Oh, Annie…

Annie Proulx, author of the Brokeback Mountain short story lit the Academy up with a commentary piece in The Guardian UK.

In it she called the Academy voters a bunch of “conservative heffalump … many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in deluxe rest-homes, out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture …. but also with their own segregated city.”

It’s no wonder she writes gay men so well — the piece is more drama queen than any queer I know. And before we go on, Ms. Proulx is entitled to her opinions and as she’s made these ones public I’m sure as hell entitled to criticize it.

So not only is she mad at the voters for robbing Brokeback of Best Picture, Proulx also, in a manner only writers could, gave the nominees in the Best Actor category a few backhanded slaps (and ignoring one other outright). Right after calling Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Capote “brilliant” the Pulitzer Prize winning author laments:

“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’m disappointed that Heath Ledger didn’t win either but damn, girl, why you hatin’ so much? I didn’t notice the same uproar when Hoffman took the BAFTA for best actor, beating out pretty much the same group of guys.

Proulx ends with, “for those who call this little piece a Sour Grapes Rant, play it as it lays.”

Why yes, I think I will.

Hollywood is conservative. And to think otherwise is certainly naive to say the least. To join the party knowing full well who the members and yet expecting them to play a different tune this year well, that’s just down right silly. I’m not certain, however, it’s the conservatism that caused voters to pick another movie but the marketing machine put in place to push Crash. And if so then Brokeback Mountain lost in the one game that truly matters in Tinseltown – selling the image.

As an aside, wouldn’t it be funny if the controversy was played out in a less glamorous category like Best Documentary? Oh, I can just see the uproar had March of the Penguins been upset by Murderball. Think about all the rants on the violence loving, animal hating members of the academy. Hah.
Previously:
- hits and misses
- little plastic gay men
- long, lonesome blues (the movie review)
- brokeback to the future
- Break my heart, no brokeback