HBO MAX CUTS CIGARETTE FROM ICONIC MOVIE POSTER
Last week, HBO Max, the Warner Bros.-owned TV streaming platform, cut more than just their costs — they’re cutting back on cigarettes too.
Keen observers noticed that HBO Max removed the cigarillo from the iconic movie poster from “McCabe & Mrs. Miller.” Now, McCabe is awkwardly holding up two fingers with no smoking device in hand. They also scrubbed cigarettes from several other film posters, including “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean,” “There Was a Crooked Man,” “Fallen Angels,” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” ...
... The question is not whether smoking cigarettes is bad for you. We know that it is. But smoking was nonetheless a significant aspect of daily life in American culture when these films were produced. Trying to get rid of it feels like abusing our technological capacities. Why can’t we interact with these stories for what they are and make our own judgments about them? And if this is about promoting physical health, why not place disclaimers at the front of the films that warn of the negative effects of smoking? There are other ways to discourage cigarette use than trying to pretend they weren’t a part of the movies. ...
See the full story here: https://mindmatters.ai/2022/09/hbo-max-cuts-cigarette-from-iconic-movie-poster/
