With Fire Comes Smoke: Arguing as an Art Form

The thick smell of smoke filled the air as I stepped out of the door way into my Aunt Tracey’s house. My younger self loved going there because she always had some fun tasks for my brothers and I to do like yard work, painting, and cleaning. As I got older I quickly realized she was a regular Tom Sawyer with the whitewash fence much like Nick Naylor in the 2005 film Thank You for Smoking. Our main character Nick Naylor is a lobbyist for The Academy of Tobacco Studies a job which requires Mr. Naylor to be very persuasive, articulate, driven, and kindly argumentative. He feeds off of the public’s lack of knowledge and trust for the media in order to persuade the population the cigarettes are fine to use. Thank You for Smoking demonstrates the fine art of lobbying and being argumentative. It correctly exemplifies how in this world it does not matter what you say or do or whether you are right or wrong as long as you are convincing, persuasive, and look better than the opposition.

Lobbying by definition is to influence others and that is exactly what happens in our film. Nick is convincing the public in his confident arguments that smoking is not as bad as the science makes it seem.When describing his career Naylor uses these words “ I earn a living fronting an organization that kills 1,200 human beings a day. 1,200 people! We’re talking two jumbo jet plane loads of men, women and children. I mean, there’s Attila, Genghis and me, Nick Naylor, the face of cigarettes, the Colonel Sanders of nicotine.” Nick appears to be proud of his career despite admitting that he is indirectly responsible for the deaths of so many people. He uses a series of vague statements and open ended questions to seduce his audience on to his side. What makes a great lobbyist is a very specific type of person who is willing to cling loosely to their own morals and who is also a friendly self assertive person with a positive demeanor. In the article Smoke ’Em if You Got ’Em our author Manohla Dargis states “Whether he’s hanging out with his fellow lobbyists, the other members of a self-anointed troika called the Mod Squad (Merchants of Death, natch), or chauffeuring around his son (played by Cameron Bright), Nick never sits still long enough to become a target”. In this career you have to constantly be advocating for your cause to make sure the opposition never gets the time to create a clear comeback for your words. Naylor is always prepared to fight back against the atrocious Vermont senator Finistirre who has been attempting to get warning symbols printed on cigarette cartons. Naylor acknowledges the power of a good argument with this quote “That’s the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you’re never wrong” and then later references his strength with the skill through this statement “ Michael Jordan plays ball. Charles Manson kills people. I talk. Everyone has a talent”. Naylor proves his skill when Finisterre invites him to his congressional hearing for the label in which Nick successfully presents a moving argument including several points about others being able to use their own judgment and reason skills.

Thank You for Smoking shows off a number of different perspectives regarding the life of a lobbyist. We see Nick Naylor as a comfortable man who is oftentimes found alone as he and his wife are divorced but he occasionally is able to spend time with his son. His ex- wife does not particularly enjoy letting their shared son spend time with Nick because of his occupation, she believes it could potentially be a bad influence for Joey. While on a work trip in California Nick uses this argument with Joey while trying to explain his career choice to his curious son “Well, I need more than chocolate, and for that matter I need more than vanilla. I believe that we need freedom. And choice when it comes to our ice-cream, and that Joey Naylor, that is the definition of liberty”. In that moment Joey becomes a great admirer of his father despite his crook-like occupation. Nick himself says his job requires “moral flexibility” that should be a red flag to anyone including his young son. It appears however that the Naylor boys do not quickly pick up on red flags as Nick is seduced by journalist Heather Holloway, a woman exploiting him for a nasty article she is creating over him and The Academy of Tobacco Studies. She used lobbyist tactics against Nick and fooled him into thinking there was a real connection between the two when the reality is she cozied up to him for more exclusive information. Nick is too happy when he learns that he has been out smarted and tricked when Holloway releases the article containing all the information Nick gave her in confidence. He soon loses his position with BR and The Academy of Tobacco Studies. Heather should have known not to mess with a lobbyist because when Nick was under fire he quickly turned the attention back to Holloway during an interview in true lobbyist form. How can anyone be so slick? Nick Naylor must think he can talk his way out just about anything and perhaps that’s what he is so good at what he does. As mentioned in a previous statement, it takes a special person to be a lobbyist the kind of person who could tell you that all leaves are purple when you know they are green and you would still double check. How could anyone be okay with such deception?

Nick’s career has its ups and downs as people who have figured him out or disagree with his career choice have an intense disrespect for him. His son unfortunately sometimes has to bear witness to hateful statements aimed toward his beloved father. In this article by Jimmy Williams titled I was a lobbyist for more than 6 years. I quit. My conscience couldn’t take it anymore. Williams discusses how his half a million year salary could not outweigh the burden on his mental health by bending his personal morals for his job. Jimmy even went as far to say that “Every fundraiser was yet another legal bribe. Every committee hearing I’d look up and think, “I just bought his vote.” And every time I got a bill passed or, better yet, killed, I’d think to myself, “That wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t bought the outcome.” it takes almost a numb human to withstand the corruptness of the lobbyist career. In Thank You for Smoking even Nick Naylor begins to deal with a bit of remorse toward his career that he had devoted so much to. Even after a media frenzy when his scandal broke with the news reporter Heather he channels his lobbyist skills to attempt to clear his name before various reporters. Nick is offered back his job at The Academy of Tobacco Studies after he lost it because of the magazine scandal however with some re-evaluation he decides to work for himself and capitalizes off of his talents. He opens his own successful consulting firm and gives advice to scientists and other lobbyists.

The kinds of arguments that Nick Naylor and Jimmy Williams present are those with open ended questions that are not right but not wrong. Lobbyism is a difficult career that produces many challenges along the way. We are able to clearly see the conflicts posed with lobbying in Nick Naylors everyday life throughout the course of Thank you for Smoking. However, most importantly we see the power to a good argument and how people will believe most anything if it is presented in a convincing way. There is a lot of respect that lies with the construction of well spoken argument but a lot of disrespect to the fact it is almost deception. If you are someone who is comfortable with disregarding the truth, strong, and carries yourself well, lobbying might just be the career for you and I wholeheartedly believe that if my Aunt Tracey could go back in time and create a new career for herself being a lobbyist might have been a great choice.