Brokedown Oscar
Hollywood isn't as brave as it thinks it is.
Hollywood isn't as bold as the right thinks it is.
Hollywood isn't as blunt as some of us think it should be.
To show clips from Brokeback Mountain where it's largely each male lead with their respective wives instead of with each other is cowardice.
To paint Crash as something other than an overwrought interpretive dance about reality is crass.
Brokeback Mountain is distruptive not because it tries to make a Statement About Love, but because it doesn't make a statement.
“Show me, don't tell me” is the first rule of story. Some might say it's the only rule and the rest are corollary.
Rightwingers out there were going to criticize the Oscars one way or another. Since everyone expected Brokeback Mountain to win, they were all focused on how Hollywood supports the gay agenda and is “out of touch”. Now, I suppose, they'll find something else.
But who ever expects Hollywood to be in touch? The Chronicles of Narnia is somehow an “in touch” kinda thing?
I mostly agree with George Clooney in his acceptance speech that Hollywood has done productive work by being out of touch. Then again, it took until 1993 to come out with Philadelphia and even then they couldn't be buggered to show a real relationship between two men. AIDS had been around for too, too long even then.
And it took them until 2005 to show real passion and love between two men, something else that's been around for a long, long time.
All that said, I'd rather have a Hollywood that is out of touch and demands that we follow towards a Utopia, rather than a Hollywood that regresses to an “in touch” martinet that is nothing but an echo chamber for the status quo.
That road leads to stagnation...and to LiveJournal.
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Comments
I took Clooney's comment as sincere, and him not necessarily meaning the films "Philadelphia" and "Brokeback" as the focus of his statement. Although they weren't Oscar-nominated, there were more than enough filmmakers who took a chance and created memorable films about GLBT and other non-mainstream issues years before they were "fashionable." There were a number of good-to-great films dealing with HIV years before "Philadelphia" appeared: "An Early Frost" (1985), "Parting Glances (1986, with a very young Steve Buscemi), "Longtime Companion" (1990). They didn't win Oscars (although I think "Frost" won an Emmy) and they weren't blockbusters, but Hollywood did send a message even back then. As for how Hollywood treats GLBTs and PWAs behind the scenes, that's another unfortunate story.
Posted by: palochi | March 6, 2006 08:47 AM
No! Not LiveJournal!!!
And, of course, I agree with you. You seem to be more optimistic than I am, tho.
Posted by: ted | March 6, 2006 10:45 AM