Fake Rake

1. Roger 3.6.06 / 1pm

   shocking! -roj1023a
2. DMS 3.6.06 / 1pm

   “Why not really treat everyone the same and ignore all of those things that don’t matter, and just give the award to the most deserving nominee?”

   That’s exactly what Turan and the other critics are saying: that Brokeback Mountain was the most deserving nominee, and that it failed to win because the Academy’s voters are uncomfortable with the very idea of a movie about two men in love.

   And saying that Brokeback was “probably the movie that most people saw” is simply uninformed. It may be the movie that most people have heard about, because of all the jokes from people who are queasy about the whole men-kissing thing. But the film’s box-office success has been remarkable considering the small number of theaters willing to show it. One person on a chat board I read this morning said that s/he (I don’t know the commenter’s gender) had to drive 35 miles to a theater just to see the movie, because none of the theaters where s/he lives would show it. (And no, I don’t know where that was.)

   Having gay characters as sidekicks or comic relief is not equivalent to treating gay people’s lives, and gay-related topics, as fully as the lives of straight people are treated. Example: when Ellen deGeneres’s groundbreaking sitcom dealt with simple day-to-day issues, like dating and falling in love — the same issues that straight people deal with — critics screamed that the show was “too gay.” (This at a time when shows with straight characters were shown bare-assed in bed with each other.)

   And to say that having backstage gay hairdressers and makeup artists and choreographers proves that Hollywood is not homophobic is equivalent to saying that having black butlers and janitors and shoeshine people proves that Hollywood is not racist.
3. Fake Rake 3.6.06 / 1pm

   And saying that Brokeback was “probably the movie that most people saw” is simply uninformed. It may be the movie that most people have heard about, because of all the jokes from people who are queasy about the whole men-kissing thing. But the film’s box-office success has been remarkable considering the small number of theaters willing to show it. One person on a chat board I read this morning said that s/he (I don’t know the commenter’s gender) had to drive 35 miles to a theater just to see the movie, because none of the theaters where s/he lives would show it.

   Brokeback has the biggest box office gross of all of the nominees, so it would follow that it’s the most popular and the one that most people saw. These are from IMDB’s box office section:

   Brokeback Mountain: $72 million
   Crash: $55 million
   Munich: $45 million
   Good Night, and Good Luck.: $29 million
   Capote: $22 million

   According to IMDB, Brokeback Mountain was also shown in more theaters than any of the other nominees. These are the peak number of screens that the movie played on in any given week:

   Brokeback Mountain: 2,089 screens
   Crash: 1,905 screens
   Capote: 1,239 screens
   Good Night, and Good Luck: 929 screens
   Munich: 1,498 screens

   Having gay characters as sidekicks or comic relief is not equivalent to treating gay people’s lives, and gay-related topics, as fully as the lives of straight people are treated.

   But that’s been done lots of times as well. Queer as Folk, The L Word, Six Feet Under. Tons of movies (although mostly indie).

   And to say that having backstage gay hairdressers and makeup artists and choreographers proves that Hollywood is not homophobic is equivalent to saying that having black butlers and janitors and shoeshine people proves that Hollywood is not racist.

   That was joking, but let’s face it: Hollywood is probably the easiest place to be gay and out. How many openly gay people work in high-profile positions in the film and TV world? Many. Saying that Hollywood is homophobic is a hard accusation to make stick. If they were that homophobic, Brokeback wouldn’t have won as many Oscars as Crash did.

   This just sounds like the accusations of racism that you hear whenever something bad happens to a black person. If they don’t get a job, or they’re arrested as a suspect in a crime, or a waiter treats them rudely, many people will automatically call it racism. This sounds the same way. The movie didn’t win, so everyone must be homophobic. It can’t be that many people (like me, and the IMDB voters) simply thought it was a much better film
4. geosh 3.6.06 / 7pm

   Great points Fake Rake. In addition, I think it’s important to note that Crash (artistic merits aside) doesn’t just address racial problems, or racial probelms in L.A.: it addresses the fear of alterity as such–which implicitly, but viscerally, indicates the fear of homosexuals as others and the fear of men kissing–in a much broader and more ubiquitous social context than Brokeback; it addresses the subtle antagonism which all people confront, both as the aggressor and as the aggressed against. I’m admittedly compelled even to say that perhaps the disdain people seem to emit when refering to Crash’s victory exemplifies nothing other than the true fear of the other which Brokeback’s supporters pretend to be without. I find Brokeback’s (wide) acceptance of the ‘pains of homosexuality’ an unconvincing/disingenuous effort to assert a conventionally liberal open mind, which in my opinion and experience is often just the semblance of true acceptance.
5. Fake Rake 3.6.06 / 11pm

   Geosh,

   Wow, interesting points.

   I’m not sure if there’s really any hidden fear in the people that are complaining about Crash’s win. I think part of the problem is really that lots of people didn’t see many of the movies, and the sheer media overload on Brokeback made it the one movie that everyone knew. And since it was the most well-known, everyone was surprised when it didn’t win.

   Or maybe not; who knows. We need to open up a “Hollywood is homophobic” shouter and see what’s really going on in that brain of their’s.
6. DMS 3.7.06 / 9am

   Thanks for updating me about the Brokeback box office take; I had been looking at old numbers.

   Queer as Folk, The L Word, and Six Feet Under are all gay-positive portrayals, as you suggest. But they, and the indie films you also cite, are not intended for a “mainstream” audience — which is exactly why the TV shows are on cable, and the films are not widely distributed. The mainstream portrayals of gay lives are still largely in the Amos ‘n’ Andy, Will-and-Grace vein.

   Your statement regarding the “accusations of racism” leads me to wonder if your information about the reality of negative associations is as out of date as my information about box-office receipts was. Have you heard of the Implicit Association studies at Harvard, measuring people’s unconscious negative reactions to those they perceive as “other”? Here’s a link to the test: http://www.understandingprejudice.org/iat/ The Understanding Prejudice site of which the test is a part explains the general research context. In essence, it indicates that the vast majority of us humans *do* exercise exactly the types of negative judgments against members of “other” groups (not giving someone a job, suspecting someone of a crime, treating someone rudely) that you suggest are merely expressions of the paranoia of African-Americans. In other words, there really *is* unconscious racism going on out there.

   Geosh, I have to confess that I haven’t a clue what you said. Could you please re-state in English? In particular, could you explain whether there are gay characters in Crash? I haven’t seen either it or Brokeback, but (obviously) have heard a great deal about both movies.
7. geosh 3.7.06 / 2pm

   haha. yeah, DMS, I’ll restate it again. Though I admit that I take the following as an affront:
   “could you please re-state in English”.

   The issue of homosexuality is not an issue of sexuality:
   it is an issue of living as other, which as you point out, many people still do today.

   People have been discrediting Crash because it doesn’t deal with homosexuality, they have essentially said/implied that it exploits a marginal issue: racism. My point is that people who publicly acclaim Brokeback often seem to do so in effort to assert their openminded-ness and avantegarde-ness (yuck, excuse me those words, please). This openmindedness which people attempt to associate with can be translated into a ‘comfort with the other’, e.g., “I like Brokeback and gays and am not afraid of differences.” I’m talking about what you just mentioned: “negative judgements against” Others. People who say they like brokeback are trying to say publicily that they accept an Other, The Gays.

   My point is that Crash deals with the issue of alterity, which is defined in a dictionary as “the state or quality of being other”. The issue of alterity is what people who publicly own Brokeback attempt to deal with, implicitly, intuitively, whathaveyou–without great scrutiny. This issue, confronting and accepting the other, is what Brokeback’s supporters tend to suggest is lacking in Crash. They may not say so explicitly, but (and I trust you believe in subtexts, you did cite a study of the unconscious) they act as if a social injustice has occured because a ‘real issue’ with alterity was overlooked: homosexuality.

   My point is that Crash deals with alterity very perspicaciously (perspicacious is defined in a dictionary as acutely insightful and wise) and more ubiquitously (that word means everywhere at once). And that people who react negatively to Crash’s victory and try to discredit it because it didn’t deal with an issue ‘as important’ as homosexuality is an uncritical approach to both films. Crash did deal with the issue Brokeback fans attempt to publicly associate themselves with–I am still speaking about alterity. While none of the main characters were gay in Crash, the tension which Ennis and Jack lived vaguely in Brokeback was addressed much more clearly and from many more angles and more concretely and more critically. You don’t have to take my word for it. But when, if, you see Crash consider the way that the problems Ennis and Jack faced are problems which everyone faces. Brokeback marginalizes (puts to the side, ignores) the discontent Ennis and Jack feel as Other to a problem only homosexuals encounter, or people who love homosexuals–Brokeback neccesarily does this because it is a film striclty about homosexuality. Crash points out that more than just white gay country bumpkins feel scrutinized and other (and frankly, if you want to see a film with real gay cowboys you should watch “Tying the Knot”), and that many people today feel Other while at the same time antagonizing other people as Other, many people feel that way–Crash deals with the issue of alterity more honestly: all people feel Other at times and all people antagonize other people because they are Other. The issue is not isolated to homosexuality. And when people assert a love of Brokeback because it deals with alterity (which is what they do even without intending to), they miss the point that they antagonize people too, and that they are antagonized too.

   I’m not going to keep writing, I expect at this point you can either understand what I’m saying, or you aren’t trying to/don’t want to.

   Frankly, you antagonized me as Other, as a convaluted pretentious person while at the same time trying to publicly assert your own intellectuality by citing a study done at Harvard. I can understand why you did it, I confused you and that comprimises you sense of intelligence. It’s easier to assert that my writing is unclear than to try and understand what I mean. I hope you can understand why my response is occasionally antagonistic as well–because you hurt my feelings. This cycle of anatagonism that results from narcissisitic/personal injury is what Crash deals with, and what homosexuals deal with because they are seen and treated as Other. But the issue of being seen as and treated as Other is not limited to homosexuality. The makers of Crash realize this.
8. geosh 3.7.06 / 2pm

   And can someone please tell me whose blog this is? what they do, who they are, etc…
   Much appreciated.

   Cheers,
   Josh.
9. Fake Rake 3.7.06 / 3pm

   Josh,

   I was actually hoping to be relatively anonymous with this blog, so I could talk about things such like my job without worrying about coworkers or bosses finding out. Not that I’ve done any of that yet…
10. geosh 3.7.06 / 5pm

    haha. apprecited. but so I don’t get anything, then! shit, how ’bout at least this: are you male or female?

    (I’ve been intrigued recently by ‘talking’ with people online without ever knowing–amongst other things–whether they’re female or male or consider themselves something else entirely! kind of fascinating in a way.)
11. geosh 3.7.06 / 5pm

    Actually, for the hell of it, DMS, are you female or male or would you consider yourself something else entirely?

    I don’t mean to be rude. Just curious.

    Cheers,
    Josh
12. Fake Rake 3.7.06 / 6pm

    Heh.

    Ok, how about this. I’m male, right around 30 years old, and live in the Washington, DC area.

    My turn-ons include romantic walks on the beach and large piles of mashmallows. My turn-offs include rude people and unexpected amputations.
13. geosh 3.8.06 / 9pm

    hahaha. awesome. thanks.

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