And smoke plumes from between the pages...

I'm currently reading a book called Silk by Caitlin R. Kiernan and it seems that every other page contains at least one reference to a cigarette. Some main character is lighting a smoke and blowing rings while another character is stubbing one out in an ashtray (or, more likely in this book, on their forearm) and yet another character is complaining about how they're down to their last two Marlboros.

My point is this: How am I ever expected to quit if around every corner I'm being taunted by the stinging scent of cigarette smoke?

Guaranteed, authors and movie directors and artists all have the right to put cigarettes in their work. At least that's what I think. I'm just not sure how to handle the constant temptation. How can I escape cigarettes if the things I use to escape them (movies, books, and RARELY television) are filled with the things I'm trying to escape?

This paradox is inevitable. Hell, even the movies that try to keep me from smoking make me want a cigarette.

From Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes (2003): The beauty of quitting is, now that I've quit, I can have one, 'cause I've quit. -Tom Waits

Tell me about it, Tom.

Thank You For Smoking (2005) was a great movie for it's sarcastic criticism of Big Tobacco companies, but the whole thing was practically an ad for cigarettes. I was smoking at the time, and believe me I was smoking at the time. I must have gone through an entire pack watching that film, inhaling them one at a time like a fucking Pavlovian dog, all saliva and no brain.

So, there's no way to keep cigarettes out of films. Period. A filmmaker has the right to put whatever he or she feels like putting in a film, and if that means cigarettes than that means cigarettes. Same goes for books. But how can smokers keep (our)themselves from succumbing to the endless cycle of exposure?

If I figure that out, I'll let you know. Until then, I'm going to take it day to day.

Articles of Interest:
('R' Rating for movies that star cigarettes?)http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001480052
(Phillip Morris asks Hollywood to skip their smokes)http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15739319/