'Bullets Fly' just to go up in smoke
Source: Xinhua |
May 19, 2011, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA'S New Year blockbuster "Let the Bullets Fly" was given a shame award yesterday for its excessive smoking scenes, a new move taken by anti-smoking groups to ridicule Chinese films that promote smoking.
The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, a government-affiliated group headed by Vice Health Minister Huang Jifu, announced the "Dirty Ashtray Award" as it disclosed the results at an annual smoking scene review of films and television serials.
The association also gave "No Smoking Scene Awards" to 18 films and serials. However, no one came to pick the awards at yesterday's presentation ceremony in Beijing.
"Let the Bullets Fly" has the most smoking scenes, or one every 1.65 minutes, among the 40 most popular films over the past year, said Suo Chao, an official of the association. "The film broke box office records, but the scale of its smoking scenes is also shocking."
"Bullets," a flick featuring banditry in the 1920s in southwestern Sichuan Province, is on track to smash the domestic box office record of 673 million yuan (US$103.46 million) set by director Feng Xiaogang's earthquake film "Aftershock."
Xu Guihua, deputy director of the association, said if boys believe smoking is a way of demonstrating their masculinity after seeing the film, China has little hope of significantly reducing the current male smoking rate of over 66 percent.
China has the world's largest number of smokers - 350 million - and a deep-rooted tobacco culture. Smoking-related diseases kill roughly 1.2 million Chinese every year.
Though the government has adopted the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, implementation is slow largely due to the interference of the tobacco industry, health experts have said.
In February, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television ordered film and TV serial makers to restrict smoking scenes and to ban shots showing tobacco brands or minors in scenes with others lighting up.
Xu, a doctor, said the association's annual smoking scene review shows smoking scenes in films were down 52.56 percent from 2007 to 2010, but smoking shots in TV serials were up 14.15 percent over the same period.
The Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, a government-affiliated group headed by Vice Health Minister Huang Jifu, announced the "Dirty Ashtray Award" as it disclosed the results at an annual smoking scene review of films and television serials.
The association also gave "No Smoking Scene Awards" to 18 films and serials. However, no one came to pick the awards at yesterday's presentation ceremony in Beijing.
"Let the Bullets Fly" has the most smoking scenes, or one every 1.65 minutes, among the 40 most popular films over the past year, said Suo Chao, an official of the association. "The film broke box office records, but the scale of its smoking scenes is also shocking."
"Bullets," a flick featuring banditry in the 1920s in southwestern Sichuan Province, is on track to smash the domestic box office record of 673 million yuan (US$103.46 million) set by director Feng Xiaogang's earthquake film "Aftershock."
Xu Guihua, deputy director of the association, said if boys believe smoking is a way of demonstrating their masculinity after seeing the film, China has little hope of significantly reducing the current male smoking rate of over 66 percent.
China has the world's largest number of smokers - 350 million - and a deep-rooted tobacco culture. Smoking-related diseases kill roughly 1.2 million Chinese every year.
Though the government has adopted the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, implementation is slow largely due to the interference of the tobacco industry, health experts have said.
In February, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television ordered film and TV serial makers to restrict smoking scenes and to ban shots showing tobacco brands or minors in scenes with others lighting up.
Xu, a doctor, said the association's annual smoking scene review shows smoking scenes in films were down 52.56 percent from 2007 to 2010, but smoking shots in TV serials were up 14.15 percent over the same period.
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