Thank you for smoking. Thank you for arguing

Movies are increasingly used to introduce and highlight key topics and philosophical problems. Movies typically have too a dialogical dimension, and they can therefore be used for introducing and explaining communication processes and modalities. Thank you for smoking (2005) by Jason Reitman is a perfect movie for analyzing argumentative dialogues, in the spirit of Sorin Stati. It is a funny and illuminating introduction to the logic of controversy. In particular, it is: 1. An example of how to argue effectively; 2. An instance of how to address a difficult situation; 3. An illustration of how bring divergent interests together through effective arguments; 4. An exercise on how to capture and hold your audience’s attention; 6. An exemplification of how to use rhetorical tactics to sway even the toughest audience; 7. An example of the argumentative and persuasive function of humour; 8. Finally, the comedy provides proof of the fact that behaviour creates words, words create images, images create ideas and ideas create again behaviours.