md
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It's an honor just to be nominated. You fuckers.
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Mar 15 12:33 UTC 2006 |
Here is E-listed E. Annie Proulx writing in the Guardian about the Oscar
show:
"The people connected with Brokeback Mountain, including me, hoped that,
having been nominated for eight Academy awards, it would get Best
Picture as it had at the funny, lively Independent Spirit awards the day
before. (If you are looking for smart judging based on merit, skip the
Academy Awards next year and pay attention to the Independent Spirit
choices.) We should have known conservative heffalump academy voters
would have rather different ideas of what was stirring contemporary
culture. Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the Los Angeles
area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in
deluxe rest-homes, out of touch not only with the shifting larger
culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out
of touch with their own segregated city, decide which films are good.
And rumour has it that Lions Gate inundated the academy voters with DVD
copies of Trash - excuse me - Crash a few weeks before the ballot
deadline. Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes
on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the
letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over free silver.
"After a good deal of standing around admiring dresses and sucking up
champagne, people obeyed the stentorian countdown commands to get in
their seats as 'the show' was about to begin. There were orders to clap
and the audience obediently clapped. From the first there was an
atmosphere of insufferable self-importance emanating from 'the show'
which, as the audience was reminded several times, was televised and
being watched by billions of people all over the world. Those lucky
watchers could get up any time they wished and do something worthwhile,
like go to the bathroom. As in everything related to public
extravaganzas, a certain soda pop figured prominently. There were
montages, artfully meshed clips of films of yesteryear, live acts by
Famous Talent, smart-ass jokes by Jon Stewart who was witty and quick,
too witty, too quick, too eastern perhaps for the somewhat dim LA crowd.
Both beautiful and household-name movie stars announced various prizes.
None of the acting awards came Brokeback's way, you betcha. The prize,
as expected, went to Philip Seymour Hoff-man for his brilliant portrayal
of Capote, but in the months preceding the awards thing, there has been
little discussion of acting styles and various approaches to character
development by this year's nominees. Hollywood loves mimicry, the
conversion of a film actor into the spittin' image of a once-living
celeb. But which takes more skill, acting a person who strolled the
boulevard a few decades ago and who left behind tapes, film,
photographs, voice recordings and friends with strong memories, or the
construction of characters from imagination and a few cold words on the
page? I don't know. The subject never comes up. Cheers to David
Strathairn, Joaquin Phoenix and Hoffman, but what about actors who start
in the dark?
Everyone thanked their dear old mums, scout troop leaders, kids and
consorts. More commercials, more quick wit, more clapping, beads of
sweat, Stewart maybe wondering what evil star had lighted his way to
this labour. Despite the technical expertise and flawlessly sleek set
evocative of 1930s musicals, despite Dolly Parton whooping it up and
Itzhak Perlman blending all the theme music into a single performance
(he represented 'culchah'), there was a kind of provincial flavour to
the proceedings reminiscent of a small-town talent-show night. Clapping
wildly for bad stuff enhances this. There came an atrocious act from
Hustle and Flow, Three 6 Mafia's violent rendition of 'It's Hard Out
Here for a Pimp', a favourite with the audience who knew what it knew
and liked. This was a big winner, a bushel of the magic gold-coated
gelded godlings going to the rap group.
"The hours sped by on wings of boiler plate..."
...and so on and on. You can see the whole article at
http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1727309,00.html
Proulx concludes her sour grapes rant with "For those who call this
little piece a Sour Grapes Rant, play it as it lays" so at least she's
on to herself by that much. If she'd said "highschool outcast sour
grapes rant" she might've been closer. Does anybody else find her books
unreadable?
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slynne
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response 4 of 40:
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Mar 15 18:06 UTC 2006 |
I actually like her writing style a lot. I read 'Brokeback Mountain' in
The New Yorker and think it is probably her best work. It is one of the
best short stories I have ever read actually.
I never feel that I have to like the artist who is producing the work
in order to like the work so I doubt this will effect my choice of
reading material.
FWIW, I think sour grapes is a normal reaction to disappointment. This
piece, however, is a good reminder that one should probably keep one's
sour grapes to oneself as much as possible. No one admires a sore loser
but losing and being able to hold one's head high...well *that* is
something. I am not always good at it but I sometimes think that in
such circumstances "fake it until you make it" is good advice.
On the other hand, I think some of Proulx's criticism of the Motion
Picture Acadamy is fair. At least in as much as, imho, they dont tend
to pick the best picture for Best Picture. There are all kinds of
reasons films get picked and the quality of the film isnt necessarily
the primary reason. The real question though is: would Proulx have made
the same kind of statements about the Motion Picture Academy if
Brokeback had won? From the tone of the above piece, I have to say that
I doubt it. Maybe people associated with the film industry would do
better to make their comments about the process before the Awards?
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