Oscar, I Swear

I flew into San Diego about two weeks ago, on the eve of Oscars, and somehow missed the Oscars, mostly because I had arranged to have dinner with a former student, and that dinner time--between 7 and 9, happened to neatly overlap with the time the Oscars were on. That's West Coast time, for you.

Crash won best picture, though I thought, for sure, Brokeback Mountain would win it. If the votes had been cast two months earlier, in early January, rather than early March, it probably would have won.

Shortly thereafter, there were many complaints. I happened to read an article in the L.A. Times while exercising at the Y in the basement of the hotel I was staying. Kenneth Turan was criticizing the selection of Crash accusing voters of feeling ambivalent about a movie about gay cowboys, favoring, instead, a film about racism.

The backlash of those who wanted to see Brokeback win lead to another backlash of those who said "Grow up, already! Crash won!". Such complaints don't make sense, mostly since the people who wanted to see Brokeback win didn't have an opportunity to vote.

I had felt sure Brokeback would win mostly because of the impact it's had in our culture. True, there's more spoofs of Brokeback than nearly every non-science fiction blockbuster (recall, the Matrix three-d pan around, which was mercilessly copied by everyone). People were using the word Brokeback in their vernacular. Mike Wilbon has uttered "Have you gone Brokeback on me?", which isn't exactly a flattering comment, especially since it offers a way to say "gay" without saying it.

Roger Ebert defended the choice of Crash which he felt was the superior film, and couldn't understand how people could get so worked up about this choice, although his complaint, rightly so, was about the mud-slinging that fans of Brokeback threw against Crash, calling it the worst film of the year, blaming those who liked it more for being short-sighted, homophobic, you name it.

The best rebuttal I've seen so far is Scott Renshaw's. He wonders why we care at all? Once upon a time, the Oscars went to big budget films. Good films weren't even in the running. In the last twenty years, the Oscars now take their cue from other awards, in particular, the Golden Globes, which used to be a farce of an awards, since international film writers were often easy to convince to vote your way. They were as starstruck as the average Joe.

Nowadays, films of some quality do make it as nominees. True, there are always going to be some films that are too controversial, or too indie (i.e., not rewarding enough to the average filmgoer who wants a plot and a happy ending) to ever get nominated.

Even so, any choice of best picture is tainted by those who select it. Scott points out, quite rightly, that if you care that Brokeback Mountain is best picture, then it is. Don't make out the Oscars to be anything more than it is. It's one group's opinion, and that group can be frankly, ignored.

For many a sports fan, the Oscars are a waste of time. They see it as dress watching, and nothing would bore them more. Sports fans, in general, watch few films (outside a David Aldridge, who apparently watches quite a lot) and then, only the action/adventure or Wedding Crashers variety appeals to them. Films like Brokeback Mountain would scare them (and probably be too slow) to care, and they are perfectly happy ignoring the Oscars.

In the end, the effect of the generally accepted Brokeback Mountain may be better films in the gay genre getting made (there are plenty of awful ones out there, especially romantic comedies). And that may be worth more than any Best Picture.