February 28, 2011 - 11:38pm
Naked Gold Man: Why 'Brokeback Mountain' reminds me of Taylor Swift
BY JENNIFER XU
- Courtesy of A.M.P.A.S.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Naked Gold Man, a series of blog posts over the next few days about what we love, hate and tolerate about the crazy hullabaloo that is February awards season. The topic of today's daily installment: surprise upsets.
I’m sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I was really happy when “Crash” upset “Brokeback Mountain” for the Best Picture Oscar back in 2005. It had something to do with the predictability of it all — “Brokeback” had been winning all those critics awards; I was tired of seeing Ang Lee’s mug plastered over every TV screen I walked by. Paul Haggis and co.’s surprise win was akin to a skimpily clad woman jumping out of a birthday cake: fabulous, thrilling and unexpected.
The ridiculous thing about all this is, I adore “Brokeback.” “Crash,” not so much.
I’ve always been one to root for the underdog. You can only hear the same “surprised” speech so many times before you kind of just want them to fall into a hole in the stage – just so something different can happen. Exhibit A: Taylor Swift, who looks perpetually shocked at every single meaningless award she receives — the same amount of consistency with which Kanye acts like a douchebag at these events. It’s one thing to act surprised when you win a Grammy; it’s another to freak out about your award for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, of all things.
This year’s Oscar nominees were way too predictable. That’s why I grew so excited in our Oscar podcast when “The King’s Speech” left with so many nominations, because I thought “The Social Network” was undeniably the frontrunner at that point. Once Tom Hooper won the freaking DGA for his work on the film, though, needless to say my excitement for the film dropped considerably. But I did think the wallpaper was quite pretty.
That’s why when February 28 rolls around, I want Lee Unkrich and the rest of the Pixar crew to stand up on that Oscar podium and claim the award that has belonged to them for the past 15 years. I want Jennifer Lawrence to scream “You like me, you really like me!” and thank God and family and her secret husband in Vietnam (not that she’d ever do that, she seems a little sedate to me). I’ve come to terms with the fact that the Academy will never actually award the “deserving” person for a particular category — but what the hell does deserving mean, anyway? My opinions on deserving have nothing to do with anyone else’s (for instance, I think Sofia Coppola should win Best Director Oscar; pretty sure I’m in the minority for that one). And what are the Academy Awards, really? Just a bunch of personal opinions of a group of people that happen to work in the industry.
No, what really fascinates me about awards season is the way it transforms these celebrities we lionize on the silver screen into living, breathing people. You get to see Sandra Bullock make out with Meryl Streep. You get to see Melissa Leo swathed in a cheesy fur-trimmed coat and beg for your vote. For a group of people who spend their lives pretending that they’re someone else, a little authenticity goes a long way.
WANT MORE? Look out for the Oscar B-side on Thursday, February 24, premiering in a Daily near you, featuring interviews with University alum Oscar winners, a discussion of why and how awards shows are so captivating and more.
