Brokeback Blowback

Movie critic Roger Ebert has some thoughts on the venom now being spat at Hollywood by those suffering from Brokeback Mountain's premature congratulations:

One of the mysteries of the 2006 Oscar season is the virulence with which lovers of "Brokeback Mountain" savaged "Crash." When the film about racism actually won the Oscar for best picture Sunday, there was no grace in their response. As someone who felt "Brokeback" was a great film but "Crash" a greater one, I would have been pleased if either had won.

But here is Ken Turan in the Los Angeles Times, writing on the morning after: "So for people who were discomfited by 'Brokeback Mountain' but wanted to be able to look themselves in the mirror and feel like they were good, productive liberals, 'Crash' provided the perfect safe harbor. They could vote for it in good conscience, vote for it and feel they had made a progressive move, vote for it and not feel that there was any stain on their liberal credentials for shunning what 'Brokeback' had to offer. And that's exactly what they did."

And Nikki Finke, in the LA Weekly: "Way back on Jan. 17, I decided to nominate the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Bunch of Hypocrites. That's because I felt this year's dirty little Oscar secret was the anecdotal evidence pouring in to me about hetero members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences being unwilling to screen 'Brokeback Mountain.' For a community that takes pride in progressive values, it seemed shameful to me that Hollywood's homophobia could be on a par with Pat Robertson's."

Yes, and more than one critic described "Crash" as "the worst film of the year," which is as extreme as saying John Kerry was a coward in Vietnam. It means you'll say anything to help your campaign.

Read the whole thing. It's kind of funny that Ebert has to write a whole column to try and explain to the aggrieved why Brokeback didn't win.

I never cared who won since I never saw any of the nominated movies (and neither did most other people according to the box office numbers), but I find all this snarling and hissing among the activists and the Hollywood elite extremely entertaining. Maybe they should make a movie out of it.

By the way, if you want to read a complimentary review of Crash posted by non other than a Presbyterian pastor, check out Mark D. Roberts post.