30 Oscar losers that should have been Oscar winners

Brokeback Mountain losing to Crash – Best Picture (2005)

The Winner

Crash, the ensemble piece about race relations. Featuring Bullock, Cheadle, and, interestingly, Ludacris. There are multiple car crashes. Hence the name. Also feat. a super heavy hand and a massive amount of white guilt.

The Loser

Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee’s absolutely revolutionary film about two cowboys who fall into a tumultuous and heart-rending relationship. It was one of the first major Hollywood movies to feature two men in an intimate and sexual relationship. It changed the game for representation of the LGBTQ+ community on screen.

Why It Was Wrong

So, for many people, including myself, this one represents more than just an award. It’s an ideological issue. Because here you have a choice between real progressive values and fake progressive values. Crash attempts to tackle the subject of race but ends up making really problematic assertions. Like, really problematic. Like, quick spoiler alert, but Matt Dillon (who is playing a cop) rapes Thandie Newton during a pat-down. But then, it’s okay – he’s redeemed because at the end of the movie he saves her from a car accident. Meaning, like, he did his job as a cop. Also, Sandra Bullock hugs her Latina maid at the end. So don’t worry, y’all – racism is over.

Meanwhile, you have a very real, very relevant story about the relationship between two men. About the pressures placed on them by their families and their worlds. About what it looks like to be gay and live in the boondocks of America. About what it feels like to be forced to act like something you’re not. All of this at a time when America is trying to understand what LGBT+ rights should look like. 2005 was the year that the first state, California, legalized same-sex marriage. It was also the year that a movie meant to assuage white guilt won out over a movie about the real consequences of silencing and discriminating against the LGBT+ community.

Crash, at its core, is about how when white people are racist, it’s because they were raised that way or have tough lives. Sandra Bullock and Matt Dillon should be forgiven for their transgressions because these white people have problems too. As long as these black and Hispanic people understand that, we should all get along. But when I saw Brokeback Mountain at the age of 13, in my tiny Indiana hometown, it was the first time I had ever critically considered what LGBT+ people went through. It really changed me, and I think many people can say the same.

The Academy (especially at that time, but still today) is overwhelmingly made up of straight white men. They watch Crash, they get to feel good about themselves at the end. They watch Brokeback Mountain, they have to think about their responsibility in what they just saw. So the hammer came down on the side of the one that made them feel better about themselves. But we all know who the real winner is here.