I keep reading all these articles and columns with everyone dissecting why it is that Brokeback Mountain didn't win the Best Picture Oscar. Fewer people seem to be very concerned with why it is that Crash won. I didn't see either of them, so in addition to being a total loser, I am also not going to comment on the actual movies (I have read the short story "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proux, upon which the movie is based). After all, I'm not Donna Britt, who once offered up a preposterous analysis of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (yes I bear grudges and have a long memory) after leading her column with the caveat that she hadn't seen the movie and didn't know much about it. I didn't see Capote, either, and everyone raved about it. Even the Post's Stephen Hunter predicted a best picture win for it.
I will, however, comment on the hype and mayhem that surrounds the Oscars. First off, it's ridiculous trying to decide on one "Best Picture" for the year, because in most years (not all of them), there are some incredible movies. Take 1974 for example: Chinatown and The Godfather Part II. These are both great movies, but The Godfather Part II won. In 1976, the choices were really tough: Rocky won, but also that year you had Taxi Driver, Network, All the President's Men, and The Front (which wasn't even nominated). In 1980, Ordinary People, not Raging Bull, received the Oscar. Or more recently, in 2000, Gladiator won the award over such films as Traffic and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And O Brother, Where Art Thou? wasn't even nominated.
In other words, it's a crapshoot many years.
Another thing to keep in mind is what sort of garbage we'd be reading right now if Brokeback Mountain had won. The Right Wing for years has argued that Hollywood is the reason for all our cultural ills (right after "international bankers," wink, wink, comes Hollywood), and despite Hollywood's mixed record on things like race (see Public Enemy's "Burn, Hollywood, Burn"), they continue to see nothing but corruption and filth coming out of Hollywood. Well, maybe you see what you want to see, or maybe you're so used to wallowing in filth, that's all you ever can see. Yes, I'm talking to you, Joe Scarborough.
Needless to say, if Brokeback had won, we'd be listening to the incessant whining of the media giants (who simultaneously claim to be shut out of the media...go figure) about the hatred Hollywood has for America.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
4 comments:
Right on, Mass! (I always find myself agreeing with you.)
I did not see any of this year's nominated films. I'm pretty sure it is called "parent of small children" syndrome. Rest assured you are not the only "loser".
Ordinary People is one of my all-time favorite movies.
BDA: And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Ordinary People; just that the field sometimes is so balanced it's almost useless to pick a "Best Picture"
MA: Thanks and thanks again.
My retort to right wingers about "Hollywood is out of touch with American values" is -
If Hollywood is out of touch with America (and the world), why is it one of our most successful industries? And then I point out that pornography makes millions of dollars. Obviously, there is a demand for the stuff that the free market fills. If the entertainment industry was out of touch with America, wouldn't the free market penalize it for being inefficient? God bless capitalism and God bless America.
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