03/07/2006
What Broke Brokeback?
Why did Brokeback lose the Best Picture Oscar? Theories abound, and judging by the 282 comments (and counting) on my post of the other night, there is endless speculation, though we may never know what caused the most talked-about, critically-acclaimed movie of the year to lose.
My theory is that it was probably a combination of Crash's massive promotional campaign, an Academy that never actually saw Brokeback, probably some sizable patches of homophobia in the voting pool, and the Academy's desire to distinguish themselves from all the other awards shows by going against the grain and not honoring Brokeback. I actually liked Crash although I certainly didn't see it as a Best Picture.
I think that in the long run Brokeback will have a far greater long term impact on the culture than Crash ever will, and that's really what matters. That the film actually exists is the real prize.
Here are some reactions from around the web, and in most, homophobia rears its ugly head:
John Morgan Wilson in The Advocate: "To my mind, there’s no question that Brokeback Mountain is an important landmark in gay cultural history, portraying as it does romantic love between two men so sensitively and unabashedly. Yet its release and much of the publicity surrounding it serve as a reminder that while many heterosexuals may embrace the quality of the filmmaking and the story’s inherent emotional pull, there remains widespread repugnance toward homosexuality that’s rooted deeply in the hearts and minds of straight Americans, including many professed liberals and hip Hollywood types."
Michael Jensen at AfterElton: "The question remaining then is why did they Academy pass over Brokeback for Crash? Given the facts, there seems to be only one answer: good old-fashioned homophobia, or at least Hollywood 's fear of being perceived by Middle America as too tolerant of gay people, which is another kind of homophobia. Or perhaps it was some combination of the two things. But nothing else seems to fit the facts."
Nathaniel R. at The Film Experience: "But this is the first time ever in which I've experienced people enjoying the suffering of others within the context of the Oscar races. I never got any 'you lose!' taunts when Moulin Rouge! or Sideways lost. I am suddenly reminded of childhood's "smear the queer" games and high school bullying. Kick people while they're down. Nobody ever felt the need to attack me for loving films about French courtesans, penniless writers, or wine lovers. So why the gloating at the sorry fates of gay cowboys? I think it's a valid question. But one that the gloaters would be hard pressed to answer without looking deeper inside themselves."
Gene Stone at the HuffPost: "Giving Brokeback an award is not the kind of message Hollywood wants to send to middle America. Hollywood does not heart homosexuals. The only people in the country who really truly seem to believe that Hollywood is pushing a gay agenda message the throats of Americans are the ultra far-right wing, the Michael Medveds, Ann Coulters, and Gary Baumans."
And a counter-argument from Roger Ebert: "It is noticeable how many writers on "Hollywood's homophobia" were able to sidestep "Capote," which was a hard subject to miss, being right there on the same list of best picture nominees. Were supporters of "Brokeback" homophobic in championing the cowboys over what Oscarcast host Jon Stewart called the "effete New York intellectual"?"
MSNBC: How Did Brokeback Mountain lose? A summation of various theories.
The Envelope blames it on actors: "A big ensemble production, "Crash" is an actor's film, which probably best explains why it upset "Brokeback Mountain" to win the best picture Oscar. Much of the morning-after punditry and blog logic has centered on whether members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had trouble giving "Brokeback Mountain" a best picture nod because of its gay love theme. Another theory: Like a cinematic John Edwards, "Brokeback" peaked too early and its Oscar buzz dissipated. In fact, the key to the success of "Crash" was that the film itself — and the carefully orchestrated promotional campaign undertaken by its distributor, Lionsgate — appealed to the academy's largest voting bloc: actors. With 22% of the voting members, the acting contingent is nearly three times as big as the next-largest group, producers."
Posted 11:33 AM EST by Andy in Film & TV | Permalink
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Andy, I continue to think the most interesting take is that of Kenneth Turan, on the LA Times. It's here: http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/env-turan5mar05,0,5359042.story
Posted by: Queer Beacon | Mar 7, 2006 11:40:53 AM
I am one homo who is glad Brokeback didn't win. In every interview they both did about the movie, Heath and Jake made so many homophobic comments that is was sickening. When Tom Hanks did Philadelphia he made sure not to offend the gay community. In fact he went out and embraced it. All Toothy Tile and Heath the Jackoff did was keep explaining that they are not gay, and how they couldn't remember filming the kissing scenes. As if they didn't know when they took the parts that the movie would make them bigger stars and they would be asked about their own sexuality. They wanted an easy win and fucked it up themselves.
Posted by: wildboy | Mar 7, 2006 11:54:19 AM
Why do we care that it lost? Why do we speculate? It lost. That's it. It really isn't the end of the world. Sure, it's a disappointment, but worse things have happened. I was happy that Ang Lee won. It will give more directors the courage to take on a project like this. I mean, a director of his caliber doing a project like this was very unlikely, yet he did it, and maybe more will do the same in the future? Let's just get on with it, and over it.
Posted by: Roy | Mar 7, 2006 11:58:09 AM
Are we still on this? Can't we all just sally forth? As heartrending as it might feel, we cannot validate the Academy Awards by putting so much stock in the Best Picture upset. We, as a gay community, have bigger fish to fry. Oh, I don't know: marriage equality, adoption rights, partner benefits, the crystal meth scourge ...
Yes, the Academy bit the hand that fed it. But now we know to keep the Academy Awards rating slump going another few years ... and we move on ...
Posted by: nyc | Mar 7, 2006 12:01:34 PM
Why did Brokebaqck lose? Because people were probably sick to death of hearing about it. It was no longer the underdog which it should have been. So anybody who ever created a parody, posted a parody, forwarded a parody, commented on the sexual orientation or desired sexual orientation of the stars, photoshopped dick cheney's head onto jake's body, made a joke, posted a joke, linked to a joke or did anything else that turned a heartbreaking story about lost love, hatred, and murder into a laugh is partly responsible for its loss.
Posted by: AndyPants | Mar 7, 2006 12:11:05 PM
I have a hard time getting my head around the fact that these people voted for It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp". How many voters saw Hustle & Flow let alone took the time to listen to that song and then to vote for it? Derek Hartley said last night that we all thought it was our time and it turns out it was not, which is what is so bothersome.
Just think how much longer it is going to take for an openly gay actor to win, if this movie cannot win.
Posted by: Donald | Mar 7, 2006 12:15:13 PM
This will not be a popular response. I for one felt the Academy did a fine job this year. It didn't seem unfair to me that Brokeback Mountain didn't sweep. The other choices were all fine works. While there is homophobia in Hollywood like anywhere else, I think the major issue is that a film captures the public's imagination. Crash simply got more votes. I am gay myself and think that many of my gay brothers and sisters sometimes forget that there are more straights than gays, and that a story about two cowboys who become lovers is not going to speak to them the way it does to us. Life is hard. But let us all keep it simple to understand. I doubt there was any cheating going on here. Of course I wanted Brokeback to win. But it didn't. We have bigger battles than this one.
Posted by: dhvibe | Mar 7, 2006 12:18:56 PM
Are we so starved for attention that we can't accept that this decision might have artistic merit? I enjoyed Brokeback. But it wasn't a brilliant film. I had some issues with Crash, but I found its drama more compelling even though its circumstances might not have spoken to the part of my identity that is a gay man. I say, congrats to Ang Lee for his Oscar. Thanks for making a movie that might have increased understand of what it means to be gay. But I also say congrats to the makers of Crash for making a more entertaining movie.
Posted by: ISH | Mar 7, 2006 12:19:27 PM
Frankly, it should have been anything but Crash. The movie has been made before ... twice before as far as I know: Grand Canyon in the early '90s and Magnolia a few years ago. These movies are the same -- even down to freak weather/natural phenoms in LA. Earthquake (Grand Canyon), raining frogs (Magnolia) and snow in the Baldwin Hills (Crash).
Posted by: Rich | Mar 7, 2006 12:25:33 PM
To Rich's post above, I would add another ripped-off film, Robert Altman's 13-year-old "Short Cuts," which is about intersecting lives involving an automobile accident. The New York Blade refers to "Crash" as "an unoriginal retread" of a movie and the stunning Altman film and others examples of the copy-catting. Bottom line: the Academy did a cop out. "Brokeback" gets best screenplay and best director, but "Crash" gets the best pic. Leave it to Hollywood to play it safe in its nauseatingly back-patting lovefest. "Brokeback" will always be the winner, for me at least.
Posted by: RICK | Mar 7, 2006 12:43:52 PM
282 comments! And geez, judging by some of the more angry, strident, emotional ones over there...you'd think there would have been "Rodney King" style riots in West Hollywood yesterday over this.
Posted by: Cato | Mar 7, 2006 12:48:01 PM
"Hollywood does not heart homosexuals. The only people in the country who really truly seem to believe that Hollywood is pushing a gay agenda message the throats of Americans are the ultra far-right wing, the Michael Medveds, Ann Coulters, and Gary Baumans.""
Crap.
Someone tell Gene Stone that Ang Lee won the Best Director award, would ja?
The only reason Crash won was because it was seen by the Academy. How many DVDs were sent out? No one saw Brokeback Mountain.
Posted by: Tom | Mar 7, 2006 12:52:33 PM
Donald wrote: Just think how much longer it is going to take for an openly gay actor to win, if this movie cannot win.
Isn't PSHoffman openly gay?
Posted by: Rich2 | Mar 7, 2006 12:52:51 PM
Rich2 - He is straight but very gay friendly. PSH is a typical New York Theatre type. He was there with girlfriend who is also the mother of his child. If fact back stage he commented to someone that he forgot to thank her.
Posted by: Donald | Mar 7, 2006 1:10:24 PM
I watched Crash Saturday night. I’m surprised the director was not Rube Goldberg. If you don’t recognize the name try Google. Yesterday someone asked me what the movie was about. Try explaining it, in somewhat detail. I’m not saying Brokeback Mountain deserved best picture, but Crash was complete waste of time. You’re better off watching “All in the Family”.
Posted by: David | Mar 7, 2006 1:11:00 PM
Take my fag card away, but I think too much hype has been made over Brokeback; the gay community has put all its eggs, so to speak, in this one movie. If Brokeback won would it make the gay community stronger? Give us equal rights? Or solve the problems that plaque us? It’s a start and that is all we can ask for. We need to stop reading into things, take things for face value and work as a community to solve the issues at hand and educate the masses.
Posted by: sean | Mar 7, 2006 1:14:58 PM
Does this mean you'll actually stop with the daily Brokeback updates now?
Posted by: Mike | Mar 7, 2006 1:21:20 PM
Turin's essay does identify what happened exactly: the best film did not win because too many voters were uncomfortable with its positive treatment of nonstereotypical gay men, and, simultaneously, want to take bows for being nonracist themselves unlike so many characters in "Crash."
Wildboy: you don't know what you're talking about. I saw and read interviews with Heath and Jake in which they sounded nothing like what you claim they did in "every" interview, but rather were as sensitive and nonhomophobic as one could expect any young nongay man not a graduate of the Super Gay School of Political Correctness. Your knee-jerk ignorance unfairly smears them. Go sit down.
Even less tolerable are the blockhead, "Party Line" comments by yet another hack on "The Advocate's" payroll, John Morgan Wilson [another Advocate writer stated point blank that the only reason he got Michele pregnant was to "prove" he's straight!]. Wilson shamelessly misrepresents the facts. Jake's rejection when he was first approached about the film was WHEN HE WAS STILL A TEENAGER FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! And, it was not nearly as hostile as Wilson portrays. The reaction to more recent naive remarks by the two actors, or those taken out of context, is outrageously disproportionate to their "crimes." No one complains when Tom Hanks talks about his wife at some point in promoting a film. They aren't seen as a slam against homosexuality. No one complains about Speilberg mentioning his wife when promoting one of his films. Or blames them when rags wax on and on about their domestic lives. By this logic, Lee should also be pilloried for mentioning his father's death—father implies mother implies heterosexuality implies hates gays. Give me a fucking break!
And, Ebert? Yes, Roger, recognizing a film/performance about a real life, non-threatening queen who could have replaced the Eternal Flame on Kennedy's grave at the same time as they shunned a film about two gays threatening by their very ordinariness CAN BE HOMOPHOBIC. Such voters like their gays served over easy. Are my perceptions, as a gay man, influenced by subjectivity? Damn nonstraight. But are they any less valid than yours, married as you are to an African-American woman and given how noticeable are your less critical reviews of virtually any film/performance by/about African-Americans? Given the fact that, despite a rave review of Brokeback, you were one of the biggest [no pun intended] cheerleaders for Crash winning?
Posted by: Leland | Mar 7, 2006 1:32:52 PM
Embrace the disappointment. Toast this accomplishment. Do what we need to do next.
Posted by: thisjoeinsf | Mar 7, 2006 1:36:01 PM
Crash is being used as a tool to teach tolerance, as part of diversity studies in schools all over the US. My sister teaches at a high school in Houston and they began showing the film as soon as it came out of DVD. Now they show it to all students from 6th grade through 12 grade.
I enjoyed Crash, but I didn't see it as a remarkable film. I did believe, and still do, that Brokeback was remarkable. However, my own personal feelings aren't a part of this equation. I wanted Brokeback to win because I'm gay, that's the real reason. My sister wanted Crash to win because she's not gay, and because she's already using the film as a tool to teach others how not to act. While Brokeback is a wonderful love story, it will never reach the masses, and affect them, the way that Crash will.
You can argue and call me names, but I believe I'm speaking the truth here.
Posted by: wayne | Mar 7, 2006 1:45:21 PM
Crash is the only Best Picture nominee already out on DVD. DVDs were sent by the truckload to voters. The End.
Posted by: Sydelle Pearl | Mar 7, 2006 1:47:18 PM
The upset win of "Crash" over "Brokeback Mountain" occurred for two main reasons:
1. There is still a conservative element within the Academy. Their influence is shrinking, but in a body of 6,000 their votes could make the difference in a close race.
2. While it used to be very rare for the Director and Picture winners to split within any given year, that trend has declined recently. In fact it has happened 4 times over the past 8 years. The Academy seems to be more inclined to split their votes when they feel there are two worthy movies.
In the long run "Brokeback" will outlast "Crash." As Andy said in a fall essay, it truly is "a movie for the ages."
The Academy's decision doesn't mean anything. They have, after all, named such so-so movies as "Dances With Wolves" and "Braveheart" as their choice for Best Picture.
Posted by: Wayne | Mar 7, 2006 1:50:49 PM
I'm eager for people to argue slash debate my opinion...
"If there are 2 films that should be viewed for the self education era, it's Brokeback Mountain & Crash. I applaud them both.
And for gay blogs as well as the gay community to be outraged that the "gay" film didn't win is just ridiculous because who are we, the gay community, to tell anyone whether the story of sexuality should be award over the story of racism.
I'm just pleased the Academy nominated countless films with meaning & relatable messages that can change the way we live in today's world."
Isn't the average Caucasian male biased in their [valued] opinion about this whole Brokeback issue? I mean why not post comments of gay individuals of color or Lesbians [who have to deal with both men and being a woman on top of being part of the GLBT community] to find out their valued opinions rather than only notable Caucasian voices.
Why not help promote both sides of the issue rather than highlighting only one side. I'm disappointed.
Posted by: Mr. GuyTVBlog | Mar 7, 2006 2:03:17 PM
For what it's worth, I'm with the non-freaked-out crowd. If only because, as has been stated abundantly here, the Best Pic award VERY OFTEN goes to a pretentious, and ungreat, film.
I agree, too, that BM got a little too much loving from everyone for the Academy's taste. Besides (sorry, Andy) - the movie needed to be edited by a good 45 minutes.
Posted by: Jacko | Mar 7, 2006 2:13:28 PM
so sad.
we here at fagulous are mad too.
fagulous.blogspot.com
Posted by: m | Mar 7, 2006 2:21:42 PM