Breaking no ground: Why 'Crash' won, why 'Brokeback' lost...

Why 'Crash' won, why 'Brokeback' lost and how the academy chose to play it safe.

By Kenneth Turan, LA Times Staff Writer
March 5, 2006

Sometimes you win by losing, and nothing has proved what a powerful, taboo-breaking, necessary film "Brokeback Mountain" was more than its loss Sunday night to "Crash" in the Oscar best picture category.

Despite all the magazine covers it graced, despite all the red-state theaters it made good money in, despite (or maybe because of) all the jokes late-night talk show hosts made about it, you could not take the pulse of the industry without realizing that this film made a number of people distinctly uncomfortable.

More than any other of the nominated films, "Brokeback Mountain" was the one people told me they really didn't feel like seeing, didn't really get, didn't understand the fuss over. Did I really like it, they wanted to know. Yes, I really did.

In the privacy of the voting booth, as many political candidates who've led in polls only to lose elections have found out, people are free to act out the unspoken fears and unconscious prejudices that they would never breathe to another soul, or, likely, acknowledge to themselves. And at least this year, that acting out doomed "Brokeback Mountain."

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

Crash was a GREAT movie. It has powerful messages handled with sensativity, depth and insight. I am not convinced Crash won because people just didnt want to vote for Brokeback Mountain rather than the voters really thought Crash was the better movie. It is certainly the best movie I have seen in several years

thought "Crash" was a better film.

I am a bit more surprised that the acting performances were so overlooked.

Crash sent DVDS to literal everyone in the industry! It was the first time ever that every member of both the SAG and the Academy received a DVD of a nominated film. It was genius! People had NO excuse Not to see Crash. I had never heard of Crash till I got the DVD. The last great users of marketing were the Weimstiens and Shakerpeare in Love. They marketed that with videos and a grab bag! If ytou notice Crash won both the Sag and Oscars! It was probably the only one everyone got to see! Brokebake made it difficult. It was one of the only shows in our area that made you pay to see it! It didn't leave a warm fuzzy feeling as a result. The other films arranged a lot more screenings. Promotion is everything. They just did it better. Kudos to them. This is NOT about homophobia or a "comfort factor" The reporter needs to grow up.

The members of the ACADEMY are the voters. It ain't the damn People's Choice awards.

The cast of CRASH WAS HUGE, with deep roots in Hollywood. It's a lobbying exercise; a lot of people who have paid dues and developed alliances over the years were involved in that film. Their FRIENDS voted for them.

Brokeback Mountain had a smaller cast, and the remaining votes were split between that film and the rest, with Academy members voting for THEIR friends (the Spielberg crowd, the Clooney crowd, and so forth). CRASH just had a bigger bunch of friends of the cast with Academy membership.

Hell, Brokeback didn't go home empty-handed. It's not like anyone LOST. That "doomed" comment is probably a total fucking mystery to the director!!!!!

Speculation about the deep political motives of the airheads in the academy seems like a useless enterprise.

What? Are you from L.A.? The issues raised in "Crash" will not resonate with conservatives. They don't believe racism exists. And they will absolutely not like the "what goes around, comes around" theme of the movie.

This is a Liberal pissing match, because conservatives are going to hate BOTH movies.

new and younger members of The Academy of Motion Pictures voting-more independent film influences happening now-the blockbuster time is over, too expensive, bloated with no story-but this was an inside industry pick.
To give Ang Lee the Oscar for directing and then best pic for Crash is ridiculous, it reads: insider PC picks

The Academy is a CLUB. It is THEIR vote. They have every right to choose whosoever they please. It isn't a popularity contest, it is a matter of artists voting for other artists. Their votes might be based on friendship, or on admiration, or on craft, sympathy, a sense that someone got ripped off in a previous contest, or against someone who has gotten too many awards, or whatever, but it is THEIR CHOICE. Not ours.

It ain't up to us, or any diehard moviegoers, or politicians, or anyone who is NOT a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. That's what the People's Choice Awards are for.

Same bullshit with the Golden Globes--it is a CLUB, making their choices.

When we pay dues and are accorded membership, then we have a say. Until then, it is simply an exercise in voyeurism, curiosity, gossip-mongering and amusement to even watch the event at all.

So, at the end of the day, ALL of the awards are INSIDER picks. Because it is INSIDERS who are doing the picking!!!!

want. That is my OPINION, it that Okay with you that I EXPRESS an OPINION?

the citizenry.

I liked Crash and I'm as far from L.A. as you can get. I will probably like Brokeback Mountain too, and I hope it has a different theme than MidNight Cowboy.

And it barely lost out on the Oscar and that is failure? How much money did it gross? Yawn.

just so idiotic. It is up to the Academy to make their choice, not us. The huge cast of CRASH had lots of friends, who thought they were due to be in an Oscar-awarded film. So what? Why are people so exorcised about this?

It isn't like we have a vote, anyway (I'm looking for my Academy membership card, and cannot find it anywhere!)-- if this were a national contest where everyone voted, they probably would have dragged out Passion of the Christ for a special Oscar, and given best pic to Chronicles of Narnia.

has the freedom to express an opinion about the outcome-happens every year and then most people forget about it.