it means nothing, my Oscar boycott

[Spensed]

well clearly... it's not like these things are opinions or anything crazily like that. They're pure statistics and precise scientific calculations that's how you can tell it was homophobia and not just a difference in opinion

http://theenvelope.latimes.com/awards/oscars/env-turan5mar05,0,5359042.story

 

[slobone]

I was also disappointed when Brokeback Mountain lost, but I don't think it had anything to do with homophobia. I just think Crash was more the kind of movie that Hollywood types are impressed by. It was complex and gimmicky and seemed to address a lot of timely issues.

Brokeback was just too simple, too emotionally honest, too gut-wrenching for most people. I happen to think it's one of the greatest films ever made, but it's a tough sell to people who are more used to razzle-dazzle.

By the way -- I hope you're not under the delusion that the Best Picture Oscar normally goes to the picture that was actually the best picture of the year? I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that's happened. One word -- Titanic. I rest my case.

 

[DC00777]

In my opinion Brokeback Mountain was not worth the hype and was not the Best Picture of that year ( It was just good not great). I dont think Crash should have won either, because it was like others have said, just smoke and glass. I think this will happen: in 10 -15 years another gay themed film will come along and win the Best Picture Oscar and will probably be sub standard compared to BM. Why do I think this? Because of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" which was all but snubbed by the Oscars when it first came out in 1989. DTRT shits all over Crash, but I guess the Academy thought it was too raw to even acknowledge it. So they waited a good decade and opted for a less intense version of DTRT.

 

[DC00777]

^^ Personally I prefer Hoffman's performance. And to all those who keep acting like Heath just pulled off intense creativity and created something out nothing, find a new argument. He had source material just like Hoffman did.

 

[fajack]

I love the Oscars to much, to not watch them again. I was disappointed that BBM didn't win last year, but not surprised. I don't think the only reason it didn't win was homophobia. As mentioned earlier, there are to many things that go into winning an Oscar that have nothing to do with the quality of the work. But those who think homophobia had nothing to do with it, I think are not being realistic. There were Academy members who stated they had no intention of watching that movie. For me BBM was so much better than Crash, and Ledger so much better than Hoffman, but in the end hardly anyone in the 30 plus years I've been watching wins that I want to. I just keep hoping next year I (or the Academy) will do better.

 

[starlight70]

I type on a dsk with a drawer full of my oscar lists - I save the lists of nominees, keep a running tally during the boradcast, and have all my oscar stuff preserved - it was a shut everything else down time when the Oscars came on - lots of great memories (when Keith Carradine won for I'm Easy and Eminem for Lose Yourself, among others)

but after Brokeback Mountain got screwed for best picture, I will not be watching this year, I've really lost it with them for that. I've seen screw jobs before (Jaye Davidson being passed over for one, and Heath Ledger for that matter) but it was pure homophobia in my opinion that cost Brokeback the Oscar.

My individual boycott will mean nothing. I don't ask anyone else to change their habits. I just wanted to express it somewhere. You may now ignore this post as if it never happened.

I am boycotting it too, even if it managed to get Ellen to soften the blow to the gay community. A rob is a rob.

 

[Raven03]

I wasn't too surprised to see that Crash won. Homophobia in the end did play a role in Brokeback losing. Some of the academy voters still talk about it today and have said half of the voters refused to watch the film. However they didn't have a problem watching the other nominees.

 

[falconfan]

Am I the only one who feels everyones acting like annoying little brats with a sense of entitlement? I mean really now is this my freakin sweet sixteen? Brokeback isn't entitled to anything. You like it. Nice, that's your opinion. This whole thing is based on opinion. There's no clearly established criteria other than it be the "best" So how could you possibly A. claim something should've one without a doubt or B. Pinpoint the reason something didn't win as an unrelated issue? The academy voters are free to weight things however they please. Whether they put more weight on story or acting or directing it doesn't matter. We don't know and it's ALL opinion. Can people really not think someone is capable of having a different opinion about something without being homophobic? Is it possible not that people hate gay people but that they simply don't agree with you! GET THE FUCK OVER IT... If the oscars were "homophobic" they wouldn't have given Hoffman the damn oscar instead of Heath... it's just stupid and immature

 

[JackFTwist]

Am I the only one who feels everyones acting like annoying little brats

yes, indeed, you are

 

[luminum]

I just think it
s stupid to make brilliant films about different stories and subject matter compete eith each other, actors included. How can you say that one person acted better than another is two outstandingly well acted films (if not more?).

The award should be for being a nominated film, not for being the winner.

 

[Spensed]

Am I the only one who feels everyones acting like annoying little brats with a sense of entitlement? I mean really now is this my freakin sweet sixteen? Brokeback isn't entitled to anything. You like it. Nice, that's your opinion. This whole thing is based on opinion. There's no clearly established criteria other than it be the "best" So how could you possibly A. claim something should've one without a doubt or B. Pinpoint the reason something didn't win as an unrelated issue? The academy voters are free to weight things however they please. Whether they put more weight on story or acting or directing it doesn't matter. We don't know and it's ALL opinion. Can people really not think someone is capable of having a different opinion about something without being homophobic? Is it possible not that people hate gay people but that they simply don't agree with you! GET THE FUCK OVER IT... If the oscars were "homophobic" they wouldn't have given Hoffman the damn oscar instead of Heath... it's just stupid and immature

The issue is not whether Brokeback was entitled to anything. It's whether homophobia prevented the film from getting the best picture Oscar.

While there were, obviously, other factors (like, as you say, differences of opinion) and while gay content didn't prevent awards being given to Brokeback, Capone, etc., there were several stories of Academy members saying they wouldn't watch Brokeback and making anti-gay comments about it. That's what people are complaining about. If the same kind of thing went on with racist reactions to a black themed film, there would have been a major scandal.

As for getting over it, homophobia in Hollywood may not be as bad as it was, but it's a continuing problem especially for young gay guys and lesbians, who still have to stay in the closet to get work.

 

[Xenrai]

Am I the only one who feels everyones acting like annoying little brats with a sense of entitlement? I mean really now is this my freakin sweet sixteen? Brokeback isn't entitled to anything. You like it. Nice, that's your opinion. This whole thing is based on opinion. There's no clearly established criteria other than it be the "best" So how could you possibly A. claim something should've one without a doubt or B. Pinpoint the reason something didn't win as an unrelated issue? The academy voters are free to weight things however they please. Whether they put more weight on story or acting or directing it doesn't matter. We don't know and it's ALL opinion. Can people really not think someone is capable of having a different opinion about something without being homophobic? Is it possible not that people hate gay people but that they simply don't agree with you! GET THE FUCK OVER IT... If the oscars were "homophobic" they wouldn't have given Hoffman the damn oscar instead of Heath... it's just stupid and immature

Amen. And at the end of the day, it's just a silly, meaningless award. Who gives a fuck.

 

[Spensed]

Amen. And at the end of the day, it's just a silly, meaningless award. Who gives a fuck.

That's true on one level. But, on another level, Oscars to gay themed films make gay themed films easier to get financed and produced. Also the Oscars reach a wide worldwide audience and public acknowledgment of gay themes only helps the team.

 

[Sbaraglia]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/business/media/29dreamgirls.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

In the above article I found an excellent quote from an unlikely source...I do NOT want to start any arguments with Dreamgirls fans, I only point out that I hated it in order to stress that I hold no brief for Bill Condon, and in fact am predisposed to start growling when I see him quoted. That having been said, check out these wise words from Mr. Condon:

“You are not entitled,” Mr. Condon said of the Oscar, an honor he won in 1999 for writing “Gods and Monsters,” and for which his “Chicago” script was nominated. “It’s a gift. That sense that you deserve it is wacky."

And a bit more from Mr. Condon, which we should think about in the context of this thread (the basis of which is, BBM Wuz Robbed). After the article mentions several theories floating around Hollywood regarding the reasons for Dreamgirls' failure to get a Best Picture nomination, it continues:

Or, perhaps as Bill Condon, the “Dreamgirls” director who wrote the script for the 2003 Oscar-winner “Chicago,” said on Friday, “I think academy members just liked the other movies better.”

 

[slobone]

Heath Ledger's performance lifted "Brokeback" to a much higher level. Without that it would have been a much more ordinary film. I was amazed by it and I thought it was more deserving of the Oscar than Philip Hoffman's portrayal of Capote.

I agree 100%. Ledger was amazing. Of course Hoffman was very good too, but his performance was flawed by the dishonesty of the script.