Cody+Burris+Smoking+Journal

This journal was written to reflect the ideas of Burris in his short essay, “Here’s Looking at Reality Kid”. I thought that my reflection in this journal was thorough and gave many examples. It was harder to write because I had to reflect on someone elses work, not my own, but was an easy essay to understand because it was a familiar topic. “Here’s Looking at Reality, Kid” “No actor could handle a cigarette better than Humphrey Bogart. Hanging from the corner of his mouth as he talked of held between two fingers as he drank, a smoldering cigarette was as much a part of Bogart’s stylish image as his tough-guy tenderness.” Burris uses this example to bring in her main point; television, actors, and movies make smoking look cool. She then goes on to explain that Bogart may have looked appealing, sexy and “cool”, but he died at a young age of lung cancer from smoking. This helps bring up her next point that surprisingly, none of the films carry surgeon general warnings about the dangers of smoking. Throughout her essay, Burris uses many examples of movies in which actors and actresses use smoking as a method of rebellion, sexual appeal and advertisement. For example, she said in Titanic, both actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, use smoking as defining character, asserting independence and personal style. I believe that her most persuasive example is when she compares the cigarette ad of the Marlboro Man and John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. She said that they have the same appeal by using smoking as a means of making the men look manly. Later in the paragraph, she explains that films also link romance and sex with smoking. Burris’ essay is extremely persuasive in a way that she explains how smoking can be perceived as “cool” through any form. Whether it is sexual, manly, or rebellious, Burris clarifies that in any appearance, smoking is not a nonchalant, trendy passed time.