Politics And Oscar Aftermath

It’s probably appropriate that this post follows my diatribe about Democrats and their inability to hold a coalition together. In that post, I argued that liberals always try to out-lib each other and make it difficult to craft a consensus agenda. It appears those politics have spilled over into the Academy Awards and their aftermath.

But here is Ken Turan in the Los Angeles Times, writing on the morning after: “So for people who were discomfited by ‘Brokeback Mountain’ but wanted to be able to look themselves in the mirror and feel like they were good, productive liberals, ‘Crash’ provided the perfect safe harbor. They could vote for it in good conscience, vote for it and feel they had made a progressive move, vote for it and not feel that there was any stain on their liberal credentials for shunning what ‘Brokeback’ had to offer. And that’s exactly what they did.”

And Nikki Finke, in the LA Weekly: “Way back on Jan. 17, I decided to nominate the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Bunch of Hypocrites. That’s because I felt this year’s dirty little Oscar secret was the anecdotal evidence pouring in to me about hetero members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences being unwilling to screen ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ For a community that takes pride in progressive values, it seemed shameful to me that Hollywood’s homophobia could be on a par with Pat Robertson’s.”

My point is made. According to the pro-gay crowd, being homosexual friendly gives you more liberal street cred than being anti-racism. If you voted for Crash, you did so out of homophobia… Period. It also confirms what those on the right have said all along – this has nothing to do with the artistic merits of Brokeback Mountain. It is all about the politics. This was an agenda movie, not an entertainment movie.

Share

Tags