Li

I'm writing an English paper about the advertising of smoking, and in one paragraph of my 10 page paper I mentioned how "100 million movie-goers around the world witnessed as both lead characters light up for the camera. " My professor was interested in the context of the scene(s) but I can't recall them specifically. The movie's long so I don't have time to rewatch it just to figure this out but I was hoping someone here could remember. Thanks.

jaeufraser

Do you mean the part where Leo whips out the 4 foot bong in steerage and starts getting blazed with Kate and the irish immigrant band? Good stuff I say.

Heh, nonetheless I remember the scene. I believe Leo lights a smoke and shares it. But I have a question...how can Titanic be a good representation of smoking as advertisement? Or are you presenting the opinion that sometimes people smoke in movies because...well...that's kind of an accurate depiction?

Groucho

Hey you deleted the original thread right as I was giving the answer! Oh well, not going to type all THAT again.

Li

Someone said it was in the wrong place so I moved it... Thanks for the effort though.

Li

Smoking in movies is just another way of reaching potential smokers.

For many years, it was a common practice for tobacco companies to pay to have their products used by celebrities in movies.

Some people feel that smoking in movies is an even more effective to get people to smoke than a typical television commercial. They feel this way because in movies, the audience is unaware that anything is being advertised at all.

Unlike a commercial break on television, these acts of smoking happen when your attention is focused on the movie, effecting your opinions and attitudes without anyone suspecting a thing. You have no reason to believe anyone is lying or misrepresenting a product like you might suspect while watching a normal commercial.


This was just one of the many ways tobacco is advertised that I wrote about, BTW.

PopcornTreeCt

Yeah I was gonna start smoking because of Cary Grant. Man that guy looks so cool when he smokes in every single one of his movies! Then I found out he only lived for 82 years! If I don't smoke I can outlive him by at least 8 years.

Jackskeleton

This OOOOOLD thread should be of interest to you:


http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ng+MPAA+Rating

jaeufraser

But my point is this...do you really think smoking was put in Titanic for advertising reasons. I mean...do you you honestly believe this? I just think Titanic is a horrible example for this. It's a period flick that by all means probably under represents smoking, as back then smoking was a far more commonplace thing.

I just don't think a movie with smoking necessarily equals product placement. For Christ's sake, in Titanic they were smoking a hand rolled cigerette. In that film, the smoking appears to exist solely for artisitc reasoning and makes perfect sense.

I just think if you're going to do something like this, you need to pick better examples. And try to find some correlative evidence that it is in fact product placement. While some times smoking does exist as you say, just grabbing at any movies that show smoking and saying "see! they're promoting smoking!" completely ignores the fact that more than likely, that's not at all why that act was put in the movie.

Granted that's my opinion...but a period piece with a low class poor character...yeah, no doubt he probably smokes. And I sincerely doubt that smoking exists in the film for the reasons you point to. But that's just my opinion.

AnonomusBob15

007 would light up every now and then in the earlier of the Bond films, am I correct?

UAIOE

James Bond has taught me to smoke, drink, drive fast cars, sleep with many women, and to stop the numerous world conquering attempts of of a man named Blofeld.


I honestly think the smoking in "Titanic" sounds more like a realism thing than a product placement. Should we call "Ghostbusters" a movie to endorse smoking since they pretty much smoke through that movie?

Drexl

How about those giant SMOKEstacks on the ship?

Groucho

If anything, people in the film Titanic probably smoked LESS than their real-life counterparts. And, IIRC, it wasn't a recognizable brand.

If you're doing a paper on product placement with cigarettes, this movie isn't the best example.

Pants

That's a great quote because it really points out the truth about how Silence of the Lambs turned me into a serial killer just by watching it.

Up yours with this product placement conspiracy theory crap. It's a lie. This kind of marketing does not have any greater effect than a television commercial or print ad.

DeltaSigChi4

Yeah - Up yours with the product placement you Sonafab^$#$

Goat3001

The guys writing an english paper. I can't count how many times I've made up some bullshit that I didn't believe and put it in a paper to take up some space.

If I were writing the same paper, I would definatly use movies as an example because I could easily fill a page or two with how smoking in movies effects the audience even if I don't beleive any of it.

So maybe Li does believe what he's writing but I wouldn't jump on him because he might just be trying to get an A.

Morf

No, smoking in movies is a representation of smoking in real life. Period. Movies are (usually) trying to create a world that we would accept as our own. People smoke in real life, so people smoke in movies.

Your argument is like saying that wearing pants in movies is an attempt to reach potential pants wearers, when in reality the pants-wearing is just copying something that we see in everyday life.

Li

Okay, maybe I didn't specify this, but my focus is on the advertising of smoking to adolecence.

I know people love to make fun of the fact that video games are blamed for violenent acts by children, and I agree, this is stupid. But smoking a pack of cigarettes and killing someone are completely different things.

I'm not saying that the smoking in Titanic was a blatant product placement.

I used Titanic because it's the highest grossing film of all time. A lot of people saw it. Whether it's best example of this I don't really care. My professor found it relevant and that's good enough for me. She was just curious about what scene it was because she couldn't remember herself (she wasn't questioning why I used the film by asking).

I'm not trying to start a debate here, I’m just trying to figure out what scene this happened in so I can put it in my paper and make my professor happy.

Li

Thank you Goat. I overlooked your post when I was skimming all the slams. This is exactly right. The paper has to be 10 pages long, so I have to fill it with something whether it's complete bullsh*t or not.

devilshalo

I remember only Jack rolling and smoking very early in the film and I think the captain did too (but a pipe)?

Pants

Li-

If you really want an answer to the original question, there is a scene where Jack asks to bum a cigarette from David Warner and then takes 3 or 4.

Later, Rose lights up as an act of defiance and is criticized by Cal for engaging in such "low" behavior.

If you quote me I will sue you for plagiarism

Li

If I qouted you I wouldn't be "plagarising", now would I?

Thanks Pants!

Jackskeleton

Li, did you follow that link to that previous thread where it was a major discussion about movies with smoking potentailly getting an R rating. it had a lot of info that can be useful to you. Titanic is not the best example since it's a period film, but there is many others which are decent examples if you want to take that stand on the whole smoking issue.

Li

Thanks, I'll take a closer look at it.

fumanstan

I can just imagine the footnote in his paper. - some guy named Pants on a DVD message board on the internet

fmian