The nanny staters will undoubtedly soon be setting their sights on the Auteur of Awesome, Michael Bay. But not for the reason you might think! According to the Los Angeles Times:
researchers recruited 94 undergraduate students to watch 20 minutes of television in a group setting.
One third of the students watched the 2005 film "The Island" starring Ewan McGregor, another third watched 20 minutes of the same film with no sound on, and the final third watched 20 minutes of the PBS talk show "Charlie Rose."
All of the students were given easy access to generous amounts of snacks including M&Ms, cookies, grapes and carrots while they watched.
The results of the study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine were unambiguous. The students who watched "The Island" with the sound on ate 98% more food and 65% more calories than the students who watched "Charlie Rose." Students who watched "The Island" with the sound turned off ate 36% more food and 46% more calories than those watching "Charlie Rose."
There you have it, folks. Indisputable proof that watching action movies leads you to make unhealthy choices. Given that we're now on the hook for everyone's healthcare, it's only reasonable that we dictate what you can and cannot watch. You're not trustworthy! You don't make good decisions! So the nannies will tell you what you should watch for your own sake. More Charlie Rose, less Michael Bay.
I'm being sarcastic, but, well, not really? First they came for the school lunches, and I said nothing because I was not in school any more. By the time they got to the movie theaters, there was no one left to fight against them with me.* Our betters are busy celebrating the banning of big gulps and the cessation of smoking privileges. It doesn't seem terribly unreasonable to think that they'll come for your big budget movies next.
Okay fine. They're probably (probably) not going to come for your big budget movies. But they will almost certainly come for your concession stands. And why would anyone bother watching Transformers Five: The Robots Punch Each Other Some More in China for the Benefit of the Glorious Leadership without popcorn at the ready?
*Or however that poem goes; what do I look like, an English major?