{"id":154247,"date":"2010-01-08T08:55:59","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T13:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"tag:business.theatlantic.com,2010:\/\/3.33173"},"modified":"2010-01-08T08:47:39","modified_gmt":"2010-01-08T13:47:39","slug":"is-avatar-bad-for-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/154247","title":{"rendered":"Is Avatar Bad for Your Health?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week I noted that obesity has passed cigarette use as our biggest national health threat<\/a>. But there’s a silver lining. Obesity caught up so quickly because cigarette use has actually decreased by 20 percent in the last 15 years. Something about our anti-cigarette policy is working, I wrote. Still, this seems like overkill:<\/p>\n

The recent fuss over “Avatar,” the James Cameron film in which the
\nlatest in cinematic technology meets the oldest argument in the movies:
\nwhether vice on screen encourages vice in real life.<\/p>\n

In
\n“Avatar,” a character played by Sigourney Weaver smokes. Antitobacco
\nadvocates say on-screen smoking — even by a character we’re supposed
\nto dislike, like Ms. Weaver’s — makes children pick up the habit. They
\nhave criticized the movie as a threat to public health.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even the stiff New York Times editorial page throws up its hands and emits an audible sigh<\/a>.
\nI know, I know, the antitobacco activists have science behind their
\nkvetching. I also recognize that any good public relations campaign
\nrequires a certain over-caffeinated peskiness. But still, did they see
\nthis movie? (SPOILER ALERT.) Sigourney Weaver plays a caddy futuristic
\nbiologist with all the worst lines in the movie, delivered with
\nremarkable woodenness. It’s one thing to complain about a film where a
\nmodern-day mobster smokes between his super-cool brushes with the
\nlaw. That’s sort of enviable. But trust me folks: Sigourney Weaver’s cringe-inducing turn won’t
\ninspire anybody, and a little discretion won’t kill you.


\n

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This week I noted that obesity has passed cigarette use as our biggest national health threat. But there’s a silver lining. Obesity caught up so quickly because cigarette use has actually decreased by 20 percent in the last 15 years. Something about our anti-cigarette policy is working, I wrote. Still, this seems like overkill: The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}