Cram it, anti-movie-smoking advocates! Estimable Times film critic A.O. Scott responds to yesterday’s uproar over the cigarettes in Avatar with a post at ArtsBeat headlined “Movies and Vices: Made for Each Other.†He writes, “Tobacco use is part of history — of movie history in particular. And in the course of that history lighting up has acquired connotations of individualism, rebellion, sophistication and sex that will be hard to eradicate even as they become increasingly shrouded in nostalgia.†Also: “The cigarettes are actually the best part of Nine.†We would not have minded if Rob Marshall had let the cigarettes sing Kate Hudson’s song.
Movies and Vices: Made for Each Other [ArtsBeat/NYT]
Earlier: Avatar ‘s Dr. Augustine Smokes Because You Play Too Many Video Games