Pinocchio

SmokeScreeners review:   

Year of Release:  1940

MPAA Rating:  G

Directors:  Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen

Distributor:  Buena Vista

In this film 11 smoking incidents occured, 9 of which were inside and 2 of which were outside.

The film was reviewed by Dr. Barry Hummel  This film was reviewed on 2/1/2008.

Dr. Barry Hummel posted the following additional comments:

"Hi-Diddle Dee Dee!  A smoker's life for me!  Pinocchio, the classic Disney animated feature about the wooden-puppet who wants to 'be a real boy' might be the smokiest cartoon of all time!

Granted, the film was made in 1940 for adult audiences.  An 'all-cartoon feature' was a high-end artform in 1940.  Adults went to see these films back then.  More importantly, they saw them one time and that was that. 

Over the years, however, animated movies became associated with children.  With the arrival of new technologies... like video, DVD, and BluRay... children watched these movies over and over again, frequently without adult supervision.

Pinocchio has seven different characters who smoke, including the two main protagonists, Geppetto and Pinocchio.  Think about that.  A wooden boy decides it is a good idea to light a cigar and inhale hot gas.  Talk about dangerous!  Of course Gepetto, his father figure and role model likes to play with fire as well.  Check out this scene from early in the film:

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Here we see Geppetto smoking in bed.  He then hangs his pipe up on the headboard without putting it out.  He extinguishes the candle, but not the pipe.  Not a smart idea given that 1,000 people die in the United States each year as the result of a house fire started by tobacco products.  He also seems to have no regard for his cat, Figaro, who he treats like a baby.  How much secondhand smoke is Figaro exposed to sleeping in the same room as Gepetto?

Later, we see the following scene in which several of the film's villains are plotting in a local tavern:

[youtube:CV3yWHDv38E]

Where do I start?  Every character in the scene is smoking and drinking alcohol.  On top of that, no one is eating anything.

I take that back, the kitty actually blows a smoke ring, grabs it from the air, dunks it in his beer, and takes a bit.  This is a clever sight gag, which is why animators love smoking characters so much... they get to animate the smoke!

The problem is the unwritten message that is buried in a scene such as this.  This scene reminds me from a famous quote made during a Philip Morris Board of Directors Meeting in 1969:  'Long after adolescent preoccupation with self-image has subsided, the cigarette will even preempt food in times of scarcity on the smoker's priority list.'  In other words, once the tobacco industry has tricked a teenager into smoking for the wrong reasons (like self-image), the person will be so addicted that they will choose tobacco over food if they have a limited amount of money in their pocket... much like the kitty in this scene.  He and his partner have just been paid for a job, and the first thing they do is buy tobacco and alcohol... not food.  Odd, because the kitty appears to be so hungry that he is willing to eat a smoke ring, a by-product of the very tobacco he bought in lieu of food!

At first, this may seem like a silly point.  But these are the messages that your kids are exposed to when they watch movies like Pinocchio...

Over and over again...

Without an adult bothering to discuss the tobacco use."