Anonymous sent:You’re right. I first tried smoking a couple years ago because I thought it would help me lose weight. I always had access to cigarettes because there was always a carton lying somewhere around the house. Fortunately I am not addicted to cigarettes (if I smoke more than two I get stomach problems), but I have purchased them before because they’ve helped loosen me up while under great deals of stress. I almost always smoke in private too, so if you’ve seen me doing so before, I apologize for my carelessness.
As for the art, yes, I have drawn girls smoking. If you feel like this is my own method of cig glamorization, I’m sorry, that was not my intention. But you don’t really see the big picture. The reality is, most of my art is conceptual for graphic novels I want to make. The characters who smoke (specifically, that girl you’ve seen me draw) are not role models. The cigarette is just an accessory to a character who also abuses drugs, shoplifts, etc. This is not saying all smokers are like that, but would you be surprised if someone who also abused drugs or shoplifted was a smoker too? Like I said in my previous post, smoking expresses a desire to have a certain image. Like Dirty Harry with a cigarette clenched between his gritted teeth, I wanted to make a character who didn’t want to be messed with. Sorry I wasn’t more specific.
And lastly, I’m not a judgmental person. I shouldn’t really give a fuck whether or not people I’m not friends with think tobacco is such a novel concept that deserves attention. But it’s something that’s weighed upon me for a while, and I like writing. If people can glamorize smoking, then I can write about why it’s dumb.
So if I’m mistaken, and smoking “art” is NOT about just wanting a certain image, or looking cool and edgy, by all means, keep at it. Because the only reason there is left is to just look stupid. Unless, of course, the art is supposed to convey an individual with a hidden past of sexual abuse and childhood trauma that only cigarettes can surpress. If that’s the case, get a psychiatrist, because clearly your priorities are shamefully askew.
Whether or not you feel like this is a passive-aggressive post directed towards anybody, I don’t care. This is primarily directed towards all the tumblr-ers who enjoy blogging pictures of themselves or models spewing blankets of smoke out of their mouths like it’s some sort of profound artistic statement. Trust me, you’re not being artistic, or even original, for that matter. If you’re gonna smoke, smoke. You can only screw up and get addicted once and have a cig every once in a while in your driveway. But don’t put it on a pedestal or make it who you are. I know what I’m talking about, and this is why.
Lately I’ve begun a graphic project centered around the Golden Age of Hollywood. The characters are all modeled after famous actors and actresses from the 40s-60s, therefore I’ve been studying that era by watching old films and asking my mom, an old-movie buff, questions about the people and their legacies. Since then I’ve learned a lot about the history of smoking and why it’s silly for this generation to continue to be fascinated by it.
My mom began smoking when she was 9 years old and, 45 years later, still does to this day. Everyone in my family has inhaled secondhand smoke without a thought. It wasn’t unusual for me and my siblings to come out of Macy’s with Mom with our arms full of shopping bags and watch her approach a group of teenagers asking for a light. We didn’t think much of it. She always tries to quit, with the patches and the gum and laughable quitting cold turkey technique, but it never lasts long. “Never date a smoker,” she’s told us several times, usually while exhaling a puff of Parliament. “Never marry a smoker. It just represents a lack of self-control.” Yeah, whatever, Mom. Most of us [my siblings and I] have tried smoking. Some of us can’t stop. Shows how obedient we are towards the sadder-but-wiser.
We’ve heard the story before. Mom was taught how to smoke by one of her older friends while they were growing up in Miami and never looked back. The same friend who taught her how to shave her legs and perform amateur seances. Just those fun things to kill time after school with.
Mind you this was in the late 60s, an era where smoking was a social norm. It wasn’t “cool” or “edgy”, because EVERYONE did it. Kids didn’t try it because they wanted to shock their parents; they tried it because there was always a box of cigarettes in the kitchen drawer and they wanted to be like Mommy and Daddy. It wasn’t much different than playing dress-up. And the whole house already reeks of smoke anyway, so who’d notice? they probably thought.
There were ashtrays in elevators, planes… even hospital rooms. Everywhere you looked, you could ash your cig without a problem. People smoked on tv, in restaurants, on trains, and about any other place you can think of. No one was aware of the health risks, and by the time they got an idea, cigarette companies scurried to downplay people’s concerns by saying they either didn’t matter or that it was just something you had to accept. Not that people made much effort to quit anyway. Smoking was the way of life. Sure, you see pictures of old movie stars like James Dean and Marlene Dietrich with cigarettes in their hands, but the cigarette is simply an accessory, not the main focus of the picture. It’s no more significant than the lipstick or the leather jacket; it’s merely a trifle included to represent an iconic figure in a time gone by.
The smoking epidemic was ebbed slightly once the ugly truths behind esophagus and lung cancer started receiving spotlight. Celebrities who had once been the faces for cigarette ads dropped like flies. Humphrey Bogart (57 from cancer in the esophagus), Nat King Cole (45, lung cancer), Betty Grable (65, lung cancer), Walt Disney (65, lung cancer), George Harrison (58, throat and lung cancer) and Yul Brynner (65, lung cancer), are a few notable victims to just name a few out of an endless list. Yul Brynner, who knew he was dying, gave an interview on Good Morning America in 1985 talking about his cancer and expressed desire to make an anti-smoking commerical. He warned: “Now that I’m gone, I tell you don’t smoke. Whatever you do, just don’t smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn’t be talking about any cancer. I’m convinced of that.” The handsome Russian actor known for his lead roles in The King and I, Anastasia and The Ten Commandments died 9 months later.
So the point I’m trying to make is: James Dean and Marilyn Monroe are NOT looking down at the kids with vintage cameras and American Spirits (is that seriously the only cigarette kids know about?) with smiles on their dead faces. If anything, they’re seeing your future physiques plastered with sagging skin, hollowed out eyes, bald spots, yellowed teeth and croaky voices. That’s right—- no more ukelele open-mic night with a voice like that.
And let’s face it, every girl (and some boys) wants to be beautiful. But sometimes the desire to look cool, or to disappoint adults, or to shock old friends who have pledged a smoke-free lifestyle, overrules a burdensome reality. You can’t smoke a pack a day and look like Marilyn Monroe, too. Had she exercised any self-control she would’ve lived to agree with me. It’s a personal belief that you wear your lifestyle on your face, regardless of how beautiful you may be. If you’re unkind to people, or drink heavily, or party too hard, then your beauty starts to reflect your soul. Smoking a cigarette every once in a while might not take as huge of a toll, but when you smoke, you’re doing more than hurting your body. You’re saying, “I know smoking is unhealthy and I know it puts some people off and I know I could be susceptible to an expensive addiction, but that’s a small price to pay for feeling edgy and being accepted into a loose social group.” If you’ve got that attitude, I dare you to go further with it. Post “artsy” photos of you drinking while obviously underage. Photos of you carving into your skin. Photos of you texting and driving. What’s the difference?
Get real, guys. If you wanna be edgy, paint something amazing. Write a book. Record a song. Find a star. Do something with your life, for God’s sake. But smoking has been done before. So be yourself, and stay alive for as long as you can help. It’s the happiest way to be, trust me.
