|
2.3 Great originality of “Thank you for smoking” and conducting an analysis of it.
Christopher Buckley’s best known novel is probably “Thank you for Smoking”, published in 1993. In 2006 it was adapted for the screen and directod by Jason Reitman, now a highly successful Academy Award-nominated director. The movie was produced by David Sacks, an enterpreneuner whose numerous credits include the invention of PayPal.
Thank you for smoking began a long and happy association with editor Jonathan Karp, who thereafter edited and published all of Buckley’s books. “Mr Karp” as “Mr Buckley” calls him, is currently editor in chief and publisher of Simon and Schuster. Much as Mr.Buckley would like to take credit for Mr.Karps meteoric career, he acknowledges that this would be desperate. To bring things full circles, one of Mr.Karp’s great successes was the bestseller Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand.
Mr.Buckley does, however, take credit for bringing together Mr.Karp and his late friend Christopher Hitchens. After Mr.Karp began his imprint Twelve at Hachette, the second book he published was Hitchen’s atheist magnum opus, God Is Not Great, which became a mega-bestseller and industry phenomenon, much to the annoyance of God.
Thank You For Smoking by Christopher Buckley is a farcical novel that travesties American government and the lobby system that thrives on it. It follows Nick Naylor, chief spokesperson for a powerful tobacco lobby, as he rises to media stardom resulting from a kidnapping attempt before becoming embroiled in a vast Washington conspiracy.
Thank You for Smoking is a 2005 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Jason Reitman and starring Aaron Eckhart, based on the 1994 satirical novel of the same name by Christopher Buckley. It follows the efforts of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who lobbies on behalf of cigarettes using heavy spin tactics while also trying to remain a role model for his 12-year-old son. Maria Bello, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, J. K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall appear in supporting roles.
Nick Naylor is a handsome, smooth-talking tobacco spokesman and the vice-president of a tobacco lobby called the "Academy of Tobacco Studies", which has been researching the link between tobacco and lung disease. They claim that their research—funded primarily by tobacco companies—has found no definitive evidence for it. Nick's defends Big Tobacco on television programs by presenting this research to the public. Naylor and his friends, firearm lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss and alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey, meet every week and jokingly call themselves the "Merchants of Death" or "The MOD Squad".
As anti-tobacco campaigns mount and numbers of young smokers decline, Naylor suggests that product placement of cigarettes could once again boost cigarette sales. Naylor's boss, BR, sends Naylor to Los Angeles to bargain for cigarette placement in upcoming movies. Naylor takes along his young son, Joey, in hopes of bonding with him. The next day, Naylor is sent to meet with Lorne Lutch, the cancer-stricken man who once played the Marlboro Man in cigarette ads and is now campaigning against cigarettes. As his son watches, Naylor successfully offers Lutch a suitcase of money for his silence. During the drive back, Nick and Joey discuss the beauty of argument. Senator Finistirre, one of Naylor's most vehement critics, is the promoter of a bill to add a skull and crossbones POISON warning to cigarette packaging. During a televised debate with Finistirre, Naylor receives a death threat from a caller. Despite the threat, Naylor still plans to appear before a U.S. Senate committee to fight Finistirre's bill. Naylor is then kidnapped by a clandestine group and covered in nicotine patches. Awakening in a hospital, he learns he has survived due to his high nicotine tolerance from heavy smoking, but he is now hypersensitive to nicotine and can never smoke again.
Meanwhile, Naylor has been seduced by a young reporter named Heather Holloway. During their steamy fling, the besotted Naylor tells Holloway all about his life and career—information that she happily publishes in an exposé that appears just after the kidnapping. Her article relentlessly criticizes Naylor and his work, exposing Lutch's bribe, the product-placement scheme, and the MOD squad. It accuses Naylor of training his son Joey to follow his amoral example. All public sympathy due to Naylor's kidnapping evaporates, and Naylor is fired by BR.
Naylor falls into depression until Joey helps him recall the integrity in his job of defending corporations that almost no one feels deserve a defense. Rejuvenated, Naylor tells the press about his affair with Holloway and promises to clear the names of everyone mentioned in her article. He also declares that he will still appear before the Senate committee. At the hearing, Naylor admits to the dangers of smoking but argues that public awareness is already high enough without extra warnings. He emphasizes consumer choice and responsibility and, to the dismay of Senator Finistirre, claims that if tobacco companies are guilty of tobacco-related deaths, then perhaps Finistirre's state of Vermont, as a major cheese producer, is likewise guilty of cholesterol-related deaths.
BR congratulates Naylor on the speech and offers him his old job but Naylor has a change of heart. Seeing Big Tobacco settling claims of liability, Naylor remarks that he has left just in time. He also mentions Heather was humiliated upon being terminated by the paper for her article and is working as a weather reporter on a local news station. Naylor supports his son's newfound interest in debating and opens a private lobbying firm. The MOD squad continues to meet with new members that represent the fast-food, oil, and biohazard industries. Now Naylor runs an agency called Naylor Strategic Relations and consults cellphone industry representatives concerned about claims that cellphones cause brain cancer, he narrates: "Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent."
“Thank you for smoking” is a very funny and informative novel. The hero of the novel is Nick Naylor, who works for Big Tobacco Company. His job is to get customer to smoke and promote makers. I like how whether Nick Naylor was for or against what he was trying to promote he never let that come off In his work, he always had an answer to any question or comment put in his way; he even tried to use an incident where he almost died as an advantage in his corner. Nick Naylor was always two steps ahead and knew everything about smoking and cigarettes he could. This novel showed how you always have to be on top of your game.
Here is a satire both savage and elegant, a dagger instead of shotgun. “Thank you for smoking” targets the pro-smoking lobby with a dark appreciation of human nature.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
