Constantine Will Not Be Allowed to Smoke on TV

[gridsleep]

I have never understood this about American TV. You can have a show about a cannibalistic serial killer but one guy smoking is going too far?

I will still give the show a chance but does this mean we will not get the Cancer story line?

You have to understand that smoking tobacco is a McGuffin in America. It's what the Authorities use to distract the sheep from the real issues. While more black people are in jail in America and being used as slave labor for corporations than live in some African nations, you can't publicly judge someone by their skin, but only by their choices. That way it's the fault of the recipient of the slur. Smokers are the new niggers in this country. We can't even get on the bus, let alone relegate ourselves to the back seats. Richard Pryor thought it was the Viet Namese but that didn't last very long.

Oh, and just as a footnote, historian Gerald Horne has uncovered evidence that the Revolutionary War was started because the Crown was moving to outlaw slavery in the Colonies. Slavery had been against the law in Great Britain since Henry Tudor's time. So...the Fourth of July, celebrating your right to keep slaves. But, don't forget to worry about smoking, because that's the real issue.

 

[frizzlebyte]

Seriously, it's like Batman not having a cape and ears.

Of course, the cape and ears won't give you lung cancer, so...there's that, I guess.

I actually had no idea this restriction even existed at the networks. In any case, it's a shame for the hardcore fans that such an integral part of the character is being removed, but I figure this won't be too much of a loss as long as the show itself is good.

EDIT: oof, had no idea that an actual "cancer" storyline existed in Constantine.

In that case, yeah, that seems like their having to drop an integral part of the character.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

This sucks, this really really sucks. I was super excited about this, and now I am completely checked out. I bet all of his friends do not die in horrible ways while trying to assist him either.

 

[gridsleep]

Meanwhile, back in the good ol' days of children's programming...
...

It is interesting seeing how standards can change, where the stuff you watched as a kid is no longer fit for even adults to watch on network TV.

I am really surprised no one appears to have noticed that Donald is literally blowing smoke out of his ass. Leave it to Disney to go that one little step more.

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

A way around this could be that he always has a cig in his mouth, but when ever he goes to light it he gets distracted or punched, the cig is wet // Something like this could have been done to get around the limitation put on them by the networks

-M

 

[O maestre]

and there are people who claim that 'pc' or political correctness is a term created by bigots, closet facists, mens rights activists and other nasty people. If this isn't proof that there is an unbelievably dumb crusade to spare the public from anything that is remotely morally questionable and could harm the fragile minds of the public through glamorization.

It is truly a misguided form of moral censorship.

A huge part of the character is the very fact that he goes against fate, even when it is staring him in the face. They are truly breaking an important facet of the character.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

But with Constantine, he's going to be the Good Guy, the Rugged Hero, fighting to save innocents from the forces of hell and all that. So he will be someone that (in theory) viewers might try to emmulate. Thus, they don't want to imply that they condone smoking.

I will still give the show a chance but does this mean we will not get the Cancer story line?

He could still have cancer. Lots of people get cancer of different types that have nothing to do with smoking.

Ahhh, but that's half the point, he's not meant to be a role-model. He's the protagonist of the story, sure, but he isn't meant to be the rugged hero or even an anti-hero, he's some jackass who learnt about magic and fakes his way into being seen as a big deal. If you're removing the smoking so he's more heroic then that's completely against the point of him as a character. He's the guy who in an ensemble piece will almost certainly betray everyone.

The cancer is also kindof important, the way he develops it (going by the comics so kinda spoilered)

Spoiler

it's meant to reflect how self inflicted it was, it's the result of his own actions and he's only more screwed because the First of the Fallen (basically the devil) is after him since he helped an old drinking buddy of his welch on HIS debt after that guy had liver failure. His 'solution' was to sell his soul to the second and third biggest players in hell so that when the time came to die, they were stuck at a stale-mate. Either they killed each other or let him live and they have to let him go or face mutually assured destruction, he made a demonic deal into a write-off insurance policy. But the point of the story wasn't that he deserved to live or that he was being admirable; he cheated hell, yeah that's awesome, but it's not exactly sympathetic.

All the crap in John's life is because of sh*t HE does, the TV version sounds like a neutered version who makes (at worst) minor mistakes but helps because he's a nice guy deep down. Hellblazer he does it often because he's being blackmailed or he just wants to throw a massive spanner in the works and his mistakes are normally clusterf*cks of epic proportions. I really hope they don't do a half-assed cover of the cancer storyline because I really doubt they'd be able to do it justice with how it sounds right now.

 

[zinho73]

The health of the actor is actually a very good argument. In a series, the guy would be forced to smoke a lot. They could CGI the smoking but this would not be very reasonable.

Given that there exist personal vaporizers (so called e-cigs) that are approximately the same size as a regular cigarette (and with some money and effort you could probably manufacture one that looks exactly like an actual cigarette) and you can load those up with fluid that doesn't contain nicotine, I'm not sure actor health is a real issue.

Then I am all for a smoking Constantine. I think the portrayal of smoking as a glamorous, cool thing is deceiving and should be avoided. Otherwise it is kind of weird pretending that smoking do not exist.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

I'm very much anti-smoking and even anti-smoker (seriously, no offence, but most of you guys have zero respect for those of us who don't want to smell of nicotine and tobacco).

But I will also very much resist this stupid notion that somehow visual content can one-sidedly move people to undertake action X (like picking up smoking), it's stupid. That whole magic bullet theory on media is decades old. An image of something is just that: an image, it's not the real thing.

 

[Baresark]

I'm not surprised by this one bit. TV is so fucking homogenized because any act of anything remotely negative (outside rape and killing of course) is too much. I see the whole attitude of "love the sin, hate the sinner" still exists strongly these days. It's sickening... and I don't even smoke, I hate that shit. But I like Constantine, and would like to see it unchanged.

 

[Flammablezeus]

Why even call this Constantine if it's not even going to be Constantine? This reminds me of World War Z. It's trashing the name of something great just to get your crap on the market.

 

[elvor0]

The health of the actor is actually a very good argument. In a series, the guy would be forced to smoke a lot. They could CGI the smoking but this would not be very reasonable.

Given that there exist personal vaporizers (so called e-cigs) that are approximately the same size as a regular cigarette (and with some money and effort you could probably manufacture one that looks exactly like an actual cigarette) and you can load those up with fluid that doesn't contain nicotine, I'm not sure actor health is a real issue.

Then I am all for a smoking Constantine. I think the portrayal of smoking as a glamorous, cool thing is deceiving and should be avoided. Otherwise it is kind of weird pretending that smoking do not exist.

True, but this is the 21st century. You can /portray/ smoking as cool and glamourous all you like, but everyone knows smoking is bad for you. This also isn't a childrens show, so it shouldn't matter, adults are not gullible enough to go "Oh that Constantine, he smokes, I guess I'll take it up!" At the end of the day some people smoke and Constantine is one of them.

 

[Triaed]

Constantine's chain smoking is not the most important aspect of this character and removing it does not necessarily affect the outcome of the storyline.

Having said that, smoking and his attitude towards it is an integral part of the character, part of his psyche and explains some of his behaviour (and other behaviours). If they are to remove smoking, for obvious reasons, they need to give him another shortcoming to face.

What is the age group this show is aimed at? Obviously not children.

 

[zinho73]

The health of the actor is actually a very good argument. In a series, the guy would be forced to smoke a lot. They could CGI the smoking but this would not be very reasonable.

Given that there exist personal vaporizers (so called e-cigs) that are approximately the same size as a regular cigarette (and with some money and effort you could probably manufacture one that looks exactly like an actual cigarette) and you can load those up with fluid that doesn't contain nicotine, I'm not sure actor health is a real issue.

Then I am all for a smoking Constantine. I think the portrayal of smoking as a glamorous, cool thing is deceiving and should be avoided. Otherwise it is kind of weird pretending that smoking do not exist.

True, but this is the 21st century. You can /portray/ smoking as cool and glamourous all you like, but everyone knows smoking is bad for you. This also isn't a childrens show, so it shouldn't matter, adults are not gullible enough to go "Oh that Constantine, he smokes, I guess I'll take it up!" At the end of the day some people smoke and Constantine is one of them.

I agree with that, but I can see why a network would avoid smoking as a cool thing, bu avoiding it as whole is excessive and pointless (instead of just pointless).

 

[Charli]

I have never understood this about American TV. You can have a show about a cannibalistic serial killer but one guy smoking is going too far?

I will still give the show a chance but does this mean we will not get the Cancer story line?

I rarely want to make a 'this' post.

But fucking hell. THIS and a bag of 'seriously' crisps.

All the violence and gore and really sick stuff you could ever hope for. But sex, naughty words, smoking? CONDEMN.

I grew up watching and living with smokers, I'm a non-smoker so I don't know wtf, these people are on.