The Motion Picture Association of America said yesterday it will add smoking to the criteria it uses to rate films. MPAA chairman Dan Glickman said the organization would take a nuanced approach, rather than automatically awarding a “R” to any movie that includes scenes of smoking.
“We do not believe such a step would further the specific goal of providing information to parents on this issue,” Glickman said.
The Directors Guild, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Cancer Society issued statements supporting the measure, but some anti-smoking activists, who advocated the automatic “R”, said the new policy fell short.
Related reading: Remake, a sci-fi novel by Connie Willis, which imagines a world in which classic movies are routinely edited to remove drinking, smoking and other harmful behaviors.
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