a little bit out of time... but what amazes me most is that still people talk about BBM, discuss issues, even the oscars ... i thought i posted this..
from today's afterelton.com..
you can ask a question concering anything remotely artistic (films, books, TV etc..) and the "monkey" searches for answers or gives his opinion..
so here we go today:
by Brent Hartinger
October 21, 2008
Q: I wanted to discuss the controversy surrounding Brokeback Mountain not being named Best Picture at the Oscars for 2005. I have to say that Crash involved me more than Brokeback did. I know Roger Ebert thought Crash won because it truly was the best film of the year, and that it was made inside the Hollywood system (while Brokeback was filmed in Canada). Does the support of Brokeback come from the fact that everyone TRULY believed it was the best film of 2005, or because it was a film that showed gay men in a positive light? If it’s the latter, why didn’t everyone also show the same enthusiasm/support at the box office for Capote? -- Keith, Arlington, VA
A:
Well!
Yes, in the Monkey’s personal opinion, Brokeback Mountain truly was the best film of the year (though it didn’t necessarily show gay men in an entirely positive light since both characters were cheating on their wives). Crash seemed to the Monkey to be a fine, but completely unremarkable movie.
Brokeback's Heath Ledger & Jake Gyllenhaal (left); PICTURES
Crash's Thandie Newton & Matt Dillon
But you’re right: Roger Ebert definitely preferred Crash to Brokeback Mountain. He campaigned relentlessly for Crash to win the Oscar, and when it did, he championed it in AfterElton.com’s post-Oscar interview with him. It sounds like you liked Crash better too. That is absolutely your, and Roger Ebert’s, right. But it also isn’t the point.
Brokeback Mountain was the undisputed front-runner for the Best Picture award. All of the usual indicators suggested a virtual Oscar lock. Under many formulations, it is the most honored movie in film history. None of this was remotely true for Capote (or Crash, for that matter, which was usually not even nominated for most of the other critical awards that Brokeback Mountain won). According to Premiere Magazine’s annual ranking, Brokeback Mountain was the best-reviewed movie of the year; Crash was the 36th best-reviewed movie of the year.
And yet Brokeback Mountain didn’t win the Oscar. Why not? Was it because the Academy voters just didn’t like it as much as Crash, or because it was filmed in Canada? It’s one possible explanation. But keep in mind the context: Brokeback was an enormously controversial movie, subject to six months of tasteless, boorish jokes from late-night comedians. Right-wing pundits waged a relentless, blistering campaign to try to paint the movie as evidence that Hollywood had a “radical homosexual” agenda.
Is it crazy to assume that this might have contributed to the biggest upset in Oscar history? We can’t ever know for sure, but it seems pretty likely to the Monkey.
Here’s the Monkey’s take: it probably wasn’t the case that Oscar voters were themselves homophobic (though some of them surely were; many were on record as saying they wouldn’t even see the film). The Monkey thinks the issue was that Oscar voters, mostly Hollywood insiders, were scared that giving Brokeback Mountain the top award would reinforce the notion that the movie industry had a “liberal” agenda — and that that might affect their bottom line. [/color]
