MovieChat Forums > Reality Bites (1994) Discussion > The constant smoking

The constant smoking

posted 12 years ago by Airjordan2288
23 replies | jump to latest

Im sorry but as someone that graduated high school in 1987 and from college in 1992. Seeing the way the characters smoked didn't seem realistic to me. Especially since leilana and Troy were so against corporate America and their beliefs yet they sure as hell liked filling their lungs with all that corporate tobacco. They were supposedly smart and educated. If that were the case they would know how stupid smoking was during this time period.

The way they smoked it was like watching an episode of Mad Men

I can imagine 18 years later that leilana has lung cancer and sounds like Kathleen Turner and Troy has emphazema and is carrying around an oxygen tank still playing crappy indie songs with his crappy band.

"I like simple pleasures like butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth."

[–] SuperSonicX 12 years ago

For a non-blockbuster type of film, RB certainly had plenty of product placement, eh?

"Don't believe everything you hear on the radio." - Charles Foster Kane

[–] amd8404 12 years ago

The amount of smoking in the film is noticeable to us today because they've worked hard to cut it out of movies. However, it seems completely realistic to me in Reality Bites. Certain groups of young people smoked like chimneys in 1994 and certain groups still do today. Especially those that consider themselves "free thinkers" or "outsiders." It may seem paradoxical but part of these kids fatalist attitudes makes them think smoking is cool. Maybe you just hung out with a different crowd.

[–] Airjordan2288 12 years ago

You may be right. Time may have dulled my memory somewhat but for the life of me can't remember people of my generation smoking that much. Even the supposed free thinkers I knew like Troy and lelaina. And for her to be her class valedictorian seems like a joke. College valedictorians are single minded and driven to succeed like no other. She was a slacker of the highest order. Her being a valedictorian didnt make sense. Must have been a college w low standards where the top GPA was a 3.3 or something.

"I like simple pleasures like butter in my ass and lollipops in my mouth."

[–] brefane 12 years ago

What ia authentic or well observed about this movie anyway? The songs and cultural references seem ro be its reason for existence.

[–] zuzupetal_99 12 years ago

I think it was realistic - it just seems to stand out now, because there's practically no smoking on tv or in movies anymore, and you can't hardly smoke in public either - back then you could smoke in restaurants & bars and nobody thought twice about it. I was friends with smart, free-thinking people like that in the movie, and they were big smokers like that in the movie too!

"Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins?" ~ The Good Girl

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Sodominion 12 years ago

For me the smoking made it much more real. It added to the characters nonconformist and confused personalities. It's very reflective of the time and place that I grew up in. I think the whole anti-smoking thing cam in later or at-least around the same time when the movie came out. It's only in the last decade or so that the "no-smoking" policy in public places has been aggressively implemented. I could be wrong but that's how I feel and remember it.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] subterranean_catalyst 12 years ago

This entire thread is..interesting. I moved to Houston the fall of '93 and finished Highschool there and met my husband. We moved to Austin and lived there until the '00's. So this movie really is a snapshot into that time for me- although my husband and I were actually going to iconic dives with cult followings at the time- the feeling this movie evokes and the smoking included reminds me of that time period a lot. It's a nostalgic movie for me despite the differences in the characters vs my own life. We both went to UT- and almost all of my friends who are in fact highly intelligent- smoked cigarettes. I was the ONLY one of my friends that never picked up a cigarette. But weed, oh yeah, I was there in Austin during *those* absolutely golden days. So anyway- you were probably running with a very different crowd OP. Probably more mainstream. My cousin was a top percenter in her highschool class (and we're Asian nerds) and she ended up getting her PHD..guess what? She smoked cigs in the 90's and pot.

Anyway not every valedictorian is just a cookie cutter conformist. In fact the more intelligent you are- well it can certainly lend yourself toward being more independent pertaining your own habits and perspectives and conformity isn't just pursued for conformity sake.

[–] TheLightFantastic 12 years ago

Because all these grungey Gen X-ers were full of crap. They were just lazy stoners who sat around and babbled and complained about the system while they watch corporate TV for hours and shove their face with cheez doodles and 711 Big Gulps. I mean Leilani gushes over the freakin' Big Gulp because for a buck you can get 60 ounces of high fructose corn syrup and carbonated water. Yeah awesome. Real rebellious Lei.

This is correct. A lot of the "militant" Gen X-ers were just posers who just jumped on the bandwagon because MTV made it look cool. Most of them were just over privileged twits who didn't have to work for anything and were rebelling against things just because it was the style at the time. Of course, their ideals all fell by the wayside once they got older and wanted to maintain the lifestyle their parents provided them.

As for the "constant smoking", I didn't find it unrealistic in the slightest. I'm from the Houston area and, believe it or not, smoking isn't really shunned here like I imagine it is elsewhere. It's still banned in most public places, but most people don't flip out if they find out you smoke. I'm a little too young to be considered a Gen X-er, but I remember there were quite a few wanna be Gen X-ers at my high school that used to hang out at the convenience store by the high school wearing their flannel, crying about Kurt Cobain and smoking cigs like they were going out of style.

[–] willydoe71 12 years ago

I'm only two years behind you but I totally remember how much people still smoked back then. As someone else pointed out, we notice it a lot more now because of how much smoking has been banned. But I remember going to bars back in these days and smelling horribly of smoke the next day.