Fractionals

I went to a godawful open mic comedy show last night, and every other joke had something to do with the oscars, brokeback mountain, or crash. I'm about to start banging my head against a wall I think.

And what is with those airline peanuts?

Also, men and woman are different. Roffles.

I'll start out by stating that the only best picture nominee I've seen so far is Crash. So I can't comment on specifics in the other movies, but I can say that Crash was an excellent film. While I would hate to think that a film won because Hollywood couldn't get past its prejudices, I would also hate to think that a film won only because it had to fight through a social debate. As far as I can tell from reviews, Brokeback Mountain is just another Hollywood love story, except with gay men. There's nothing particularly special about the film except that it features a homosexual couple rather than a heterosexual couple. I do recognize that the social significance of a film and its influence in cinematic history should be factors considered when selecting the best picture. But to brush aside Crash simply because the racism thing has been done before is entirely unfair to an incredibly moving and riveting film. Racism is of social significance, but more important to me is HOW they chose to put together a film with these issues in it. The interwoven story lines went beyond the formulaic setup of most movies. And it got nominations in a cross section of categories. Considering the film as a whole, Crash deserved its nomination and it deserved to win.

That said, I can't say for certain that Brokeback Mountain didn’t also deserve to win. I may watch the film and conclude that the overall package of acting, cinematography, soundtrack, etc. etc., combined with the significance of bringing a homosexual relationship to the forefront of modern film puts it ahead of Crash. We’ll have to wait and see.

I also wish that people in general could just sit down, shut up, and watch movies for what they end up being rather than for what anyone wants them to be. So many good movies are spoiled when people try to make them "significant".

There's nothing particularly special about the film except that it features a homosexual couple rather than a heterosexual couple.

I would love, love to live in a world where that actually qualifies as "nothing particularly special". But until then I don't think we should be gliding over that aspect of the film too quickly.

And to be fair, pretty much everything I've read saying that BM should have won said it should have won because it was the best film out of the five, special issues or politics or whatever aside. And given what I've seen of Ang Lee's work, and of Paul Haggis', I am willing to believe that (although of course I would now like to see both). The political point has more been coming up in reaction to the way people have been talking about the win, the fact that they've been saying "I'm glad Brokeback Mountain lost" rather than "I'm glad Crash won" (not absolutely everywhere, of course, but that seems to be a sizable chunk of the opinion).

I also wish that people in general could just... watch movies for what they end up being... So many good movies are spoiled when people try to make them "significant".

Yes, but on the other hand, so many good movies (maybe all of them) actually are significant. And certainly there is a good argument to be made that all five Best Picture nominees this year qualify as significant without anyone distorting them to "make" them that way.

you should've heard the series of breast cancer jokes. or the set about how texas should take over canada and call it "New Texas".

Slogan: "New Texas: What the FUCK is hockey??"

LOLZ