Constantine Will Not Be Allowed to Smoke on TV

[Grimh]

I don't know about you guys but I've been on the fence about getting cancer for a long time so if one of my heroes on TV got cancer I would just fold right away and get it myself as I'm very impressionable. So I think they're doing the right thing in not promoting cancer.

Seriously though, I think the show can still be great even without that specific trait. I still think he should be a smoker since it's seemingly a big part of his character, that of a guys who doesn't really give a shit (I think?) so something is definitely lost.
But it's not necessarily ruined. I guess we'll see.

 

[Kameburger]

Yep not watching, not interested anymore. Of all the creepy agenda pushing weirdos I can't stand it's the totalitarian anti-smokers who are the worst. I don't even smoke, but I hate those self-righteous control freaks so much I would hate to give them a victory.

 

[Rastrelly]

Well, it's a death sentence for this series - for me. Why will I bother watching something if it will lose one of the moth recognizable elements of its image? It's like making a Doom movie without demons... Wait, OH SHI...

 

[lacktheknack]

Somehow, when I saw the headline and the accompanying video screengrab, I was about 90% sure this was going to be about him not emitting smoke when on fire.

 

[Trishbot]

The silly thing is that at least half of those examples are unambiguously putting smoking in a negative light.

Isn't having Constantine smoke a lot and then get cancer a far better anti-smoking message than having him not smoke at all?

Do NBC allow lung cancer awareness adds on their channel?

You know what it reminds me of?

The Comic Code Authority. They once self-governed comic books as well, and they had similar rules that you could not portray drugs or drug use in comics at all. Stan Lee, however, wanted to tell an ANTI-drug story to help keep kids off of drugs, but the CCA denied him, telling him that even anti-drug messages violated their zero-tolerance stance on drugs in comics.

Stan Lee basically said "screw it" and released the comic without their permission and without their stamp of approval.

The story broke grounds, crippled the CCA's power and influence, and got its message across.

How strange to see a comic book character, nearly thirty years later, finding themselves facing similar issues on network TV.

 

[Redflash]

The thing is, most people have a strong disposition against being a cannibalistic serial killer whereas it's not out of the bounds of possibility that someone may indeed take up a cigarette. The tobacco companies used to pay heavily to make all the cool characters in films chain smokers and it totally worked. They managed to create the perception that spending money buying their products was cool, when they were already bribing researchers to bury the health risks. There have probably been few more effective advertising campaigns than that one to be honest, they created a whole genre of cinema where chain smoking was meant to be a character trait.

I think these restrictions on the portrayal of smoking are effective to. I don't know about where you are but in the UK smoking has a pretty big stigma attached to it nowadays when it used to be the opposite way round. Now people do the apologetic face when they tell you they smoke. The public ban helped* that to because there are few sights more sad than seeing someone stand outside in a shelter during the rain because they'll get twitchy otherwise, but the TV restrictions and advertising restrictions helped.

Sure, but there's a big difference between "Tobacco company paying to advertise smoking" and "Main character is dying of lung cancer because of smoking". If your aim is to put people off smoking, banning even negative portrayal really doesn't make sense.

That said, there's probably a much better argument to be made for such a ban on the grounds of actor health. Even if the actor is already a smoker themselves, forcing them to smoke a load more for their job is surely going to open you up to all kinds of suing if they actually do end up getting cancer.

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.

I'm with you about Constantine: he would be portraying smoking as a bad thing and it is nonsensical to prohibit that.

The health of the actor would be a very good argument if there weren't already plenty of alternatives. I did a film gig once where a lot of the characters smoked, and props had sourced dozens of packs of 'herbal' cigarettes that contained zero nicotine, tar and other nasties and had no disagreeable effects whatsoever besides tasting like ass. I think they were mostly derived from rose petals and marshmallow leaves.

So, yeah. This just comes back to the networks putting dubious health arguments in front of artistic integrity (I say dubious because there's not gonna be a whole lot of non-smokers rushing off to light up after watching a show about a cancerous supernatural detective).

 

[Queen Michael]

I actually think this is a very good idea. Let's face it -- young people are affected by what they see on TV, and if they see John smoking they might start to believe that not everybody who smokes is a horrible, horrible person. And we couldn't have that, now could we?

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Yep not watching, not interested anymore. Of all the creepy agenda pushing weirdos I can't stand it's the totalitarian anti-smokers I can't stand. I don't even smoke, but I hate those self-righteous control freaks so much I would hate to give them a victory.

Who's to say it's the totalitarian anti-smokers pushing an agenda here? Wouldn't showing a character who smokes and suffers the very real consequences of it be a stronger anti-smoking message than not showing smoking at all? Perhaps maybe the tobacco companies would rather no smoking at all than showing that, or more likely it's just NBC not wanting to do anything "risky" or piss off the wrong people either way.

 

[Coruptin]

That said, there's probably a much better argument to be made for such a ban on the grounds of actor health. Even if the actor is already a smoker themselves, forcing them to smoke a load more for their job is surely going to open you up to all kinds of suing if they actually do end up getting cancer.

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.

I'm with you about Constantine: he would be portraying smoking as a bad thing and it is nonsensical to prohibit that.

I'm sure they have cost effective ways of preserving the health of the actor, just because he'd be portraying a smoker, doesn't mean he'd actually be smoking, fake cigarettes with cgi smoke, or prop cigarettes that let out water vapor, give them a little credit, special effects have come a long way.

I'm more interested in the moral discussion surrounding the whole thing. That it's bad to show smoking of any kind period, even though it's showing the negative consequences. Would kids really buy cigarettes if their favorite character was smoking them and had cancer because of it? It's not as if it's being portrayed as a cool thing and people should do it. Is it really a good thing to pretend smoking just doesn't happen? It's certainly not realistic[footnote]Whether that's okay in a series like Hellblazer is a different discussion.[/footnote] and takes away a vital character flaw.

---
Also
Good Smoking, Evil Smoking [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodSmokingEvilSmoking]

Y'know they have herbal cigarettes for non-smoking actors with smoking parts

 

[Schadrach]

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.

 

[SquidVicious]

Disappointing but by no means surprising. I can't wait to start hearing about all the things that are going to be cut from the AMC series based on Preacher.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm more interested in the moral discussion surrounding the whole thing. That it's bad to show smoking of any kind period, even though it's showing the negative consequences. Would kids really buy cigarettes if their favorite character was smoking them and had cancer because of it? It's not as if it's being portrayed as a cool thing and people should do it. Is it really a good thing to pretend smoking just doesn't happen? It's certainly not realistic and takes away a vital character flaw.

I actually kinda liked how in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you have all these characters just puffing away. It was like seeing an old friend again. It's also nice to see that, yes, people do in fact have bad habbits, one of which is smoking.

Also, and I'm sure people will look down on me for saying this, but smoking is just plain cool. I can't explain why exactly, but there's an undeniable coolness factor to it. This doesn't mean I like smoking in real life, but on film it just works - Kinda like guns. I remember playing the first episode of The Wolf Among Us, seeing Bigby light up and thinking 'Aww yeah, you smoke that sucker, pal!' There's a devil may care attitude to it that can really punctuate a character. And the image of a grizzled guy lighting up is classic noir.

 

[HavoK 09]

Stupid change or stupid reason behind the change, cant really tell.

With the stuff like CGI and e-cigs(that can produce steam instead or smoke) it shouldnt be too expensive.

So better reason behind it would be "smoking kills and kids like to copy their hero"? While that could be true it also breaks character to some extent, Max Payne is a drug addict and i dont recall anybody doing it. Several 90s shows or movies showed a lot of "bad" stuff too like drugs, guns , gore and other bad role models and things never seemed to get out of hand.

Most of my friends that i know started smoking because of peer-pressure or because they related with other kids that were bad influences, not because their hero did it, in fact i know people who started drinking because their father had a driking problem and usually ended up hurting their kids or wife.

Also, and I'm sure people will look down on me for saying this, but smoking is just plain cool. I can't explain why exactly, but there's an undeniable coolness factor to it. This doesn't mean I like smoking in real life, but on film it just works - Kinda like guns. I remember playing the first episode of The Wolf Among Us, seeing Bigby light up and thinking 'Aww yeah, you smoke that sucker, pal!' There's a devil may care attitude to it that can really punctuate a character. And the image of a grizzled guy lighting up is classic noir.

That has more to do with what the element portraits.

Guns usually represent power while smoking usually show a person that is calm and generaly has the upper hand.

 

[Auberon]

Just my 0.02 on the smoking, how would they showcase it in positive light considering Dangerous Habits? Regardless if the show actually goes there, which is still up in the air considering this is network.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I actually kinda liked how in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you have all these characters just puffing away. It was like seeing an old friend again. It's also nice to see that, yes, people do in fact have bad habbits, one of which is smoking.

Also, and I'm sure people will look down on me for saying this, but smoking is just plain cool. I can't explain why exactly, but there's an undeniable coolness factor to it. This doesn't mean I like smoking in real life, but on film it just works - Kinda like guns. I remember playing the first episode of The Wolf Among Us, seeing Bigby light up and thinking 'Aww yeah, you smoke that sucker, pal!' There's a devil may care attitude to it that can really punctuate a character. And the image of a grizzled guy lighting up is classic noir.

It's cool because tobacco companies put years and years of advertising into making it look that way, it's interesting to see the power these companies once commanded and the cultural influence it had. I'm though, way too young to talk about that with any idea of what I'm talking about, to me it's this long, distant thing, a day and age in which is was okay to show Fred Flintstone advertising cigarettes like he does Fruity Pebbles.

Although it's bad history, it's still history and I'm not sure how I feel about the portrayal of bad things being completely wiped from media as if they never happened. The fact that I only know vaguely of the influence as if it was a footnote in a history book is frightening, this is the world my parents grew up in, it's also a part of film history and that old adage of course "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it".

 

[J Tyran]

.

That one cracked me up, just like me in the morning when I am trying to dilute the blood in my caffeine and nicotine stream.

 

[Whytewulf]

>

I'm more interested in the moral discussion surrounding the whole thing. That it's bad to show smoking of any kind period, even though it's showing the negative consequences. Would kids really buy cigarettes if their favorite character was smoking them and had cancer because of it? It's not as if it's being portrayed as a cool thing and people should do it. Is it really a good thing to pretend smoking just doesn't happen? It's certainly not realistic and takes away a vital character flaw.

I actually kinda liked how in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you have all these characters just puffing away. It was like seeing an old friend again. It's also nice to see that, yes, people do in fact have bad habbits, one of which is smoking.

Also, and I'm sure people will look down on me for saying this, but smoking is just plain cool. I can't explain why exactly, but there's an undeniable coolness factor to it. This doesn't mean I like smoking in real life, but on film it just works - Kinda like guns. I remember playing the first episode of The Wolf Among Us, seeing Bigby light up and thinking 'Aww yeah, you smoke that sucker, pal!' There's a devil may care attitude to it that can really punctuate a character. And the image of a grizzled guy lighting up is classic noir.

I think this is the reason why the networks restrict smoking on tv. Someone somehwere may think it looks cool. Consequences be damned.

I am not sure this is a big deal and it cracks me up that people wont watch it because of this. I suspect there will be other and more real reasons not to watch. But to each their own. This policy isnt just for this show but for all their shows. I wouldnt want to restrict network tv for trying. They also stated they may make him a smoker, they just wont show him smoking. I think it would kind of interesting to see such a chain smoking character deal with todays laws and public opinion of smoking. Maybe a running theme/joke in the show. And yes serious shows can have a joke or two.

 

[UniversalRonin]

Meanwhile, back in the good ol' days of children's programming...
(Loadsa pictures)
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.

The silly thing is that at least half of those examples are unambiguously putting smoking in a negative light.

Isn't having Constantine smoke a lot and then get cancer a far better anti-smoking message than having him not smoke at all?

Do NBC allow lung cancer awareness adds on their channel?

I think it's the bit where he cures it by tricking the devil and his brothers by selling his soul to everyone that they might not want to promote... Hey kids- Wanna cure cancer? Just holler up the devil and his homeboys! They'll fix you up!

Though in seriousness, that first time he flips the devil one. What a story line! and it does prove important to future story arcs.

 

[Redd the Sock]

Called it months ago: demons, satanism, all okay for TV. Smoking = BAD.

Though I suppose there is some understanding to it. I've heard it's getting harder and harder to find a building you're allowed to smoke in, even film and TV studios so there's at least some logistics behind things. And it's a preferable compromise to flashing the surgeon general's warning every five minutes.

Still, this reduces te show to "not supernatural".

 

[MrCaptainA]

lolwut? Now that's just a bit special