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Movie Ratings To Take Smoking Into Account

Remember that classic scene in Now Voyager (1942) where Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes in his mouth and then gives one to lover Bette Davis? Made screen history. Well, times are changing and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) says that when it rates its movies from now on it’s going to judge whether smoking is too pervasive, just as it judges drug use, nudity, violence, and profanity.

MPAA Chief Executive Dan Glickman explained, “There is broad awareness of smoking as a unique public health concern due to nicotine’s highly addictive nature, and no parent wants their child to take up the habit. The appropriate response of the rating system is to give more information to parents on this issue.”

But the trade organization turned down requests by anti-smoking groups  -- and 32 state attorneys general -- to rate any movie that showed smoking as an “R” – no children under 17 unless with a parent or guardian.

What concerns Hollywood now is finding that balance between freedom of speech and addressing health concerns. But now that smoking has made the grade as something unhealthy, how long will it take until obesity and alcoholism also enter the ratings arena? – May 14, 2007

Keywords:smoking, American television

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