Letters to the Editor: Smoking has a comeback on the big screen
On-screen smoking seemed like a relic not long ago — a reminder to audiences that society had made progress. But with films like Materialists and TV shows like The Bear treating cigarettes as supporting characters, it feels like we’re stepping backward. File picture: PA
It appears that smoking is Hollywood’s latest comeback star. Lately, I need a puff of my inhaler after watching a new film or TV show.
On-screen smoking seemed like a relic not long ago — a reminder to audiences that society had made progress. But with films like Materialists and TV shows like The Bear treating cigarettes as supporting characters, it feels like we’re stepping backward.
Smoking depictions in films surged by 70% in 2023 — but why are studios suddenly so eager to give cigarettes leading roles?
From Bogart to Hepburn, movie stars were rarely seen without a cigarette. And actors were the original influencers, often paid to promote particular brands. A smoke in hand signalled everything from seduction to introspection and without knowing the damming science behind them, they looked undeniably chic.
When the US Surgeon General declared smoking a cause of lung cancer in 1964, Hollywood’s love affair with cigarettes began to slowly decline. In the 2000s, the Motion Picture Association of America started flagging smoking as a factor in film ratings, and the World Health Organization (WHO) called for limits on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship — including product placement.
And with good reason. A 2005 study from Dartmouth Medical School found that seeing smoking on the big screen is a major risk factor for youths picking up the habit, estimating on-screen smoking influenced more than a third of US adolescents who started smoking.
Yet today, we’re seeing a resurgence of these depictions that audiences never asked for in films like Lee, Anora, Emilia Pérez, and Oppenheimer. Some argue smoking is just a way of providing historical context — but audiences can gather that when we see Cillian Murphy wearing a fedora and using a typewriter that it’s not 2025. And that’s without the glaringly obvious fact that the plot is centred on a key historical event.
Meanwhile, the WHO’s recent conference on tobacco control held in Dublin revealed that 110 countries have not run anti-tobacco campaigns since 2022.
Why are we letting our progress slip away? Every puff on screen isn’t just a prop — it’s a message, and we can’t afford to roll the credits on decades of public health gains.
Holly Meade-Kennedy, Co Kildare
Leaving Certificate curriculum changes
I totally support the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (Asti) and teachers in general, regarding their concerns about the Leaving Certificate senior cycle. I am bewildered as to why these changes are coming in so quickly.
Ostensibly, there’s seven revised and two new courses coming in next month, which has been the choice of education minister Helen McEntee. It seems the main areas of concern are the changes to the sciences — biology, chemistry, physics — and business studies. The new curriculum requires that each student must produce a project or an additional assessment component (ACC) and it has to be a minimum of 40%.
I am aware that Asti have welcomed reform of the Leaving Certificate and have engaged with it. One has to commend the Irish Science Teachers Association (Ista) in engaging with the Department of Education on many issues which so far haven’t been addressed.
The new senior cycle has been accelerated far too quickly for my liking. There was an original timeframe but for some reason, Ms McEntee is intent on rushing in these changes to the curriculum.
I find it incredible that so far, there has been no audit of science labs. I would like to point out there is a huge inequity between facilities and resources available in different schools. I believe the problem here is equity and fairness. Therefore, there are questions about facility quality and fears about generative AI.
All this has now resulted in Asti issuing a warning, that if the planned reforms to the Leaving Certificate do go ahead, this association which has more than 20,000 members may go on strike. I would urge Ms McEntee to dial back immediately on these proposals.
These planned reforms can be enacted in time, when teachers have acclimatised themselves to these proposed changes.
John O’Brien Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Life lessons
To all the Leaving Cert students who are getting their results this week, the very best of luck.
I appreciate these exams are extremely important and you have worked very hard and you are really nervous.
However remember the people who love you today, will love you on Friday, when your results come out, and in the years to come. You did an amazing job to sit the exams.
Remember too, whilst your education is very important it is not the only thing that matters in life.
Life is not just an academic or economic experience. This is only an exam. Nobody but you will ever remember your results, it’s how you are as a person that really counts.
Never forget that kindness is the only thing that matters in life. An act of kindness will never be handed back. To be kind, you have to be kind to yourself first. Always be compassionate and never judge a person, in anyway.
Parents, never stop hugging your children and telling them how much you love them and how proud you are of them.
Best of luck everyone.
Muiris Walsh, Ballymacarbry, Co Waterford
Opportunities for youths with Unifil
There has been much written in recent months about Ireland’s ability to protect and defend itself in the face of existential threats from inimical state and non-state actors. Resourcing the Defence Forces appropriately has become a subject of discourse on many levels.
It is widely acknowledged that, hardware aside, the Defence Forces has a problem recruiting and then retaining excellent young soldiers. However, a development which is of fundamental importance is under active consideration in New York, which will influence the force’s ability to attract and keep top class men and women.
The UN Security Council is on the point of renewing the mandate for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil).
This mandate has been in place in various iterations since 1978 and was last renewed on August 28, 2024 (Resolution 2749). The importance and value of overseas service, while not without risks, is a critical proving ground for an active, multi-skilled modern army. For any young person considering a career opportunity and looking for unsurpassable in-the-field experience, service with Unifil is second to none. It goes without saying that the objective of the mission, to bring stability and assurance to a very volatile area, is laudable and worthwhile professionally and for Ireland as an active member of the UN.
There are parties who question the value of the mission in Lebanon, but they come from less than objective viewpoints. The Tánaiste and defence minister, Simon Harris, is to be commended and encouraged in his efforts to continue Ireland’s participation, for the sake of peacekeeping in general and the Defence Forces in particular.
Tim O’Connell, Captain (ret’d), Ballinteer, Co Dublin
Violence in Gaza
Doctors in Gaza have reported seeing distinct patterns in the injuries sustained by young men — patterns that suggest deliberate targeting. One such doctor, Ahmad Yousaf, an American pediatrician, noted how patients on a given day would arrive with similar injuries to the same part of the body. The next day, a different body region would be affected across a new group of patients. One day it would be pelvic injuries, the next, head and neck wounds — as if someone had predetermined which part of the body to target.
Rather than confront this reality, the public discourse has been manipulated to fixate on whether or not this constitutes genocide — a distraction from the clear signs of a systemically violent regime, as seen in the actions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
British surgeon Dr Nick Maynard also described these injury patterns. He and his colleagues across multiple specialties — ER, general surgery, urology, neurosurgery — have observed consistent clustering of wounds.
“[This] is beyond coincidence,” Maynard said. “The clustering of symptoms is what makes it so dramatic. It’s something we all see and recognise.”
Meanwhile, Palestinians continue to be shot while trying to access food at distribution points, where aid is already scarce. Yet, the British government refuses to see the terrorism carried out by the IDF and instead labels those in the UK opposed to the terrorism and genocide witnessed in Gaza as the “terrorists”. It’s absolutely breathtaking in its obsequiousness to powerful lobbies and geostrategic imperatives that transcend all notions of decency and humanity.
Louis Shawcross, Co Down
