Not too long ago, the day after the Golden Globes where Brokeback, Capote and Transamerica swept up, I wrote an article suggesting that if those films got shut out, there would be a massive backlash of Brokeback only lost because people are homophobic nonsense.
Within 2 hours of posting that article, I had 2 separate US newspapers call me, and they were basically trying to get me to say I was homophobic for writing that. I got dozens of comments and nearly 100 emails that day from people saying I was an idiot, that I was out of touch, that Brokeback or Capote or Transamerica losing wouldn’t have caused any sort of controversy. Boy, they really put me in my place.
So here we are now… less than 48 hours after Brokeback Mountain DIDN’T win the best picture Oscar… and it’s starting already. Media outlets are already suggesting Brokeback lost because of homophobia… just like I said they would.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times has writen:
In the privacy of the voting booth … people are free to act out the unspoken fears and unconscious prejudices that they would never breathe to another soul, or likely, acknowledge to themselves. And at least this year, that acting out doomed Brokeback Mountain.
MSNBC has an article running right now that reads: Was it prejudice, the rural setting or was Crash simply the better film?
Then answer is obvious… Crash was a better film.
But the excuses for Brokebacks loss don’t just end at homophobia. Brokebacks co-screenwriter Larry McMurtry blamed the Urban setting of Crash for it’s victory over him:
Members of the Academy are mostly urban people, McMurtry, who won the adapted screenplay prize with Diana Ossana, said backstage at Sunday nights ceremony. We are an urban nation. We are not a rural nation. Its not easy even to get a rural story made.
People are crying out looking for a reason Brokeback Moutain lost. It’s Homophobia!!! People are biased against films with Rural settings!!!
The answer to the question Why did Brokeback Mountain lose? is a simple one. It wasn’t THAT good of a film. It was a good film… but no where near as good as some people purported it to be. Critics rewarded the film for it’s bravery rather than it’s quality. Crash (while not as good as Cinderella Man) was simply the better film… and it deserved to win (at least out of the group of films that were actually nominated).
Over the coming days the excuses will continue to fly. But just as history shows Shawshank Redemption the vastly superior film to Forest Gump, so will history reaffirm that Crash was a better film than Brokeback Mountain… and that Brokeback wasn’t all that good after all.
