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Academy Shines on Brokeback Mountain

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Aussie Chris:
*sigh*

It's a good thing that we don't have to reply on the academy to tell us which films are good or bad.  Personally, I've never thought that the best picture award had anything to do with the best, well, picture.  It's all about which film the academy wants to endorse, regardless of how well they're made or their popularity.  That being said, racial tolerance is not an unworthy cause to endorse.  But I also understand the disappointment of the Brokaholics, of which I myself am a proud member, and although I really liked Crash and watched it twice, the second viewing didn't have anywhere near the impact of the first, and in no way did I think that it was a better constructed or executed film than BBM, which just keeps getting better no matter how many times I watch it.

But all disappointment aside, Best Director + Best Adapted Screenplay + Best Music?  We knew that!  That's no shabby thing, is it?

The trolls can whine all they want, because our little gem of a film has won THREE ACADEMY AWARDS!!!

Come on everyone, let's here it for the TRIPLE ACADEMY AWARD WINNING Brokeback Mountain!!!

Yeeeeh-Haaaw!!!

Phillip Dampier:

--- Quote from: backtobrokeback on March 06, 2006, 02:15:33 am ---You know, it's so wonderful that those amazing people won.  I was thrilled to see Santaolalla, in particular, get the recognition he deserves.  But the Academy didn't "shine" on Brokeback, it tireironed it with a Best Picture snub. 

It's very interesting.  I'm not in tears, but I am angry.  Mostly, though, I'm puzzled by WHY this happened.  Unfortunately, the only answer I can reach is that it simply isn't okay to be gay.  The Academy simply would not allow a film about men who love each other to take its place in the pantheon.  The film no one would touch for six years is still the one they won't touch.
--- End quote ---

Maybe I am more sanguine about this whole thing because I have been listening to some of the Hollywood insiders who discussed how the Academy Awards really work, starting with a lengthy discussion by a guest host on last Friday's Stephanie Miller radio program.  The banter seemed to indicate that the Academy might be more partial to Crash because it hit closer to home, was not "overexposed" in the press, and that the Academy wanted to divide up the awards this year with strategic voting.  I do not consider it a bash that BBM didn't take Best Picture.  A bashing would have been if it was ignored altogether in the awards.

I am just not convinced the "gay" angle was the big elephant in the room, especially in Hollywood.  Would older Academy voters have a problem with men kissing and a gay story?  Maybe.  But at the same time I am more optimistic that watching a gay couple for a Hollywood person is going to be a lot easier than someone voting on a film in mid-America.

I also don't mind the fact that BBM can now mine the "snub" for all its worth in the media and bring even more attention to itself.  For those of us who did get this film, the Oscars shouldn't be used as some sort of validation for our own feelings about the movie.  That it did not win Best Picture has zero impact on the legitimacy of what we are experiencing.  At worst, it's a distraction.

backtobrokeback:
I'll agree with that last point - it DOES speak well that most media outlets are not only surprised but a little put out that BBM didn't win.  I'm sorry for Paul Haggis if his film (already embroiled in a NASTY producers' lawsuit) has a lingering shadow of "safe choice" after Sunday's decision.

But I disagree that a bashing would mean only being totally ignored.  Homophobia has grown up - you don't tire iron people by the side of the road, really, you take away their rights, one by one.  It was ignored for the one award it has been consistently nominated for and almost as consistently won at most other awards outlets, an honor that Crash received at only a tiny (count on two fingers) number of places. 

Call it a sin of omission rather than a sin of commission.

btb

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