WatchmenComicMovie.com Forum

Someone made a casual reference to the 'smoking devices' in another post and I was wondering what peoples views are on this... (in the context of translating these to hollywood film)

I always thought they looked like crack pipes or someting of that nature. Now I know its just a wachmen'iverse normal tobacco smoking device..... but.... Joe Cinemagoer and Jack Impreshionableteen, what are they going to make of them?

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Uridium.

Being a heavy non-smoker I would like the whole lot removed from the story. Wouldn't hurt. But if left in, (as I guess they should be) those things are going to raise eyebrows in the press at release-time.

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"Jack Impreshionableteen".

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

Yes. Leave them out completely. I don't think we need to see anyone smoke. There isn't any character that we would need to see smoke. I'd rather see blimps and electric cars, and any other modern invention that reflects Doc Manhattan's advancements. The "futuristic" cigarettes don't really scream "advanced" technology. If they throw one into the background at the restaurant where Dan and Laurie meet, and have an extra smoking, that might be a nice nod to the avid reader, but that's all we really need I think.

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Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music - George Carlin

I don't really see why the smoking should be taken out at all. I think, like all the little nuances, it helps to portray that world in greater detail. I mean, I know smoking is more of a taboo now & seems to be going completely out of style, but it was much more common during the 80s & don't think that the alternate version seen in Watchmen would be any different.

Don't get me wrong, i personally don't smoke or think that it's a cool thing to do, but it's just part of the story. I thought the strange smoking devices were really interesting & served to highlight the degree that Dr Manhattan affected the world's technology.

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"I eat babies....well actually, babies are about 75% water, so I guess they're more of a beverage."

Why this insistence that Dr Manhattan either came up with or was the inspiration behind every extraordinary facet of life in the alternate world of Watchmen? Did he invent mmeltdowns, Heinz's 58th variety, and the Gunga Diner franchise, too... not to mention the whole phenomenon of costumed vigilantism?

Keep the pipes I say, and screw PC sensibilities. If nothing else, it presents another marketing opportunity to sell plastic ones to kids.

Keep it. It won't hurt to keep it in there. I guess it wouldn't hurt to take it out, too... but why not keep it?

Besides, it's something that adds to the character of Laurie. She's trying to quit the habit and there's even some dialogue/stuff that happens in relation to her smoking.

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"HEY, man, I ain't buyin' THIS! Ripoff story ain't go no ENDIN'!"

The "new-fangled" cigarettes must be an offshoot of the new technology that Dr. Manhattan brought. I don't think he specifically invented it. Vedit's company could have invented these using inspiration form some of the Docs new theories. mmeltdowns and Heinz's 58th varieties are not "extraordinary" inventions, just products of a skewed timeline.

The problem is, these pipes, as drawn by Gibbons, look like "crack pipes" or some other illecit drug paraphinalia. Is it worth keeping them in if they distract from the scene because those not familiar with the graphic novel are looking at all of the people in the background "doing crack?"

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Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music - George Carlin

"Extraordinary" in the going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary definition of the word, which somewhat fits.





Zack Snyder ~ San Diego, 09/27/07

Leaving out the "crack pipes" does not make the movie "accessible to teeny-boppers." And my opinion to leave them out is not based on sanitizing the content. They can all be regular cigarettes for all I care. I'm just saying those glass pipes give the impression that the people using them are using harder drugs, and they're not. And that is not a facet of the Watchmen universe.

The only way to keep these pipes in would be to have Laurie light one up and explain how she liked the "old" kind better. Or to have Hollis ask Dan for a cigarette and when he pulls out the glass pipe, Hollis tells Dan, "I don't smoke those modern things" and then he finds an old pack of camels and says he knows a guy who gets them smuggled into the US from Kazakstan or something.

Just so its clear that the glass pipes are "new" cigarettes and not some crazy opium pipe, etc.

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Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music - George Carlin

Has such an explanation appeared in print in the graphic novel to cater for the advent of the media proliferation of the crack/meth pipe since original publication, so that new readers coming to the material for the first time don't jump to the automatic 'hard drugs' conclusion?
Taking out the pipes indeed does not make the movie accessible to teeny-boppers in itself: to spoon feed the audience with a convoluted explanation does smack of dumbing down to my mind, though. The real issue here isn't actually the damn pipes per se, but moreover such a decision striking me as being indicative of a general disrespect for the material and representative of an automatic lack of faith on the part of the film makers in the capability of the audience to deal with it, which could so easily then go on to manifest itself in much more significantly damaging ways.

The comic/TPB demands a certain level of aptitude and indeed savvy from the reader. To call itself anything even approaching Watchmen, the movie should require the same from its viewing audience.

Maybe Moore & Gibbons are trying to say something about tobacco as a drug

Seriously though, characters all over the graphic novel are doing it. If Zackster includes it, it's got to look casual and out in the open. On the other hand, I'm not going to lose sleep over it if it's not in the film. The important thing is that the whole feel has to be close but not quite our time line.

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Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.

-Juvenal

And we agree, yet again.

Yes, The Comedian needs his cigar, as much as Groucho and George Burns did. Absolutey part of the character.

Good points on Laurie, though. She's filled with angst. Chain smoking is something I can see her doing in a few scenes.

But CLINT, are we making a Watchmen movie that will speak to wide audiences, or just those who have read the graphic novel? It looks like a crack pipe. I doubt Gibbons knew what a crack pipe looked like and did that on purpose, but I could be wrong.

I'd rather have a casual movie goer see the film and talk about the real themes of the story then focus on "all of the crack smoking."

And as Vyn said, there are too many other important themes, scenes and nuances that need to be included, and, if the pipes go so some of those stay, I'm for it.

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Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music - George Carlin

I have to say that it wouldn't be harmful if the smoking scenes were left in. i'm not a smoker myself, and I hate ppl who do, but to justify leaving it out just because it looks like a crack pipe or it potrays wrong preceptions of coolness doesn't go by with me.

We're undermining the inteligence of viewers. With the level of awareness in this modern times, don't you think the average person knows what is wrong and right?

Is there any warning that smoking is bad in the movie 'Costantine'? or drug usage is bad in 'Scarface'?

would ppl chop dog's head into two if Rorsharch made it look cool?

Moral lapses does not come from movies.

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I see that you've come to resist me...
I'm a pitbull in time.

Rock stars.

I quit nine months ago. I'm now thirty pounds heavier.

Heart disease caused by obesity is the number one killer in the US, so I'm probably going to pick cigarettes back up for the New Year.

Listen. People smoke. In the alternate Watchmen world of 1985, some people smoke with pipes that end in a ball. This should be represented in an adaptation, same as airships, spark hydrants, and Gunga Diners.

Quote:

Malin Akerman is super sexy. If teens see her sipping smoke from that pipette, they're going to go apeshit.

Teens were apeshit and smoking long before Malin Akerman was around. This Watchmen movie is not going to change that.

Due respect is returned.

Still we all have a choice, to smoke or not to smoke. Furthermore, everyone knows the consequence of smoking. The awareness is there.

Plus, this movie will be rated R. It's suppose to be for movie goers above the age who can decide whether to smoke or not.

If you say the movie rating is not going to stop underage kids in seeing this movie and subsequently influencing them to smoke, let's ask someone in this forum who can answer from that perspective.

So David, do you smoke? if not, does the comic make it look cool and will eventually influence you to smoke?

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I see that you've come to resist me...
I'm a pitbull in time.