I"ve just now started watching (streaming?) The Crown.  What a wonderful show.   Gorgeous furnishings and landscapes.  Talented actors abound.   They smoke.  So much smoking.  Somehow watching this period piece vs something like ... Singles or Reality Bites...makes the smoking so -- dare I say-- less common and more glamorous.  The very trait execs and advertisers honed in upon and perfected.  I know the King died of cancer, Winston Churchill suffered the strokes.   I would be lying to you all if I said I watch  this show without the noticing  the amount of smoking and longing just a bit.  A teeny bit.  But I will never ever smoke again.  I fear I will always yearn when it is depicted as being expected and accepted.  I am confident I will never smoke again.  I am confident I will always have the "what ifs.." on the cusp of romanticising the cigarette.  What if I take just one drag?  What if I take just one cigarette?  What if I take just one pack?  What if I take just one carton? What if I take one month, one year,...one decade to restart my quit? What if I die?  How will my child be?

 

I know I will never smoke again,  I accept that I will never smoke again.

 

I accept the moments of longing for it,  The Hit. 

 

I accept I may always be temped. 

 

I accept and know that I am stronger.

 

--L4L

Oh my!  Smoking on tv! Sons of Anarchy...They all smoke...a lot!

I don't crave it when I see it on tv but I definitely notice it more so than when I smoked. When I smoked seeing smoking on tv made me want to go out and have one too

Well glad someone raised it. I certainly notice smoking on the screen way more than I ever did before. Although I had pretty much stopped going to the flicks (cinema) to see movies because it was too long without a smoke (seriously, that much of a junky) and then if someone lit up in the movie, especially the second half it was agony. Anything on the idiot box was safe... I could even still watch through the sliding door while I was in the yard smoking. So I noticed it before, especially the last few years when I had imposed a daily limit (which didn;t apply if I was at a mates, hormonal, stressed, at softball.... so really not that existant, but hey I was a junky, let me delude myself)... but let me tell you the first 6 months I after I quit I noticed every single time someone on the telly lit up.... every single time.... and in our house at least once a month we get to watch 10 Things I Hate About You and teenage heath ledger smoking made me want to put my fist through the screen.... I was so bad the kid memorised his smoking sceens and would tell me to close my eyes....because that little shit was told by a girl he had to quit and he just stops smoking.... it made me so angry he could just stop (yes I know its a movie)..... now I see people light up (and I notice all of them) and I half the time I think does that add anything to the story line? Why does it need to be there? Who disgusting does that look?.... it honestly doesn't phase me too much.  I mean if you're making a show about Churchill and he isn't smoke a cigar its not accurate is it... it needs to be there and it would probably annoy me more if it wasn't. Same as Mad Men, if they didn't have a durry hanging out their mouth half the show it would be inaccurate for the time period... so that, I can handle.... when there is no benefit to the plot or the time period to someone smoking it just pisses me off. I am soooo glad it isn't a trigger anymore, not even young Patrick Verona.... but seriously I think 80% of the smoking on our screens is unnecessary and it just annoys me.

Gday

When I see an Actor smoking on screen these days I think to myself? 

None smoker...  do they really look like a smoker? Are we seeing the whole smoking thing or a couple of pics of lite cig to lips etc...

Or are they a smoker... a full time ridge didge. Addict?

Me I'm not going to trust my luck for a screen shoot!

I'm an addict. NOPE. Not Open Puff Ever. Who cares what the directors says...

I care what we see as "normal" I did normal when I started. I achieved addiction without really trying.

Sorry for me..don't be!. my life experieance.... you can't just pretend to be a part time smoker. get a lung full of smoke your on your way.

 

C

 

 

 

Actors  got paid handsomely with  free cartons upon cartons of cigarettes to promote smoking on the big screen...

A clever way of marketing from the big tobacco companies....

That's why so many of them died early with smoke related illnesses...thier supply was never ending...

Don't envy the poor smokers....feel very sorry for them....

The tobacco companies couldn't care how many died...as long as they made money....

No way!...I'm glad i can't smell their stinky butts either! 

 

I wasn't affected by other folks smoking in real life or on a screen I was looking at, but I definitely noticed how ubiquitous smokers were in movies and shows after I quit.

 

It is not coincidental that while the number of smokers in our society has been on the decline for decades now, the number of smokers on the big screen has remained constant.  It paints a narrative.  A narrative that big tobacco hopes to profit from and Hollywood is a willing accomplice.  Many of the cultural narratives people are influenced by are downstream from the entertainment industry.  

 

That's why we educate ourselves about smoking and addiction.  The truth builds an impenetrable wall that shuts out the propaganda and glitzy images.  They can dress it up however they like, but smoking still equals slavery and death.

 

A well polished turd is still a turd.

HBO series The Deuce, they smoke and drink a lot. 1970's based series when smoking was "in"... Doesn't bother me, i view it same way when i see people in real life smoking.. I do get a sudden urge for a drink sometimes watching that series why i mentioned it but to smoke, nope

 

I am consciously aware when someone is smoking on TV now, whereas it seemed normal when I was a smoker.  Sometimes get a junkie thought that it looks relaxing or pleasant, but it's quickly squashed when I realize that they're killing themselves.

 

It all started with that damn Wilma Flintstone!

 

I am very aware of people smoking in the shows that I watch, and especially in time period shows where it seems that everybody smoked.  I don't think it causes any difficulty for me. I think I relate to the different smoking scenes much like I did when I was a smoker. Most of scenes show simply the mindless many cigarettes smoked just because they are smokers. These get a very neutral type response from me. I don't have good or bad memories associated with all those type of smokes. Some scenes show the rushed "smoke it while you can" type smokes such as stepping out into the cold and sucking one down quickly. I can relate to doing that, but not with any fondness. Some of the scenes do show smokes that spark pleasant memories. I don't think of these memories as craves, they are simply pleasant memories.   

Yes- @Joe7!!! That’s it.  The sparking of pleasant memories.  It is not so much a crave- more of nostalgia I guess.   I remember dancing, drinking, & smoking alongside friends at many festive occasions.  I think seeing it in the same context on TV brings back the memory of more youthful, carefree years. 

I thought at some point they made it illegal to show smoking on TV, even in movies or shows? I knpw cig commercials have been banned for decades but i thought recently they couldn't show it on TV period?

 

But yeah when I see someone on TV smoking, I think for a moment how a smoke would be nice but it is not an overpowering thing.

Just finished binging the "Mad Men" series on Netflix.   Two thirds of the characters smoked.   Didn't bother me.  I was born in that era and grew up with my parents and most of the adults around me smoking.

 

As @Jetblack says, it's pretty rare to see it on TV or movies lately (unless they're the big bad).   I assume we see less smoking because there are fewer smokers now (at least here in the U.S).

 

 

Few smokers everywhere... so the Brits will get this reference... but with the exception of the occasional, early story line about teens getting caught smoking and getting in trouble (good anti-smoking message) you will never have seen a character smoke in Summer Bay or in Edinsburough... that's right both Home and Away and Neighbours have been smoke free forever due to smoking on film laws.... any smoking in a program means it is automatically rated MA+ and has to be shown after 9.30pm.

 

I do think shows like Mad Men, or about Churchill, etc, it would be more odd if they didn't smoke and it doesn't phase me that they do because as @Wayne045 points out that was the norm at the time they are set in. Its when it is a contemporary show, set in the now that I sort of go, hmmm that annoys me.

@Wayne045- The show The Crown does not have quite as much smoking as Mad Men- Princess Margaret is a double stack chimney in Season 2.  And the actress portraying her is really smoking- not sure what (tobacco vs herbal).   In these types of shows- I do expect to see smoking for historical accuracy.   

 

 

@Cbdave makes a good point... what are they smoking in modern productions... because surely someone smoking on set would be a breach of OHS regulations (well at least in Australia) where work places have to be smoke free... if I was expected to smoke or be confined in a small space with a smoker now I think I'd have to decline.... who am I kidding, i know I would have to decline.

I've gotta say.... I was still surprised to see Liz MC Donald in Coronation Street...being filmed in the smoking area....

As was Deirde Barlow...before her untimely passing ...

I had some romanticizing thoughts when I rewatched Fight Club a couple of months ago. Maybe because I smoked because of the clichees used in the movie, to be the bad and edgy one. Other films don't have such an impact.

On September 4, 2018 at 1:42 AM, brand.new.ela said:

I had some romanticizing thoughts when I rewatched Fight Club a couple of months ago. Maybe because I smoked because of the clichees used in the movie, to be the bad and edgy one. Other films don't have such an impact.

Great movie!  I haven't watched it in years.  

On 9/4/2018 at 1:42 AM, brand.new.ela said:

I had some romanticizing thoughts when I rewatched Fight Club a couple of months ago. Maybe because I smoked because of the clichees used in the movie, to be the bad and edgy one. Other films don't have such an impact.

 

Ironic.  A movie with such strong anti-consumerism themes would, perhaps unwittingly, promote the products of the single worst industry in the history of the world.

 

Not crazy about all the smoking in Fight Club.  That being said, it is still a movie I watch at least once a year.

 

The whole tough and edgy smoker thing was just a story we told ourselves to validate our addiction.  It's behind us now...

 

Edited November 19, 20187 yr by Boo

I was away with the in-laws last weekend. And my sis in law, a gorgeous young woman....she caught my eye smoking, I just thought how awful it looked. It didnt seem to match, young and gorgeous....smoking a fag.  It looked so crass. 

It certainly didn't spark a crave. I find it a bit cringe to be honest, to think that was me.