Disney Completely Bans Smoking in their Films

[darth_deetoo]

Shakes my head in despair. Didn't you even read that article on the BBC. It specifically states what is going to happen. Anyway - the true test is going to be 101 Dalmatians next year.

[brotherbear]

Much of my family smokes. And most of my friends smoke. And its been that way from childhood to present. If THAT didn't influence me to EVER lift a cigarette to my lips, a Disney movie (or any movie won't). Saying movies influence kids is a scapegoat. Bad parenting is the key to bad influence. Not a movie, a song, or a book. I can't really stand the blatant attempt at killing the first Ammendment.

Bravo! I couldn't agree more. My story is simlar to yours. My mom is an avid smoker and has smoked since before I was born. The same would be true for my dad, but he stopped smoking "cold turkey" (as they say) and hasn't smoked since. I've also known several of my friends parents (and later on, a few friends in general) that smoked. But despite that, I was NEVER once tempted to light up a cigarette. If anything, it made me more replused.

And actually, as a teen, I find that with friends I know across the country are generally also repulsed by smoking. Before you disagree, I'm just trying to make the point that smoking is not nearly as popular as it used to be. However, I think that if Disney should do anything (I'm not saying they should, but it would make more sense to me) is to look into the rising issue of drinking. I know FAR more teens that have issues with drinking than with smoking and in my opinion, drinking is far more dangerous to not only yourself but to others around you.

Well, I'm also glad that I already have the 101 Dalmations LI, so I know it's unedited. Same goes for other films that depict smoking such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan (I believe that Hook smoked a cigar at some point...) and others. I'm just worried about Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros...if there truely is an upcoming release of these films, will they edit TC? I really hope not... but if they do, I will be forced to search for the GC version.

-BB

[slave2moonlight]

And now, check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntrsMAlIQWA

Well, this is kinda off topic, but...

Yeah, I've seen that before. And I've also seen Philip Morris being a sponsor for "I Love Lucy". I've seen ads for that, too. I own DVDs containing old-timey commercials and both this one on The Flintstones and the one on I Love Lucy are two examples of them. And who could ever forget those catchy little ditties that came with the tobacco ads ("Winston tastes good like a - CLAP CLAP - cigarette should").

Ha, yeah, I just posted it because it's disturbingly funny.

[slave2moonlight]

I'm not so sure 101 Dalmatians would be the true test. That film has so much smoking it'd be a lot more trouble to edit it out, if I'm remembering correctly. It's those films where the smoking is minor that Disney isn't afraid to make it disappear. However, as I said, I'm not expecting more editing, though I wouldn't put it past them, it's keeping things in the vault that I'm worried about.

Now, I don't pretend that film/TV has no influence over children. You can easily see it does by how they dress and dance. It's pretty messed up and it's obvious that it comes from good ol' MTV and parents who don't intervene. It's the combination of the two. But where does the responsibility really lie? Art should reflect reality to some degree. I could understand restrictions on the glorification of negative habits, but on depicting them all together? That's just ridiculous. I don't want to see them edit the drinking out of Pinocchio any more than the smoking. What if Dumbo didn't get drunk and see pink elephants?


By the way, brotherbear, I own the Gold Collections of Saludos Amigos and the Three Caballeros, along with Melody Time and Make Mine Music. Joe Carioca appears in three of those films. I can't remember if it's Melody Time or Make Mine Music that he appears in, but probably the second. Anyway, I also can't say I remember which film it's in, I believe he is still smoking in at least one of them. However, I'm sure in at least one I noticed him holding his hand as though he was holding an invisible (as in, possibly already erased) cigar. Now, that could be a mistake on my part. However, the music films definitely had some editing done to them on their Gold releases, and I've heard that Saludos Amigos had some editing done too (I THINK it was smoking related). This is what I'm talking about. They might not let these films out of the vault uncut now, and they haven't done it in the past, so we just don't get them the way they were intended.

[UncleEd]

Sometimes smoking is needed in a film to set atmosphere or a chracter's type. Look at a lot of films from the 30's and 40's. As a film maker that is why I find this silly.

What scenes are cut out of the Small one?

[Siren]

What's the problem? I think it's commendable. Yes, parents should take responsibility, but it's a sad fact that many don't and use TV as a surrogate nanny.

So the rest of the authors and creators should have their characters suppressed because parents are lazy. That's like taking away a privilege to all students at school all because a couple of students broke a rule.

What it boils down to is that movie companies in general need to stop bending over and letting the government wipe their arse. I was actually HAPPY to see in the movie Transformers that they didn't hold back with some of the fights in the city. Machines that can transform into planes crashing into buildings in a big city....took a while for Hollywood to move on from not trying to step on the toes of 9/11 fever. So I was glad to see they didn't hold back.

A movie is a freedom of expression. It is under the First Amendment and nothing should stop it from being made how the studio wants it to be. Disney's doing this to kiss-up to parents and the government. Its PR, that's it. There is no real moral reason.

If they make another 101 Dalmatians, I want to see Cruella in a small smog of cigarette smoke. Old stuff definitely shouldn't be tampered with. They already got SFX/SEX off Lion King and the priest's knee/boner off TLM. Enough already.

Let's also look at this debate at keeping smoking out of the hero's hands. We say its fine for a villain to smoke, it adds character to them. But what about a hero? Pinocchio smoked and drank and look where it got him. The children can LEARN by watching the HERO of a story make a mistake. So I see no problem with heroes smoking, especially if it is in part with showing the audience that smoking is bad for them.

[Super Aurora]

What's the problem? I think it's commendable. Yes, parents should take responsibility, but it's a sad fact that many don't and use TV as a surrogate nanny.

So the rest of the authors and creators should have their characters suppressed because parents are lazy. That's like taking away a privilege to all students at school all because a couple of students broke a rule.

What it boils down to is that movie companies in general need to stop bending over and letting the government wipe their arse. I was actually HAPPY to see in the movie Transformers that they didn't hold back with some of the fights in the city. Machines that can transform into planes crashing into buildings in a big city....took a while for Hollywood to move on from not trying to step on the toes of 9/11 fever. So I was glad to see they didn't hold back.

A movie is a freedom of expression. It is under the First Amendment and nothing should stop it from being made how the studio wants it to be. Disney's doing this to kiss-up to parents and the government. Its PR, that's it. There is no real moral reason.

If they make another 101 Dalmatians, I want to see Cruella in a small smog of cigarette smoke. Old stuff definitely shouldn't be tampered with. They already got SFX/SEX off Lion King and the priest's knee/boner off TLM. Enough already.

Let's also look at this debate at keeping smoking out of the hero's hands. We say its fine for a villain to smoke, it adds character to them. But what about a hero? Pinocchio smoked and drank and look where it got him. The children can LEARN by watching the HERO of a story make a mistake. So I see no problem with heroes smoking, especially if it is in part with showing the audience that smoking is bad for them.

Thank you!

[darth_deetoo]

Oh, just get over yourselves for one second. I'm not suggesting censorship is good or should happen. But you're all jumping up and down complaining about something that in all likelihood isn't even going to happen.

All they are talking about doing is putting an announcement on discs. There's certainly no need for reactionary comments like some of the above.

Had enough of this scaremongering, I'll wait and see what actually happens.

[Siren]

Oh, just get over yourselves for one second.

That is a bit insulting, don't ya think? For someone who cries foul when their feelings are hurt, you certainly go out of your way to throw out the insults pretty quick. We all have an opinion. Whether or not Disney decides to censor old and new movies, we STILL have an opinion about it. Just because it HASN'T happened doesn't mean we can't discuss it and voice our opinions.

[darth_deetoo]

Excuse me a second. No-one is throwing out insults.

I don't have anything more to say on this subject. I think this is all reactionary nonsense, and I'm sure I'll be proven right.

I'm not trying to stifle anyone's opinion, just calling for a bit of common sense, but do excuse me for having an opinion.

I'm not going to get into an argument on something which I think is silly, just don't see the point in discussing this any further until any new information comes to light.

Oh, and by the way, you quoted me at least once and used it out of context which distorted what I was saying.

[Princess Stitch]

Ok, THIS is part of the problem we've been having here lately. No one is making a huge deal out of things. We're all just discussing our opinions. No one is being rude or throwing out insults, so why do we have to not get passionate about how we feel? Why is it so wrong for someone to feel strongly about a certain subject? I don't think anyone is blowing anything out of proportion either. Given Disney's track record of editing movies for DVD it's not that unlikely that some might get edited in the future. Although I think it really would be too much trouble to edit all of 101 dalmatians, so that's probably a far shot.

I feel the same as some others. Disney, or any other film studio for that matter, shoudln't have to compensate for people's lack of parenting. If someone is concerned about what their child is seeing, they should watch the movie or tv show before their child does. I don't see it as a commendable move as much as Disney trying to win brownie points with parents.

[Big Disney Fan]

I'm not so much worried about 101 Dalmatians as others I REALLY adore, such as Pinocchio and Alice In Wonderland. Given Disney's recent editing of movies on DVDs, I still have that feeling that they will edit these films. I really hope you are right and they leave well enough alone, just add on the PSA and then step away from the movie.

Nevertheless, that's probably not what they're gonna do, though. They'll edit the films. I just know it. I even emailed Mr. Iger on this subject and asked him what specifically will happen. I'm still waiting for a response.

[Princess Stitch]

I'm not so much worried about 101 Dalmatians as others I REALLY adore, such as Pinocchio and Alice In Wonderland. Given Disney's recent editing of movies on DVDs, I still have that feeling that they will edit these films. I really hope you are right and they leave well enough alone, just add on the PSA and then step away from the movie.

Nevertheless, that's probably not what they're gonna do, though. They'll edit the films. I just know it. I even emailed Mr. Iger on this subject and asked him what specifically will happen. I'm still waiting for a response.

Oh they might possibly edit some films. I'm just saying that for 101 Dalmatians because of all the smoking Cruella does it would be way too much work to edit it all out of the film, especially with such short notice. With Alice In Wonderland they'd almost have to get rid of whole scences.. either that or the caterpillar will be blowing bubbles in the next release!

[Big Disney Fan]

Oh they might possibly edit some films. I'm just saying that for 101 Dalmatians because of all the smoking Cruella does it would be way too much work to edit it all out of the film, especially with such short notice. With Alice In Wonderland they'd almost have to get rid of whole scences.. either that or the caterpillar will be blowing bubbles in the next release!

I shudder to think of what they might do. But anyway, what of Pinocchio?

[Siren]

Didn't McLeech from Rescuer's Down Under smoke too? I think a few villains over the years smoked cigars. Rattigan did too I think

[Big Disney Fan]

Didn't McLeech from Rescuer's Down Under smoke too? I think a few villains over the years smoked cigars. Rattigan did too I think

And let's not forget the "snarfblatt" as Scuttle calls it in "The Little Mermaid".

[Barbossa]

As Baby Herman would say;

"Whaaaaaaaaa! My Stooogie! Whaaaaaaaaa!"

[MagicMirror]

There's no way they can take the smoking out of 101 Dalmatians. How can the characters hold their noses when Cruella enters the room if she isn't leaving a trail of cigarette smoke behind her? It would be impossible to edit out the smoking without changing the character animation itself, and they wouldn't dare do that. I really don't think it's going to happen. As has already been said, they will just have a 'warning' message before the film. As 101 Dalmatians is thought by many to be Walt's best postwar feature, I think they'll pay it a little respect and leave it alone. The same goes for Pinocchio.

There are also complaints that Disney Villains are negative representations of the elderly. But somehow I don't think they will edit Snow White to make the Witch seem younger!

[Big Disney Fan]

As Baby Herman would say;

"Whaaaaaaaaa! My Stooogie! Whaaaaaaaaa!"

Actually, considering that Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a Touchstone movie and smoking in Touchstone and Miramax movies have been deemed "discouraged", I think that movie is safe more or less.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Smoking isn't what it used to be... And that's all right. As long as they don't mess with the classics there's no problem.