Hollywood's Responsibility for Smoking Deaths
from http://www.daypop.com
In "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell, the author talks about why anti-smoking campaign have done little to dent teen smoking. Piles of money have been spent trying to convince us that smoking isn't cool, but that's not the problem, he says, "Smoking was never cool. SMOKERS are cool...In this epidemic, as in all others, a very small group - a select few - are responsible for driving the epidemic forward."
In this NY Times article Basic Instinct author Joe Eszterhas (recently diagnosed with throat cancer) speaks about his guilt and responsibility for writting such glamorous smokers, "I have been an accomplice to the murders of untold numbers of human beings. I am admitting this only because I have made a deal with God. Spare me, I said, and I will try to stop others from committing the same crimes I did."
I admire his honesty and courage. (tangent: The Insider is one of my favorite movies) I don't ever remember a Hollywoodite admitting guilt about a bad movie, much less a role in untold murders. I suppose the image of his missing larynx and "bloody" hands will give me pause before i pen a cool chain smoking anti-hero, but how far do we take this idea? If Eszterhas had been hurt in a car crash would he call for an end to fast and furious driving scenes? If he would have been bed-stricken by a clogged artery would he regret writing scenes of big macs and pizza? I feel his anguish, but I can't help but wondering if someone will try to sue Hollywood because their grandma died from lung cancer. Maybe they have. Maybe they should?
