Breaking Back into View

Even after it failed to grab the "gold" at the Oscars this year Brokeback Mountain continues to pop up in the news. Why? Because Annie Proulx, the author of the book, is outraged by her stories loss. Her assesment of the situation comes down to what she calls a conservative Hollywood. Yes that's right, Hollywood is just too conservative to like a film about homosexuality. This makes my list for one of the most ignorant comments of the year (of course I anticipate, since it is early in the year, there will be many that are more ignorant).

Since when did Hollywood become conservative? Not when major actors and celebrities put their support behind John Kerry, not when their films protested the fight for a free Iraq, not when they released and honored films like Philadelphia, Capote, and Million Dollar Baby, (two films about homosexuality, and one about euthanasia). It's just absurd to call Hollywood conservative. Nancy Pearcey offers some fair criticism of Proulx's outrage. In her opinion, the problem is not that Hollywood is hiding their conservative bias, but that Brokeback Mountain is simply "broken".

Not only does the film fail to grab the Oscar for best picture, but more importantly it fails to present the true picture of what "love" really is. Annie Proulx may be outraged, but she is missing the point completely. Whether it won or lost at the Oscars, Brokeback Mountain falls way short of presenting true love.

Read Pearcey's Report: http://www.pearceyreport.com/archives/2006/03/kimberly_collin.php