Thank You For Smoking Makes Rietman Cool

Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking is almost too old to lend to the definition of the new pop culture.

You know what? No it isn't. It's a perfect example of Generation-Y storytelling.

Main character Nick Naylor is a somehow partially lovable asshole who, despite his role as spokesman for a research institute that proves again and again that the supposed damage caused by smoking is equivocal, teaches his son and the audience a lot about his industry and how to win in a seemingly beatable position like his.

This movie has lent itself nicely to my current internal debate (of which I have many) about the purpose and efficacy of fiction literature. It seems like entertainment in the same vein as video games, but since I'm already deep into the latter hobby, I almost feel like I have no reason to commit to reading fiction. When I read, I want to learn real things. So I read books by Richard Dawkins and Al Gore.

I would love to know what the fuss surrounding certain works of fiction is about, but I'm not totally sold on committing the time to get into other worlds in books because, like I said, being a gamer not only allows me to experience the game, but gives me conversation ammunition with my gamer friends.

But having the character Nick Naylor is, I am convinced, a great way to introduce viewers to the real-life asshole debater. These people who want not to debate in order to answer important questions, but to win debates and feel smart or strong. Naylor's job is so distinctive and strange that it provides a perfect example of someone who is better off leaving betterment of the human race out of his mind and focusing on how to twist others' words to indirectly win petty arguments.

And his attachment to his kid and sense of humor help attract viewers to him in order to learn about him and thus learn about pop culture.

(Alas, if I only had the time to discuss Rob Lowe's character as the overreaching japanophile. He's my favorite character in the movie.)

I guess the novel's author Christopher Buckley is who I should really be thanking, but Jason Reitman is currently hip, and I can't deny that the story was easier to digest in movie form.

I'll have to wait and see if Up In The Air has the same positive effect on me, but given it's Oscar nominations, it is a significant film if nothing else.