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Look, this clearly polarises opinion. I remember several long and drawn out debates on the other forum. Over there we had a poll and people were very much in favour of him smoking again. To me that just means that people are so obsessed over a tiny element of the character that they feel that the potential risks of encouraging people to smoke are outweighed by their need to see Bond light up one more time. I just think that's a shame.
that should stop his habit
:O
Any way it's a bad idea as the fake fags are worse then the real ones taste wise, to the in hot fuzz they used real ones! Do you want to make DC a smoker again!
Smoking or a bit of slap and tickle? :-?
Oh the conundrum.
There were no older role models that made a whiff of difference though. Possible exemption might have been young guys on screen or TV, but I don't remember any.
Anyway I smoked with impunity through my 20's. Plan was to quit when I hit 30 which I did manage to do. It took over a year but I did wheen myself off. I used Tony Robbins first tape. Its the only one you need. The pleasure vs pain tape. I'm not even a Tony Robbins disciple but a friend loaned me the first tape, and I listened to maybe three or 4 more before getting bored, but that first tape is all you need.
Basically, it says humans are motivated to both seek pleasure and avoid pain but the pain avoidance instinct is stronger than the pleasure seeking one.
So to quit smoking, you have to not only mentally stop associating any pleasure with the activity but more importantly, DO link as much pain or negativity, as you can to the act.
Eventually your pain avoidance instincts will trump any latent pleasure association with the act.
The goal is to become like a non-smoker who genuinely has no interest in the cigs as opposed to a guy whose quit but is still tempted and has to battle the temptation.
With this technique, when I finally quit, I honestly had no lingering temptations. I was done and have never been tempted since.
As for Bond on screen, I don't care if he smokes or not. It was imperative that the 60's Bond smoke but not so much post 1970. However when you consider that even a modern 30 year old Bond would have been a teenager in the 90's or maybe 80's there is still a good chance that a self assured but still hard-drinking bad-boy tough like Bond, might have developed a cig habit as a teen which is when the vast majority of guys start. Bond does enjoy his indulgences. I don't think it would be out of character, especially considering Bond never expected to reach his mandatory double 0 retirement age anyway.
I think Dalton had it right though -even in the 80's. Bond is probably a smoker in any era. Maybe not as prodigious a smoker as the 50's original but a smoker all the same.
But as I said to DC007, just because you weren't inspired to smoke by people onscreen doesn't mean that others aren't. Lots of guys I know who started at a very young age (say, 12 to 14) started smoking to try to be like their onscreen heroes, and I myself tried smoking in my mid/late teens to try to look as cool as Dalton did (which sounds utterly ridiculous now). So that is indeed a factor for some people. But interestingly, people I know who started smoking later - say, around 16 to 18 - usually (but not always) did it to rebel against their parents or society or to fit in with the "badass" crowd.
And I totally agree with the pleasure/pain principal outlined by Robbins. My recollection is that he said that human beings are animals like any other and everything we do is to either gain pleasure or avoid pain on a purely instictive level. If there is a conflict we choose based on the balance - will the pleasure I get from eating junk food every day be better than the pleasure I will get from being fit and being able to have an active lifestyle? Or will the pain from not satisfying my craving for eating junk food be more than the pain of *not* having attractive, fit women chat me up on the beach when they see that I'm fit? ;-) Great way to assess competing situations, although once emotion gets involved (say, a stressful day at work) it can tip the scales...
Unfortunately, people still smoke and emulate characters like James Bond, despite what common sense might suggest. Whilst we might say that people should be intelligent enough to make up their own minds and that the studios are not responsible, the evidence suggests that people still will ignore common sense and go on to copy film heroes that smoke. Whilst this happens and is ultimately the responsibility of the individual, I don't see why we should encourage it to happen just because we think it would be good to see Bond smoke again.
I think one of the reasons people want to see him smoke again anyway is that it will make him look cooler. Sure, you might argue that you just want to see a truer depiction of Fleming's character, but I don't see people demanding a scar and dark hair with the same passion. Ultimately, people want to see Bond breaking the rules, being a rebel and not caring about the danger. This means smoking. The only problem is that others will want to flaunt the rules and risk the dangers too. The difference is Bond isn't going to get cancer.
And, obviously, maybe make his life a bit shorter in the process.
I'm no angel in regards to smoking, that is for sure. I'm not an anti-smoker by any means, I smoke cigars and definitely feel the tobacco lobby and their supporters are way too extreme and have infringed on personal freedoms. Banning smoking outdoors and in entire towns is downright dictatorial and communist in my opinion. These zealots won't rest until they put an entire industry and lots of people out of work. And then they'll complain about supporting these people and their families.
Off my soapbox :-D
- Jack London, from JACK LONDON'S TALES OF ADVENTURE. Later quoted by Ian Fleming in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE.
The best example Robbins gives of the seek pleasure/avoid pain dymanic, is the example of the student putting off writing an essay. They put off the writing because they link pain with the chore of writing the essay. They eventually write the essay the night before, simply because they now link more pain with not handing it in, then the pain of actually writing it. Makes perfect sense, as this was my general approach to writing essays for 4 years of University. Again I don't care if Bond smokes or not but I also don't think Eon has any obligation to discourage youth from starting smoking either. I think Eon's first obligation is to make good Bond movies. To that end the Fleming motto for Bond quoted above I think fits with a smoking Bond. Given the dangers of his job, Bond is not pre-occupied with living a long life. The health dangers of smoking really don't apply to him. Therefore I think it would be more consistent with Bond's character that he be an occasional smoker, that he indulges an expensive tobacco blend, made naturally by some top tobacconist. I see Bond as a smoking connoseiur, consistent with his other indulgences, but struggling also to balance a smoking habit with his fitness needs. If Eon could dispense with such nonsense as high cardio impact endevours such as the parkour run with all it's jumping about, that would help too. Bond need not have olympic-athlete levels of conditioning to be a dangerous and effective double 0 agent.
But by all means, it's great that DC is giving up smoking if that is what he wants to do.
Thanks DLF. Craig should try the nicorette inhalers.
It's a real shame when artistic integrity and the portrayal of a character are compromised because of these anti smoking campaigners. What a disappointingly overly PC world we live in. It's up to the parents/foster parents/care givers or whoever to educate the kids properly. Movies shouldn't be part of the equation.
Below is an amusing little article I found on the internet around 7 years ago. I don't know who the author is. As juvenile and politically incorrect as it is (LOL) it isn’t without the odd valid point. I have censored out the swear words.
"The World Is My Ashtray
Right now I’m burning off seven minutes of my life. After I finish with this seven minutes, I’ll light up another cigarette and take care of another seven shi**y minutes of old age. And I will love it just as much as this one.
I love smoking. All the cool people smoke. Me, Johnny Depp, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S. Thompson, Denis Leary, Bill Hicks. Okay, so Bill Hicks died in his forties, but that’s only because he quit smoking. And he died of pancreatic cancer, not lung cancer or a heart attack. That was his body’s big “f**k you” for all of those smoking and health nut jokes he told. You want to quit and be a huge hypocrite? Okay, bam, you’re dead. And, sure, Denis Leary quit and lost his sense of humor and started making movies like “Dawg.” But Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is pushing eighty and still inhaling Pall Malls like a dying man sucking on oxygen in a crashing plane. He knows what I know. Quitters never win.
If you’re not smoking you should be. It’s like Denis Leary said back when he was still funny and not putting fifty percent crappy music filler on his comedy albums. “Smoking takes ten years off your life. Well it's the ten worst years, isn't it folks? It's the ones at the end! It's the wheelchair, kidney dialysis, adult diaper fu**ing years. You can have those years! We don't want 'em, alright?”
My grandmother has spent the last seven years wasting away in a nursing home, unaware of who she is and who her family is. When I go see her, she doesn’t have a clue who I am. She can’t get out of bed because her hip keeps breaking. I love my grandmother dearly, but I don’t think that’s living. That’s why I’m smoking for my health. So I never have to go through that. When I keel over of a heart attack at fifty something like my grandfather did, I’ll still be a virile and cognizant bastard. And I’ll have a big fu**ing smile on my face because I never had to wear Depends. People will remember me as a force of nature rather than some frail, brittle-boned old man with translucent skin.
Don’t let anyone tell you that smoking makes you look old either. That’s bulls**t. I’m thirty-five years old and look younger than most non-smokers. It isn’t smoking that makes you look old, it’s growing up. I mean look at Johnny Depp. Look at Brad Pitt. Do either of those guys look forty? If anything smoking keeps you young. Colonel Depp hasn’t aged a day in the last twenty years and that’s because he smokes.
What? You think I’m making this stuff up?
Back in the fifties Rod Serling would smoke in his intros for Twilight Zone. That’s how
fu**ing cool he was. He was from our grandparents’ generation where all the men worked eighteen hours and smoked four packs of cigarettes a day. They did us all a huge favor and died young before they could drain Social Security dry.
Not our generation. We’re making all of these fu**ing smoke-free environments. We have some sort of complex where we think we’re going to live forever if only we eat right and quit smoking and quit drinking and quit having any sort of fun what-so-fu**ing-ever. In some places, like California and New York City, you can’t even smoke in a bar anymore. In a goddamn bar. Bukowski is rolling in his grave right now.
We’re a selfish, weak-willed bunch of assh**es that have let the non-smokers make all of the decisions for us. Those same non-smokers who drive gas-guzzling SUVs that burn through petroleum and pollute the fu**ing environment like there’s no tomorrow, screaming, “Second-hand smoke kills! Second-hand smoke kills!” Because it’s okay to kill the world ecology as long you’re not indirectly killing people.
And what’s so bad about indirectly killing people? That’s one of my favorite reasons for smoking. That makes me want to smoke more. It makes me want to blow smoke in the face of every baby on the planet.
Bill Hicks said it best about non-smokers when he said, “Obnoxious, self-righteous, whining little f**ks. My biggest fear is if I quit smoking I’ll become one of you.”
The only thing worse than someone who’s never smoked is someone who’s quit smoking and points that out to you every time you light up. You know what, assh**e? That was your choice to be a goddamn quitter. I don’t quit anything. Here, have some second-hand smoke, you fu**ing Benedict Arnold.
Sure, there are some drawbacks, but even the drawbacks can be a plus. Your teeth will turn yellow and everything you own will smell like an ashtray. But when you smoke, you don’t smell any of that anyway. Every nasty smell that every non-smoker has to suffer through, you’re automatically exempt from, including your own cigarette smoke. And you can always get your teeth bleached like I did. I have whiter teeth than a lot of coffee-drinking non-smokers. Now there’s an oxymoron if there ever was one.
Who can love coffee and not smoke? For that matter, who can love beer and not smoke?
There’s nothing better than throwing back beer after beer and chain-smoking a night away. It’s sublime. It’s one of the reasons mankind crawled out the muck.
It’s okay that I wheeze like an eighty-year old man, because I look fu**ing great when I’m smoking a cigarette. No non-smoker will ever look as cool as I do sitting here writing this right now.
Even the coolest fictional characters smoke. Where would Marla Singer be without her chain-smoking? Tony Soprano never looks more menacing than when he’s lighting up a big fat Cuban cigar. Wolverine smokes. James Bond smokes. John Constantine smokes.
So, kids, take my advice and start smoking. It’s like Dennis Hopper said in Waterworld. “You’re never too young to start.”"
One problem though is that in the pub enviroment, without the chain-smoking accompanying the beer, chicken wings and other heavy pub grub suddenly become more attractive. The waistline can take a hit if one is not careful.
Despite being an ex-smoker,I never lecture anyone on smoking. I don't care if they smoke, even around me. Smokers tend not to blow smoke in your face anyway, even if you are a fellow smoker.
I do think Bond should smoke. I think its consistent with how his character might have grown up. I do believe Bond would have smoked as a teen and would still have a lingering habit, as many 30-40 somethings do.
As for Eon setting an example. It is not their job to dissuade youth from smoking. They do not bear that responsbility and we are talking teenagers. Almost no-one starts the habit if they managed to stay clear during high school. Excpetions of course, but the huge majority of smokers started as teens.
I no longer have a craving for a smoke when I drink either.
Yeah, Bond should smoke but in moderation in the interest of promoting a sense of realism. The character is far from perfect. Today's overly PC society makes me sick.
I don't see what's wrong with Bond smoking. It's something he's always done so why stop?
Because smoking kills people? And Bonds job/life isn't dangerous? We're fine with him drinking heavily and becoming addicted to pain killers but smoking is bad for you!
And I don't believe teens will see Bond smoking and think "that's cool, I'll smoke too!!!!" For one thing, there's tons of anti smoking posters, ads, etc, people know it's bad for you and won't start just because they saw somebody in a film doing it.
If it is irresponsible for him to smoke on screen then surely him having sex with a woman he just met like in the SF shower scene is not irresponsible also? No aids test first? What if she has Herpes which can be transmitted orally too? Did Bond ask her at the bar?
I mean Severine was from the sex trade after all which implies she has slept around.
I think we need to lighten up a bit. Otherwise no fast cars in Bond as someone also will want to copycat that too. No guns either as those can kill instantly.
The smoking though a dangerous habit looks cool on screen just as much as Bond shagging a beautiful woman.
Trust me, people will smoke if their favorite star does it and they think it looks cool. A high percentage of teenagers are idiots, remember.
I started smoking because of Dalton in TLD when he goes to the country estate. It looked so cool. But I would have picked the habit up anyway socially. It was my responsibility in the end and I made the choice.
Didn't they say after his tests that he was addicted to pain killers and alcohol?
I would laugh at this PC business and smoking except I smoke cigars and they are going to go after my pleasure sooner than later with the same zeal. Thankfully cigars are still on the fringes of that.
Even worse to me is that alcohol is still glamorized considering all the damage it does. Marijuana is far less worse and non-addictive, and actually helps sick people but we still ban and have a problem with this.