Why Crash conquered the Mountain

Although I have personally tried my very best to avoid watching Brokeback Mountain, I figured that because it was such a controversial mainstream movie, I ought to explore the impact of this type of sexuality within the film industry. I had no idea the plethora of information I was about to get myself into, but for the sake of this blog, I trudged my way through article after article to get a feel for how this affected the American audience.

If you didn’t already know, Crash beat out Brokeback Mountain for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Picture. The fan favorite (Brokeback Mountain [Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger] ) about a 20 year long gay love affair was highly favored to win, and the audience was in shock and awe when the movie taking a racial stance won out.

Regarding this night, this gay news blog stated that; “In one wild moment, the whole evening turned around, ripping through the show's complacency and probably spoiling a lot of instant think-pieces already half-composed about "Brokeback's" gutsy reversal of America's sexual-cultural mythos.”

The good news: In a movie that is 130 minutes long, 129 of them are male kissing/male sex free. So yes, maybe it will be the longest almost 60-seconds of your life, but the rest of the film is intense longing and sadness of a doomed love. The sex scene is described by Roger Ebert as “sudden” and “almost violent”. It takes place in a tent after a night of drinking, and contains more shoving and pushing each other away than tenderness or kissing. I don’t feel the need to get into the specifics, that’s not the point of this particular blog, but if I had to group the scene into one of my “categories” (of either being 1) uncomfortable, 2) awkward, 3) unrealistic, or 4) simply put in movies to make money off selling sex) I would have to say it was just awkward (and unnecessary to be quite honest) probably more for males than females (simply because females are more accepting of the idea of expressing forbidden love (be it gay or straight), not because men are homophobic). Ebert says; “Brokeback Mountain” has been described as "a gay cowboy movie," which is a cruel simplification. It is the story of a time and place where two men are forced to deny the only great passion either one will ever feel. Their tragedy is universal. …Strange but true: The more specific a film is, the more universal, because the more it understands individual characters, the more it applies to everyone. I can imagine someone weeping at this film, identifying with it, because he always wanted to stay in the Marines, or be an artist or a cabinetmaker.”

Yet, Crash still won the Oscar.

Michael Wilmington, a movie critic for the Chicago Tribune, wrote; “Crash probably won because more of the academy voters liked and admired it as a movie. They didn't shun “Brokeback”; they gave it three key Oscars (best director, adapted screenplay and original score) and a strong place in academy history. But I would argue that the majority -- and maybe it was a slim majority -- honestly preferred "Crash." In the end, it's more likely that the voting majority thought "Brokeback" was a good, honorable film, but slower, less engrossing and less moving compared with the jazzy, multistranded, Altmanesque L.A.-contempo "Crash," a movie about racism and crime in today's Los Angeles with a big-name ensemble cast playing for peanuts, a tricky structure of interweaving stories and an overall L.A. atmosphere and feeling that struck many Angelenos as right-on."

I agree that Brokeback is slower, less engrossing, and less moving than Crash, because many parts in Crash left me with my hand over my mouth, eyes wide open and loving the film. The scene that most stuck with me, however, was the physical abuse cavity search from the white police officer (Matt Dillon) to the upper-class black women (Thandie Newton) where she is basically “hand raped” by an officer while her husband stands by and watches her get “finger-fucked” in fear of the gun-holding policemen. The actress explains here why she is still outraged by the whole scene (watch it here).

In the midst of a racially interlocking story of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, who are all defined in one way or another by racism, this rape scene is thrown in to show racial discrimination as well as unnecessary physical violence in a situation that forces you to think about what you would have done if this happened to you. It is interesting how well-received this movie was with blatent scenes of racism and violence, but Roger Ebert explains why he thinks this is; “Not many films have the possibility of making their audiences better people. I don't expect "Crash" to work any miracles, but I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves….You may have to look hard to see it, but "Crash" is a film about progress.”

I agree that this film moves viewers forward more than Brokeback does, but then why was the win such an upset?

Why all the criticism saying that American wasn’t ready for homosexual sex scenes, yet a movie with racism, violence, sexual abuse and discrimination is not only fine with the American public, but glorified for the possibilities it can bring to society?

Is there a problem with this, or have we gotten so used to seeing this type of violence, we are immune to it in a way that is destructive?

With all its commercial success, along with all the comedic bashing surrounding Brokeback, do you think America was ready for this type of mainstream homosexuality, or was it simply a ploy to try to make American think they were ready for something so obviously controversial?