Brokeback Mountain gets the recognition it deserves.

[billvon 3,078]

>So basically - it all depends on what political statement the acadamy wants to present . . .

He just said the exact opposite of your statement. Generally it behooves one to read a post _before_ replying.

[jlkskycam 0]

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Being South African I'm naturally delighted that "Tsotsi" won the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

I'm curious though. Does the average American movie-goer actually ever go see any of these 'foreign' movies?

For me it depends on the interest - I went and saw Das Boot in the theater when it came out. And Kagemusha, Ran, and Wings of Desire, but movie selection for me isn't pushed one way or the other because it might be from somewhere else.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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Which is....

Not the Best Picture

Not the Best Actor

Not Best Supporting Actor

Not the Best Supporting Actress

I am assuming you went to see the movie? or are you basing this solely on the content of the movie?

[jlkskycam 0]

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Oscar winners: Homosexuals, Trans-sexuals, Pimps, and America-haters.

I think they've grown a bit out of touch with mainstream America...

And in the process, are making themselves irrelevant.

Oh, c'mon John - Have you seen any of these Homosexual, Trans-sexual, Pimp, and America-hating flims? I haven't so maybe I'm talking out of my hat. I predicted that whichever won or lost, the "Out of Touch" mantra would be resplendant. The truth is, unless you're a film-maker or otherwise in the industry angling for awards or a member of the academy, the awards have always been irrelevant. Unless the academy somehow provides some sort of personal vindication towards your own personal preferences - in other words, that they agree with you. Perspective - film is an art-form - and nothing more. There was a school of thought that the impressionists were out of touch but this is not to say that such art was without merit. Van Gough couldn't sell shit but (to me) some of his stuff is absolutely beautiful, though I prefer Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Holbein, and others because I get off on realism. Similar angst has been expressed over music as well. Jazz into Big Band into Blues, R&B, Doo-Wop, Rock to Rap, with a little country and bluegrass on the side? Pick your poison. There's always been some that prefer something else than what others might prefer. Remember "The Last Temptation of Christ?" Beautiful film in my opinion. There were some who hated it. Remember "The Passion of the Christ?" Another beautiful film. There were also some who hated it. The point is, those (and the camps they might or might not be a part of) that like or dislike the film does not change the film. It is its own entity and it will stand or fall on what it is - specifically on what it is to the individual - not upon what it might represent to society at large. Just my opinion - that's all.

So basically - it all depends on what political statement the acadamy wants to present or promote that makes a film worthy of an oscar as opposed to actual quality or talent.

makes sense - in a hollywierd kind of way.

Quite the opposite - Where is the incipient politics permeating the academy which, within a few years of each other, awards excellence to a murder-thriller-horror film concerning a disturbing cannibal serial killer and later to a period comedy love story which whimsically imagines the genesis of a play by William Shakespeare?

I'm not a member of the academy but I give them the benefit of the doubt in terms of selection which is based on what they believe to be excellence - it's their organization, afterall. Doesn't mean that I accept or agree with their take but I don't begrudge them their opinion. A lot of people look for subtext - what is the academy "saying?" Or sillier, what is the academy promoting because movie X might concern subject Y, starring actor Z. The academy is not a complete cross-section of the movie going world but a group of people involved in movies - and they are individuals. There is certainly a segment of the public which has determined that these subjective decisions, expecially when they don't agree with their own preferences, are determined by something other than excellence. It fell out some way because of something which the trying to be "said." The reality is, the movie is saying something - it's telling a story - and not just what it says, but how it is said factors into how the awards fall out. Further, the academy ~is~ trying to say something - simply, they are saying when they award an award regarding whichever aspect of whichever movie, that this aspect is worthy of their award for excellence. I think people who gnash their teeth over how things fall out at the Oscars should get a clue and watch the People's Choice Awards or something - maybe then they will get to see awards awarded which strokes their own sensibilities.


This is an over-simplification but I think it's kinda apt - Some sunsents are prettier than others - you can't change 'em, and there's always another one coming up to consider. As nice or as non-descript a sunset might be, God or physics isn't trying to impart some political undertone because the light is glowing a certain way and how silly is an idea that individuals who get together to award the best sunset of the year is trying to work some political undertone because they liked one glow at dusk over another. But even if God, physics, or the sunset-raters were trying to work some political angle, this doesn't change a bit how the sunset is viewed by anyone else.

[britboynz 0]

Still, we're makin progress. An all american gay love story that millions watched, talked about...and it Did win a couple of Oscars.

I don't think a gay movie would have got this far, 10 years ago, no?

russ

[billvon 3,078]

>I don't think a gay movie would have got this far, 10 years ago, no?

Agreed. I remember the big stink over a certain episode of Star Trek that showed a white man kissing a black woman. They refused to show it in several southern states because it was immoral. Someday the furor over Brokeback Mountain will seem as silly as the opposition to interracial kissing.