Thank You for Smoking

“Thank You for Smoking” was surprisingly a really good movie. I was expecting more of a documentary type movie with evidence completely bashing anti-smoking. This movie showed a man who was good at one particular thing, persuasion. In addition, it exhibited a story of how a man approached his life and related to other people in direct correlation to his job and way of life. Nick Naylor said his job was to always be right, and to always be right would make someone else wrong. Arguing a point you know you can win, even if it is not the exact topic of discussion, is the key to always being right. The particular example used was arguing chocolate over vanilla ice cream. He asked his son what he would say if he was arguing that chocolate was better. To which he replied, that it was the best. Nick replied that it was better to have both because choosing, and having the freedom to choose was better. This argument was indisputable, even if it was not a direct answer to the question at hand. Thus people, in general, would have said he “won” the argument.
Nick Naylor’s personal life is affected by the way he acts and the way he does his job. His best friends are the spokes-people for firearms and alcohol, people just as persuasive as he is. His son starts off the movie little more than the average boy. He starts spending more time with his dad and seeing how he works, and the son picks up on his father’s persuasiveness. He first writes a simple paper on why America has the best government and uses some reverse psychology and persuasion to get his mother to let him go with his father on a business trip. Towards the end of the movie, he ends up persuading his father to come out of hiding and to continue on with his life, after the article Heather ran ruined his immediate reputation. Nick Naylor’s persuasion over his son’s life is finally shown at the end with his son receiving the champion debate award.
Another form of persuasion in the movie was Heather’s persuasion of getting Nick to talk about his life and job to her even though she was a reporter. She used sex appeal, redirecting of thoughts, and the misleading of trust to squeeze knowledge out of Nick Naylor. He was completely blown away by the article written because he, the master of trickery and persuasion, had been tricked.
I really enjoyed the movie, and it made me realize just how powerful persuasion can be, and how easy or complicated it can be depending on the situation and effect.