Brokeback Mountain
Seeing as how Brokeback Mountain comes out on DVD in 2 days, I felt now would be an appropriate time to talk about the controversial Oscar snub and why it was such bullshit. As many, if not all of you know, this year at the Oscars, the Best Picture award went to Crash and not Brokeback Mountain, the favorite. In my opinion (and also my Dad's, as we talked about this over break, have to give him credit), Brokeback Mountain should have won the Best Picture award. Skepticism has grown over the award for a few main reasons, which I plan to present here.
The first, and most obvious reason why the snub was bullshit was the results of all the preceding awards. Here are the facts. In the awards' season before the Oscars, Brokeback Mountain became the most honored film in movie history, winning 26 Best Picture awards. Apparently, It had more Best Picture and Best Director nominations than did both Titanic and Schindler's List combined. Crash, on the other hand, recieved very few awards prior to the Oscars, and often wasn't even nominated. Every year a film has recieved Best Picture nods from the Writer's Guild, the Director's Guild, and the Producer's Guild, it has gone on to win the Oscar. Until this year. In 21 out of the last 25 years, the film with the most nominations has gone on to win Best Picture. This year, Brokeback Mountain had the most nominations, yet did not win the big one. Brokeback won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, which traditionally assumes an Oscar nod. Also, every film that has won Best Picture at the Oscars was nominated for the same award at the Golden Globes. The one exception was a movie in 1973 that wasn't nominated at the Golden Globes due to a mistake. Crash was not nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Globes. Brokeback Mountain was the highest grossing film of the 5 nominated, and traditionally the highest grossing nominated film wins the award. All signs point to Brokeback as the should-have-been Oscar winner.
Another reason why this was a bullshit snub is because of the repercussions of it's gay theme. Some of the Academy members alledgedly didn't even see the film. That pisses me off. If you are a member of the Academy, it is your duty to see all the movies nominated in order to make an informed decision. That's a given! Not seeing a movie because you're narrow-minded or homophobic is a terrible excuse. This was the Academy's chance to take a stand on a very controversial issue, but they flinched. Arguments can be made, and have been made, that Crash was a movie that confronted racism, a subject that deserves honoring just as homosexuality does. That's bogus though, because the Academy has honored racism plently of times, examples being Schindler's List winning in '93 and Halle Berry's Best Actress award in '03, to name a few. So if Crash won on the basis of being a groundbreaking film, in no way should it have overshadowed Brokeback's achievements in that respect. Now, there has never been a gay-themed movie in contention for an Oscar before, so this is a new thing, but the fact that it didn't win with all this behind it really points to homophobia as motivation. I really believed that Hollywood as a whole was changing, and was at the point where gay themes were being accepted. Crash winning makes me think that Academy voters wanted to be progressive, but didn't want to jeopardize their reputations by voting for a gay movie, so Crash was a safe bet. There is a difference, though, between Brokeback gay and traditional Hollywood gay. Brokeback Mountain was more a romantic love story than it was a movie about homosexuality. Unlike Philip Seymour Hoffman's Capote role, in which he was the more stereotypical gay figure, Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger both played heterosexual characters that led heterosexual lives that got wrapped up in a homosexual affair. This is not the stereotypical gay figure, thus, a new type of portrayal, which I think scared some voters and ended up influencing their votes. It's too bad that homosexuality is such a problem with so many people. It's prejudice, and it bothers me. It's controversial, and thus pretty much a cursed subject until things change. I feel bad for Ang Lee, Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, and all the other hard working people that contributed to this film (even though Ang Lee did win Best Director), because it was an amazing film, and deserved to win Best Picture.
The fact that Brokeback Mountain did not win the Oscar for Best Picture this year is bullshit. I just wish the Oscars honored the artistry of the industry. I'm pretty sure that's what it used to be all about, and what it should still be all about. Hopefully we'll see some progress in the future, because in my opinion, this year they made a big mistake.
Something else interesting to think about is something my Dad brought to my attention over break: Do you think it's just coincidence that both actors in Brokeback came out with other movies around the same time portraying them as a Marine (Jake Gyllenhaal, Jarhead) and a womaniser (Heath Ledger, Casanova)? Or was it an attempt to cushion their careers before being submitted to the criticism they expected? Anyways, hope you appreciated the ramble. Feel free to comment, as this is probably the most opinionated post I've made.
6 comments:
Having seen both Brokeback and Crash, I honestly believe that Crash deserved the Oscar over Brokeback. To put it bluntly, I felt Crash was a far superior movie. To elaborate and be a windbag, read on if you must.
I totally agree with your point about some of the Academy voters not seeing Brokeback is nothing short of criminal. All voters who are voting on the Best Picture category should be required to view every movie that is nominated. It is their duty to do so. However, I find fault with your argument that Brokeback did not win the Academy award due voters being homophobic.
It is well known that Hollywood is one of, if not the most liberal places in the country. To suddenly come to the conclusion that these people failed to vote for Brokeback as best picture because they are homophobic is asinine. I believe that voters would be more likely to vote for Brokeback for Best Picture because it would bring this supposedly controversial subject to the forefront. For example, when Halle Berry won Best Actress a few years ago, I highly doubt the award was given to her strictly for acting in Monster's Ball. The fact that she was half African American invariably helped her. The same can be said of Denzel Washington in Training Day, there were other candidates just as worthy of winning the award that year, but Denzel is black, and voters felt he was owed an award based on previous performances. It becomes clear that media attention for controversial subjects only helps in the quest to win an award.
As to your point on Brokeback winning previous awards, and thus should have won the Academy Award, I find fault with that argument based upon my previous claim that media attention helps to generate awards. This could be argued, but I believe that when Brokeback came out to the early movie award season is when media attention focusing on it was at it's highest level. Crash on the other hand, had little to no media attention, not even garnering a nomination for Best Picture at the Golden Globes, which I feel must have been an error, or at the very least the Golden Globes felt that since Crash had no chance to win that it should give a sentimental nod to Walking Tall. Then the media train began to roll for Crash, while the late night monologue jokes about Brokeback began to subside, and the timing coincided with the voting for Best Picture for the Academy Awards.
In short, I think claiming that Brokeback lost Best Picture because of homophobia is irresonsible, and down right stupid. There were several reasons that it lost to Crash, with homophobia playing the role of the least likely offender. I cannot claim that homophobia played no role in the decision, but to make it out to be the number one reason shows an incredible lack of critical analysis and insight. Homosexuality/phobia is only the most controversial reason, not the sole or even biggest reason it lost.
Besides, any movie that has Ludicris saying, "I ran over a China Men?" beats out"I wish I could quit you." any day of the week.
I understand where you're coming from, and I respect your opinion. I find flaw in your argument however in the fact that you didn't propose any reasons why Crash deserved to win the Oscar other than it was a "superior movie", which is meaningless in an argument like this, just reasons why I was wrong and Brokeback shouldn't have won.
Media attention does influence awards, as Academy members can be swayed by the hype. The fact that Brokeback had more buzz than Crash was because Crash came out in May, Brokeback in December, 7 months after Crash, leaving it fresh on the minds of voters while Crash had been out of theaters by then. One of the awards Crash won was the Chicago Film Critics award, for which Roger Ebert pushed Crash like CRAZY! He defended claims (made by A.O. Scott, one of the most prominent film critics of our time) that Crash was the worst movie of the year. He lashed out so much that Crash won the Best Picture award. While there is no proof of this, as there isn't for any of this discussion, it's a consensus no matter where you read (aside from your blog of course). Believe me, I loved the movie Crash, I loved it in the theater, I own it, I've watched it probably 5 times since I bought it, but I just don't think it deserved to win Best Picture. And if Crash was the best movie of the year, why so much controversy?
Now, you can call me irresponsible, asinine, stupid, whatever you want, and you can knock my critical analysis (which was more than you think I'm sure), but at least provide a defense of your claims, and do a little critical analysis of your own. I think if you find this information out for yourself, you'd be less likely to refute it, because it's everywhere.
Also, I think Ludacris, Ja Rule, and any other rappers turned shitty actors should stop making movies. They can make their music and win Oscars, as the Three-Six Mafia proved this year. What a joke to think the Three-Six Mafia has an Oscar.
I seem to have been misunderstood. I only expressed my personal feelings towards which movie should have won best picture in my first paragraph, and also mockingly in my last one in a quote off. It is true that I feel Crash is the superior movie over Brokeback, but I tried to not let my preference bleed into my analysis. I was merely stating that there were several reasons why Brokeback Mountain did not win the Oscar for best picture.
I tried to show to the best of my ability that homophobia costing it the Oscar is not valid, and that it is being blown out of proportion. And you are absolutely correct, I did not post any reasons why Crash should have won, because quite simply, it did. To be a lawyerish asshole and quote US law, the burden of proof is on you in this case. To continue my lawyerish windbaggery, any evidence I can put forth about why I believe Crash deserved it's win is merely conjecture, all I can stand by is my less than expert opinion that Crash is the better movie. While there might be controversy over whether it is a valid win or not is irregardless, Crash, like the Pittsburgh Steelers in another hotly debated contest, still holds the ultimate award.
And finally, your throw away comment at the end of your rebuttal about Ludicris managed to irk me. While I know it was meant to counter my own idiocy at the end of my rebuattal, Ludacris, or Chris Bridges if you prefer, has more than earned some praise for his acting chops. While you are correct that Ja Rule, 50 Cent, Eminem, and several other rappers are terrible actors, Bridges is pretty damn good. In the two films he has acted in, both won Academy Awards. While his character in Hustle and Flow was not that big of a stretch for him, the character he portrayed in Crash very well acted. To lump him in with the rest of rapper/wanna-be actors is, well, Ludacris. Unlike most rappers who try to act, Bridges takes on roles in high quality films that actually challenge and stretch him as an actor, and he manages to succeed where so many other rapper/actors have failed.
PS The Three Six Mafia more than deserved the Oscar this year, "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" was not only a damn fine hip-hop song, it managed to play a huge role in the movie. It was also essentially the underlying theme for Hustle and Flow, and in a way actually shows the open-mindedness of the Academy voters that you say were to close-minded to vote for a "Gay" movie. If a hip-hop song can win in a musical category at the Oscars, a movie with homosexual themes had more than a fair chance to win as well.
You're right, Ludacris has been successful lately, yet I would refrain from saying he's earned his chops just yet. He hasn't done anything special yet, but has shown that he's worthy of movie roles and has the potential to become a solid actor. As for the Three-Six Mafia comment, I have no doubt that that song deserved the Oscar as it was kind of a backbone of that film. It was a good song, and was deserving of the award. I was merely saying that it seems funny to think that the Three-Six Mafia, a pretty hardcore rap group with gold teeth, or should I say teef (I'm sorry, I had to do it), and diamond necklaces and all that, have an Oscar sitting on their mantles. I was referring to the people, and not the music. Finally, I'd like to say that, as much of this discussion has been about homosexuality, I appreciate the level of seriousness that has kept with it. Both homosexuality and homophobia are pretty controversial, and almost taboo subjects. I think that just as movies confronting racism have been honored recently, it's only a matter of time until the same happens with the topic of homosexuality. By honored, I mean with a Best Picture Academy Award, as I am aware of Capote's Best Actor award. This year, it may have been that it's just not the time for this yet, or it may have been that Crash was the better movie, but regardless, the time will come.
Rather than argue against Brokeback (it is on a short list of movies I need to see) I feel I should defend "Crash". So here it goes, the top eight reasons Crash should have won best picture.
8. The film’s dialogue is crisp and energetic
7. The cinematography is subtle but effective. Some of the camera work was reminiscent of The Constant Gardner, without the rough edges. The sometimes-shaky camera added to the almost unbearable drama. But for the most part, the cinematography is simple and unadorned (like many of the performances), which adds to an overwhelming sense of reality.
6.The movie expands and upon and nearly perfects the successful archetype of Soderbergh's Traffic (2001), in which several seemingly unrelated overlapping storylines converge on screen.
5. Don Cheadle career is on absolute fire and I never want to see it cool off. It is interesting to note that Cheadle also appeared in Traffic. In short, Cheadle has emerged as one the most talented and poignant character actors of our generation. If his career continues think John Malkovich, but bigger and well blacker.
4. Crash has a superb cast, the best and most functional cast this side of Pulp Fiction. Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, William Fichtner, Brendan Fraser,Terrence Dashon Howard, and yes even Ludacris turn in amazing performances. More notable are the surprising performances from Dillon, Fraser, and Ryan Phillippe who offer performances far beyond their usually type-casted abilities.
3. Paul Haggis is one of the best writer/directors nobody has ever heard of. (He also directed Million Dollar Baby)
2. The complexity of the story is breath taking. Their are a total of four or five unique dramatic arches which in which drama is built up but at slightly different rates, the result of which is for or five different climaxes that beat the audience like an unrelenting tide into complete and total submission/ apathy/sublimity/and horror.
1. The plot deals with an extremely important social problem, namely racism, in a hopeful but stunningly sober way. More than that it deals with racism from multiple perspectives and every strata of society, its really not a movie about racism but about what it means to be human; flawed, imperfect, but striving for something better.
Note - Paul Haggis did not direct Million Dollar Baby, he wrote it and produced it. A little fact about Paul: he was a creator of Walker, Texas Ranger. Sorry to bring his rep down, but that's a career crashing project that he got over. Amazing. Another reason why he's so great.
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