It's an old tune that asks a lot of questions! Recently, the League Against Cancer published a survey of more than 150 films. A few days before the tobacco-free day, she denounces the still too important presence of smoking in French cinema. But can we really attack the creative freedom of directors without going into totally grotesque censorship? The debate is once again on the table of the right-thinking.
TOBACCO IN THE CINEMA, "UNACCEPTABLE PRACTICES" FOR THE LEAGUE!
Is there really too much tobacco in the movies? In any case, that's what the woman thinks League against cancer which again denounces the promotion of smoking in French films, by publishing on Wednesday an investigation of more than 150 films, upstream of the World No Tobacco Day of Monday, May 31.
« Tobacco remains almost ubiquitous in French films: between 2015 and 2019, 90,7% included at least one event, object or speech related to tobacco: people smoking, presence of ashtrays, cigarettes, character who talking about tobacco ...« notes the League in this 3rd edition of its survey conducted for sixteen years with the Ipsos institute.
In a film, the presence of tobacco (2,6 minutes on average) is equivalent to « six commercials« . The League also notes « a sharp increase in the rate of smokers inside social spaces (cafes, restaurants, etc.)« in movies, a practice now illegal in real life. Thus, 21,5% of smoking scenes take place in a workplace, at the office, 16,6% in a café, restaurant or nightclub.
If the entire population will agree that smoking is a scourge, banning it or removing it from the cinematographic scene would be tantamount to pretending that it does not exist. Freedom of creativity, freedom
French and foreign cinema script cannot afford to completely rule out smoking just like sex, drugs or even violence. Indeed, if smoking kills, it is also an integral part of society and cannot be ruled out at the risk of becoming more democratic.
But for the League, the question no longer arises: « The League has fiercely denounced the promotion of smoking in French films for more than 15 years« underlines its president, Professor Axel kahn, in a press release. He denounces the « campaigns as aggressive as they are insidious among the youngest« of the tobacco industry. The League does not seek to stigmatize certain films, but wishes « help the cinema industry (...) to stop these unacceptable practices« , He explains.
