contemporary Movies, and Its Association with Adolescent Smoking.” Tobacco Control, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 16-22
This article considers another reason that Hollywood smoking may be the chief causal agent in underage smoking: celebrities. The authors assess the connection between teenage smokers and their favorite movie stars, how those movie stars depict smoking in their films, et cetera. This is paramount to my analysis of Hollywood’s bridge to teenage smoking because it examines how the act of a celebrity, someone who is usually emulated and admired for his/her affluence, attractiveness, and success, can influence a teenager’s mind. It is the success, wealth and attraction of the celebrity which makes smoking seem fashionable in itself.
