In an essay published by British newspaper The Guardian, Brokeback Mountain author, Annie Proulx describes voters as “out of touch” and “segregated” from current issues, and insists they were easily influenced by Crash’s production company Lions Gate Entertainment. She writes, “Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the Los Angeles area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in deluxe rest homes, out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city, decide which films are good. And rumor has it that Lions Gate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of ‘Trash’ – excuse me, Crash – a few weeks before the ballot deadline. Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over free silver.”

Wow.

Sour grapes anyone?

Proulx isn’t the only one to complain about the loss. Whatever happened to Oscar non-winners being graceful about not being chosen? You don’t see Joaquin Phoenix out there complaining because Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar, do you? You know why? BECAUSE HE HAS CLASS.

I saw Brokeback Mountain and I saw Crash. I have to go with the Academy on this one. I thought that Crash was a far better movie as a whole. That’s not to take away from the acting put forth by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, but I just found the story kind of blah. Not only that, but what is interesting about Proulx’s comments is that they claim that Crash didn’t really tackle tough issues. I guess racism isn’t a touchy subject.

Here’s a tip to Ms. Proulx and anyone else who thinks their movie or their actor got the shaft at the Oscars: Quit crying. Get over it. Go write something new.