Anyway, as most of you already know, Constantine is making his appearance on television this fall. I know we got some horrible Keanu Reeves knockoff a dozen or so years ago (I don't count that as a Hellblazer adaptation). And also...it was a movie. A television series is a different medium and is a far cry from the silver screen because of its ability to be episodic just like a single issue of a comic book. Television has the ability to fully encapsulate story lines that could take an entire season to incubate. I find the very idea of this exciting. But I'm not quite sure I agree with the character edits that are happening. Namely, Constantine's chain smoking and the lack of it we'll be seeing in the television series.
There are many quirks that make John who he is. For example, John's cigarette of choice is "Silk Cut." It's a brand of cigarettes produced by the Gallaher Group, which is a division of Japan Tobacco. Additionally, he's the only character that I know of who aged in real time, meaning that every real year that passed actually made him older in the comic book.
Now, I know the reasons for not wanting to glamorize smoking on network television (or even feature it). But interfering with this character's ability to toke on a Silk Cut is going to handicap it. In other words, as I watch the series I'll be thinking in my mind that this isn't a faithful adaptation to the blue-collar warlock that I remember from my youth.
So what do you think? Should characters with destructive habits be altered to make them more acceptable for a television audience? Constantine fights vampires and demons. How is smoking worse than that?
Seems like an odd thing to cut if it's part of the character. What about those who drink?
ReplyDeleteI guess it's just network TV being afraid of offending some lobby group or something. If it were on basic cable then he'd probably be able to smoke as much as he wants.
ReplyDeletePat has a good point. Everyone is so afraid of offending someone. I am looking forward to this show.
ReplyDeleteTom Hanks discussing Walt Disney's tobacco use in Saving Mr Banks:
ReplyDelete"If we smoked cigarettes in this movie about Walt Disney making “Mary Poppins,” it would be rated R. That’s just the way it works. You couldn’t believe the negotiations. It came down to us not being able to light a cigarette or inhale a cigarette. You do see that one big scene where Emma as Travers storms into my office and you see me putting out a cigarette in the ashtray on Walt’s desk. I did always have a pack of cigarettes in my shirt pocket and sometimes I was playing around with them and a cigarette lighter here and there, but I never could smoke one.
The man smoked three packs of cigarettes a day. People who knew Walt say that you could always hear him coming down the hall, because you’d hear him coughing from smoking all those cigarettes. "
If I were fighting vampires and demons I'd be smoking something stronger than tobacco.
ReplyDeleteWhat Stephen said.
ReplyDeleteIt's a strange show for NBC to take on. I expect it'll be somewhat watered down. At least the actor's blond this time.
ReplyDeletemood
Moody Writing
That's a hard question. But, since it's network TV(?!?!), I can understand. You don't want to glamorize smoking to kids. Now, if it was HBO or something and targeted a more mature audience, it wouldn't make any sense.
ReplyDeletei'm surprisingly not bothered by it. I think it's because i feel like their doing a damned decent job of translating it to tv (well, or so it seems so far) that i'm willing to let that bit go. I'm hoping it will be so fun and good that i won't even really notice after the first episode.
ReplyDeleteAnd FWIW i like the movie Constantine, but as a stand alone thing not really related to Hellblazer, if that makes sense.
That's so strange. Look at Mad Men. They're smoking all the time.
ReplyDeleteI swear my lungs seize up when I see smoking in television and movies. I'm an ex-smoker so it really gets to me. There's a British detective show I watch where the character is never without a smoke, and it just kills me to watch it. But it's part of who he is. It's set in the sixties, and just about everyone smoked in the sixties. We live in an odd age of political correctness (unless, of course, you're SCOTUS). :P
ReplyDeleteThat's a hard one. On the one hand, it's good that as a society we're pulling away from smoking. It's such a destructive habit, and we don't want to encourage those who don't smoke to take it up.
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand, this is an established character. And I hate the idea of being judgemental towards those that do smoke. It is an individual choice, and those that make it know the consequences (in this day and age, who doesn't?).
Yeah, so I don't know how to answer this question. Again, I see both sides and am able to take neither.
It irks me too. It's part of his character. Though I wonder if they'd still let him smoke if he was a villain.
ReplyDeleteShould characters with destructive habits be altered to make them more acceptable for a television audience?
ReplyDeleteI say no. It's part of who he is and cutting it is like changing him into someone else.
Personally I'm anti-smoking, but this is a character trait. Why was the Smoking Man allowed on The X-Files, if it's so unacceptable to show it? And Mad Men shows smoking all the time. Anyway, I agree that television is a really exciting medium to incubate a story over a long period and explore all kinds of subplots and characters.
ReplyDeleteIf it is part of who the character is, then I don't think they should cut it. Some people smoke. Should they quit? Probably. It's a bad and costly habit. But I don't think a character smoking is what makes a person think, "Hey, I should do that."
ReplyDeletekids tend to look upon those violent characters as cool ones... so them smoking could really make those kids think smoking is also cool. I'd ban smoking everywhere... even in hell :)
ReplyDeleteThen they need to pick the same network as Mad Men. I take it they're throwing most of canon out? What about his eventual lung cancer?
ReplyDeleteJohn's birthday is 6 days before mine, making us the same age. I always liked that about him, made him real. And explained his experience too.
I'll watch but I'll be sad.
And more... Glamorizing guns and killing people is just fine on network tv... Don't get me started ;)
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