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Scene Smoking: Cigarettes, Cinema & the Myth of Cool

Teacher’s Guide for High School

Pre-Viewing Activities

Explain to students that they are going to watch an uncensored film about how smoking is depicted in films and on television. They will see actors, directors, writers, and producers speak out honestly about tobacco use depiction, artists’ rights, social responsibility, and the First Amendment. This is a documentary, so they will hear comments from both sides of the issues.

Questions to discuss before watching the video
(Italicized words are defined in Terminology)

1. Do you think that stars who smoke on-screen influence young people to smoke?
2. Do you think more stars are smoking in film today? Are more teens smoking today than several years ago?
3. Do you think tobacco companies have used films to market their products?
4. Do you think tobacco use in film normalizes or glamorizes smoking?
5. What is the First Amendment? Do you think it protects artists’ rights to depict anything they choose?
6. What is social responsibility? What role does social responsibility play in depicting tobacco use in films?
7. Would tobacco use on a filming set create any health issues such as secondhand smoke?
8. If you removed smoking from a scene in a movie, would the scene be the same or different?
9. Should an actor be able to turn down a role because smoking is required?
10. What are some characteristics that smoking creates on-screen, and how might those characteristics be shown without smoking?
11. Should all tobacco use be banned from television and film? Why?
12. Does the film industry have a responsibility to depict smoking responsibly and accurately and to show the consequences of use? Why?
13. Does the entertainment industry have a responsibility to help parents monitor what their children see, including tobacco use, in films? Why?
14. What is media literacy?

Follow-Up Activities

All Classes

• In small groups, have students discuss questions from the Pre-Viewing Activities to determine whether their responses have changed as a result of watching the film.
• Have students work alone or in small groups to complete the Scene Smoking—Your Opinions exercise.
• Have students choose one of the Scene Smoking—Your Opinions questions and write an essay supporting their point of view.
• Ask the students to go to a movie or watch a single televised film and review the film for its depiction of tobacco use using the Smoking Scan—Critique of Smoking on Film and Television. During the following class session, have students share their critiques as well as how it changed their way of viewing a film or TV program.

Civics/Government/Social Studies

• Write a letter to a state government official about the regulation of tobacco use in film and the media.
• Write a letter to the Motion Picture Association of America to learn more about the voluntary movie ratings system or to discuss the First Amendment and the constitutional rights of the actor, producer, director, and screenwriter regarding tobacco use in film.
• Write an essay on the First Amendment and the right to use tobacco in the media.

Language Arts/Drama/Theater Arts

• Write an editorial or a letter to the local newspaper on social responsibility and artistic freedom as it relates to tobacco depiction in films and on television.
• Write a script that excludes tobacco use as a prop or depicts tobacco use in a socially responsible manner.
• Act a scene portraying qualities often associated with tobacco use (e.g., nervousness, anxiety, fear, glamour, sex appeal) without using tobacco.
• Direct a scene written with tobacco use and eliminate the tobacco use.

Debate/Speech

• Debate the roles of censorship and social responsibility in depicting tobacco use in films and television.
• Write a speech for the president of a local service organization about tobacco use depiction in movies and television.

Behavioral Studies/Health

• Research the relationship between behaviors depicted by role models and those adopted by young people.
• Write a courteous letter to a producer, director, writer, or actor of the film or TV program reviewed for the Smoking Scan—Critique of Smoking on Film and Television homework assignment. In the letter, express appreciation of their work, and describe the positive findings and needs for improvement (if necessary) from the critique.

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