It seems characters in a Galaxy far, far away are going to have to kick the habit! At Disney's annual shareholder meeting yesterday, CEO Bob Iger had a lot to say about the future of the Star Wars saga, revealing "Star Wars: Rogue One", starring Felicity Jones, and the release date for Episode VIII. But amidst all the excitement, an announcement was made that will affect Star Wars and all future Disney films in a small but significant way going forward.
The Independent Reports that during the event, held in San Fransicio, Iger was reportedly asked what Disney would be doing to discourage smoking and shield children from being exposed to it in their films. Iger responded by confirming that the company would be expanded a previously established smoking ban for youth targeted movies. Now all Disney films, including future Star Wars features, are prohibited from depicting characters smoking. Bob Iger stated:
“We are extending our policy to prohibit smoking in movies across the board: Marvel, Lucas, Pixar and Disney films... Except when we are depicting a historical figure who may have smoked at the time of his life. For instance, if we were doing a movie on Abraham Lincoln, he was a smoker, and we would consider that acceptable. But in terms of any new characters that are created for any of those films, under any of those labels, we will absolutely prohibit smoking in any of those films.”
Besides Jabba The Hutt, and his uncle Ziro, there has yet to be any major characters in Star Wars canon that smoked. Still, smoking has appeared in several instances in the existing films. The infamous Cantina scene in Episode IV: A New Hope is a notable example where several background characters can be seen smoking, and the Cantina itself is noticeably smoke filled.
So, is it commendable to try and discourage smoking in this manner? Or should creators be given free reign to depict their characters smoking? Let us know in the comments below, tweet at us @TheSWU or join the discussion in Club SWU. We want to here your thoughts!
Source: The Independent
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