Stranger Things season 3 is set in 1985, which is 34 years ago, which officially makes it a period piece, weird as that might sound to people who were alive during that time. A lot has changed since then. Did you see how bustling the newsroom was at The Hawkins Post? Malls are popular? And is it just me, or do the parents not seem to care nearly enough about where their kids are at night? Honest depiction of a time before helicopter parents was a thing or spotty writing? You decide.
Also in vogue back then: smoking. According to a report from advocacy group Truth Initiative, there were 182 depictions of smoking in the show’s first season, the highest number of any show they surveyed that year. And depictions climbed 44% to 262 in the second season. Basically, everybody in Hawkins is doing a whole lot of puffing, especially Sheriff Jim Hopper, who’s a regular chimney.
The problem is that Stranger Things is popular among viewers aged 15-24, and the Truth Initiative is worried that seeing smoking normalized in media could lead to a resurgence in the habit. And it’s not just Stranger Things — other shows popular among that group, including The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Orange Is The New Black, are also lighting up more than they used to. Beyond Netflix, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Modern Family and American Horror Story are particularly big offenders. “Content has become the new tobacco commercial,” said Truth Initiative president Robin Koval in a statement. “We’re seeing a pervasive reemergence of smoking imagery across screens that is glamorizing and re-normalizing a deadly addiction and putting young people squarely in the crosshairs of the tobacco industry.”
In response, Netflix has committed to kick the habit in the future, telling Variety that henceforth, all original programming rated TV-14 or below (and all original films rated PG-13 or below) will exclude smoking and e-cigarette use except for “reasons of historical or factual accuracy.” And new content with higher ratings will steer clear of smoking “unless it’s essential to the creative vision of the artist or because it’s character-defining (historically or culturally important).”
“Netflix strongly supports artistic expression,” said a company spokesperson. “We also recognize that smoking is harmful and when portrayed positively on screen can adversely influence young people.”
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Is a limited ban on smoking in TV worth it to try and prevent young people from picking up the habit? I dunno, but it’s a conversation more studios are having nowadays as e-cigarettes rise in popularity. As far as the big screen goes, the MPAA has rejected calls to impose an R rating on movies that depict anything beyond limited tobacco use. “While the system strongly weighs the presence of any tobacco-related imagery, it is not designed to impose societal change or censor filmmakers,” MPAA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin wrote in a letter to senators last year.
The tobacco companies don’t receive as much attention now, but I was around in the ’90s when there was a concerted effort to put restrictions on how cigarettes were marketed to younger people. It’s not surprising that as the pressure has eased, smoking would find its way back into popular media.
What do you all think? Is Netflix in the right to try to limit this stuff or should creators be able to have as much smoking as they want in their shows?
Also, because all this is pretty heavy, also enjoy this video of David Harbour (Jim Hopper) absolutely trouncing his costars in ’80s movie trivia:
Okay, now back to serious topics.
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