Wednesday, February 17, 2010
'Mad Men' smoking draws fines in Turkey
UPI.com: "Two Turkish television stations were each fined $33,000 for airing shows such as the U.S.-produced 'Mad Men' that feature smoking."
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3 comments:
I am opposed to smoking. It's addictive, harmful and just plain gross, but the amount of restrictions that are being placed on smoking in entertainment are ridiculous. Honestly, smoking needs to be banned in more locations besides in fictional settings. I realize that these sorts of bans are to fight the source of smoking and the possible social encouragements of smoking, but who's to say that these examples of smoking are in a positive light? As for Mad Men, why are they being punished for being historically accurate. When one sees a Civil War movie, having American Americans portrayed as slaves isn't racist, it's historically accurate, because they WERE racist. I think that bans need to step back and focus on some more pertinent and potentially more effect ways to end smoking.
Although I agree that smoking should not be advertised via television, I don’t agree that it should be banned from shows especially shows like ‘Mad Men’, which is critically acclaimed for not only historical authenticity but showing the “other” real and darker side of the 1960s behind the all American white picket fence. ‘Mad Men’ isn’t just a stupid fluffy show where they use smoking to make a character look cool and badass, it’s a show which smoking is necessary to accurately portray its verisimilitude to reality. Whether it’s a flirtatious moment in which Don Draper asks a flight attendant if she has a cigarette, to the mad men whipping out their cigarettes at the beginning of every professional meeting they have, it establishes a time, a different mindset, and helps with the overall success of ‘Mad Men’ as a show.
I agree with Ariel. We are still in a time period where having a character that smokes says something about the character. The bans on fictional settings isn't very productive because the fictional settings are presentations of the real world. If smoking was banned in more real life settings then it would show up as much in fictional ones. For example if all smoking was banned in bars in real life no one would be smoking on a tv show set in a bar. I also think that it an unrealistic hope that smoking will disappear out of stories because it has been part of so many cultures for so long. Just like in Mad Men. There is no way to tell that story accurately without the characters smoking. It was a huge part of the culture at that time. I hope to see this push to get rid of cigarettes get played out in real life before it gets played out in fictional stories.
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