Cinematically Thinking
   Politics and Brokeback Mountain
   by T.B. Meek

The 78h Annual Academy Awards went into the books with few surprises except one big one. To some that would be an off color crack from freshman host Jon Stewart (be it delight or dismay), but for most it was the end of the night shocker that fell from Jack Nicolson’s droll lips—one that many have tagged the “the biggest upset in Oscar history.” I speak of neither. What caught me blind, and continues to confound me, is the backlash of bitter indignation that has spewed forth from camp “Brokeback.”

One fervent film critic underscored his aguish by deriding the winning film as well: Crash is in its way a conventional social-problem drama that also appealed to voters' sense of laziness. The movie is set in their backyard,” author Annie Proulx, who penned the novella that became Brokeback the movie, tagged it as “Trash” in her articulate, but self-aggrandizing post mortem, Blood on the Red Carpet in The Guardian Unlimited, and a coalition of empowered fans (mostly GLAAD members) have drawn together enough funds to voice their support in a full paged ad in Variety, and have plans to target other industry rags like Entertainment Weekly.

So is the stir about Hollywood not doing the right thing politically, or that Crash was an unworthy recipient?

The irony that abounds in the ceremony’s aftermath is the sudden shift to "nothing but politics." Leading up to the Oscars, most who embraced Brokeback as an anthem of truth and a beacon of light, steered the conversation everywhere but sexual orientation or social politics. “It’s a gay cowboy movie, now get over it,” one smitten reviewer cracked before waxing on about the universal fabric of the love story at the film’s epicenter.

There’s no denying that Brokeback is masterful, well composed, brilliantly acted and scrumptious to behold. And yes, it is much more than a (strike up the refrain) “gay cowboy movie.” The forbidden love that torments two forlorn souls over decades is palpable and beckons to the romantic in us all (assuming you’re somewhat open minded), but it’s also about intolerance. To have made efforts to obfuscate such, in order to bolster the mainstream appeal of the film, was frivolous, and in itself, a form of politicking.

So let’s talk politics.

Crash's entire agenda is intolerance and how it writhes beneath us in everyday life. It cuts a powerful portrait of diverse and interlocked lives colliding across cultural and racial divides. Anyone who dismisses it as simply a white and black thing is missing the point. And while there are no depictions of gays amongst the stirring collection of episodic vignettes, the lessons and message rings true for all cracks in the sidewalk of the great American melting pot. In a Venn diagram charting intolerance as depicted in cinema, Brokeback would neatly fit within Crash's superset.

Furthermore, the wave of assertions, that Hollywood’s refusal to award Brokeback the Oscar for Best Picture denotes an air of homophobia and a lack of perspective, are about as ludicrous as digging for political correctness at a Klan meeting. Hollywood has always done as Hollywood pleases. It’s driven by money, leans to the left and is always eager to infuse its product with something polemic and controversial (a point that George Clooney made so poignantly in his Best Supporting Actor acceptance speech after a ham-fisted lead in).

Clearly though, the glitzy veneer of Hollywood’s surreality did not sit well with Ms. Proulx. “Dim LA crowd” and “atmosphere of insufferable self-importance” as she calls it. Which is more than just a tad ironic when you consider that Ms. Proulx wittingly attended the gala. Perhaps the buoyant balloons of confidence (Brokeback was the odds-on favorite) made the indecorous decay of LA palatable, but when things didn’t go her way, she reacted like spoiled child (in her published tirade) throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of a grocery store when denied a bar of chocolate. Such a dudgeon is a direct reflection of the behavior Proulx tries to pin on those she eviscerates as entitled and out-of-touch, and even worse, it’s hypocritical.

For a sagely writer, Proulx, plays the fish-out-of-water card well (with the 2001 cinematic adaptation of her novel, The Shipping News, Ms. Proulx is no stranger to the movie biz). In her rant she lambastes distributor Lions Gate for aggressively distributing DVD copies of Crash to members of the Academy. I have news for Ms. Proulx, Crash was released theatrically in May of 2005. Most films that carry that Oscar glow are held from theatrical release until the Fall or Holiday Season (when Brokeback was released), strategically close to year’s end so that they’ll be on the minds of critics (picking their top 10s) and voting awards bodies (namely the Academy); thus circulating an early released contender like Crash on DVD to the Academy’s voting college is a prudent and common practice, and no stratagem of manipulation as Proulx implies.

2005 was the year of small films about big topics. The five nominated films (Capote, Good Night and Good Luck and Munich along side Brokeback and Crash) each pack their own political depth charge (gays, terrorism and McCarthyism, oh my) and viscerally affected viewers in different ways (this is where the where you’re coming from and the where your mind’s at come into play). But no matter, all five bore cinematic merit, and isn’t that what film awards are concerned with foremost? True, the magnum opus has to touch the viewer and be emotionally compelling, but you can’t be provocative, if your dialogue is stilted monosyllabic mumble, and no matter much grit and verve you’ve got going on in front of the camera, no one’s going to notice if its blotted out by solar glare or lost in the shadow of the deep woods.

When it all comes down to it, can’t it just be as simple as the best picture won that night? I know Ms. Proulx thinks of Crash as “a safe pick of ‘controversial film’ for the heffalumps.” She may be right, but then again, Brokeback could have filled that bill as well—the point being, all were deserving, one won, four lost and there’s always going to be sore losers.

So what if Brokeback had won, what then? Would that have validated gays in America? I think not. In claiming the win, there’s no controversy and the talk stops. Needless to say, the disappointed activist, supporters and ardent flag wavers should take solace in the knowledge that, Brokeback by virtue of its being, through the critical kudos, heap of awards and perpetual dialogue, has kept the issue of mainstream acceptance of gays at the forefront of the American conscience. It’s been the perfect counterbalance to states banning same-sex marriage. By not making the final walk to the podium Brokeback has not only raised its banner higher, but also kept it flying longer. And to all those who stand under it, a reminder that grace is a mightier sword than indignation.

-- T. B. Meek

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