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Herbal Smoking, Tobacco, And Hollywood - A Notorious Part Of Movie History
History runs in cycles. Whereas Hollywood and the silver screen is often the keeper of historic events in the eye of the public, upcoming societal trends can inevitably dictate a film's destiny more accurately than any critic. Hollywood, wherever possible, has used controversy as the backdrop for good cinema. After all, thought provoking films utilize the art-form to its fullest. That being said, true controversy in the movies sometimes is merely an indication of being ahead of one's cinematic time, Ala a political or social time warp of sorts with the theater being the proverbial time machine and a movie ticket being all that is required for 2 hours of veritable time travel courtesy of celluloid magic. Who could deny the now classic irony of a Laurel and Hardy movie. As an example, picture the scene in which our two familiar iconic stars partake in drinking what they believe to be moonshine or bootleggers alcohol for the sake of laughs, these antics taking part during the then very real and stringently enforced prohibition of alcohol. If this comedic classic scenario is really just a mirror of the times, a microcosm of society being held up to inspire the questioning of principals en-mass subjectively through the then innocent American culture, then what would our grandparents think would be the modern equivalent for a more recent generation? In retrospect, are Laurel and Hardy in the above scenario really different than Cheech and Chong from a modern perspective? Whether the restricted subject matter required to fuel the scene is alcohol or herbal smoke, the mainstream clash of Cheech and Chong's brand of smoking humor has lost its once shocking sting and now remains an important classic encapsulation of social attitudes of the late 70's. Remembrances are of an era now recalled by many with fondness for its innocence in light of today's seemingly unending focus on violence and negativism. As times change and the World learns tolerance on topics that were taboo just a few decades ago, one may consider that history holds many keys to the future by cycles of repetition. Specifically, herbal tobacco was the subject of immense disdain in its European origins. While it was thought to be a tool of the Devil himself while simultaneously being the praise of nobility, such names as "Devils Weed" were given to it by those wishing to control the historically relevant practice of smoking to suit their own whims financial and otherwise. It is ironic to note that the origins of coffee additionally share a similar parallel of devious hypocrisy - although now extinguished through time and acceptance by the social order one cup at a time. As herbal smokes provided by companies like International Oddities make a new play in Hollywood in films like Pineapple Express, simultaneous to the now heated debate over medical marijuana and the continued herbal tobacco style controversy (now centuries old), public views on herbs and their artifacts create a climate for Hollywood to step in and test the waters of acceptability once again. Although the glamor of smoking has oftentimes been replaced with rebellion, the backdrop of a choice to smoke or not continues to surface in cinema as a catalyst for those pushing the envelope or living on the fringe of the current norm. Just as Clint Eastwood revived the Western (again with smoking as a substantially rebellious implication), and the movie hit Pineapple Express brought the rebel smoking Comedy to a high production pinnacle of success, a new twist on the political climate of smoking is re-defined in the movie "Leaves of Grass" by Tim Blake Nelson. The mirror of the social order is reflected back for the movie public to be both judge and jury in the ongoing struggle for self identification through the analogy of smoking as a symbol for freedoms hotly debated today. With a more contemplative intelligence than is typically seen in movies involving smoking, Leaves of Grass again tests the social climate for smoking tolerance in a time of mixed views on marijuana. Ticket sales, like votes, will dictate the sustainability of this movie as is the Hollywood tradition - proving once again that the repeating cycle of smoking, herbs, history, politics and cinema seem unendingly intermingled, while the public decides what is a hit by voting through its support of the movie industry, or its scorn for being potentially ahead of its time. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Bill Black is a contributing writer and authority on the subject of smoking and legal buds for film, TV and movies. His views on herbal smoke as sacred have been considered revolutionary to an oftentimes overly commercialized industry. He states smoking should be regarded as an art form and is a consultant to the smoking industry including the company International Oddities. |
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