NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Sometimes A Cigar Is Not Just A Cigar
The American Medical Association is kvetching about “gratuitous depictions of smoking” by “The Incredible Hulk” (PG-13) villain Gen. Thunderbolt Ross, who “is rarely seen without a smoke-spewing cigar,” reports The New York Times, noting that “he always smoked in the comic books” [contextual link added by The Stiletto].
The Stiletto can’t tell whether The Times is playing it straight or snarky, but the article includes this parenthetical: (Presumably, the physicians’ association worries that children who identify with the authoritarian general - who wants to annihilate the Hulk, played by Edward Norton - may be tempted to pick up the habit.)
Um, see, after years of public education campaigns in school and on TV kids know smoking is bad and cigars are really bad, therefore smoking a cigar is a metaphor for “bad guy” just like the black cowboy hat in yesteryear’s Westerns. Any kid who wants to emulate the villain has problems that are better addressed by the American Psychiatric Association than the American Medical Association.
Editorial Note: You can view the movie trailer here.
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