Knight at the Movies - Archives
Fantasy and reality, the movie's two potent forces, collided when both the Oscar nominations and Heath Ledger's death were
announced on the same day
I’ve been reading film writer David Thomson’s history of Hollywood, “The Whole Equation” an overview of the picture business and
the rise of California “movie culture” and its effect on the world; a book filled with Thomson’s interesting, crass, and sometimes spot
on observations.  Throughout its history Hollywood’s star making machinery has been utilized by cynics, opportunists, lots of
investment bankers, and myriad ancillary businesses from exotic gardeners to whorehouse madams, but also by dreamers who have
intuited the hard to articulate magic contract between audience and star.  Thomson’s book muses at length on the movie business’
inherent duality (fantasy vs. reality) which rose along with the Dream Factory and its cultural institutions.

Thomson’s brief paragraphs about the early beginnings of the Academy Awards illustrate this and are instructive – and perhaps
disheartening – for the Oscars were begun as an afterthought.  In late 1926 Louis B. Mayer, the most powerful film mogul in
Hollywood during the golden era, first proposed an organization of the town’s other top dogs, an elitist group of powerbrokers that
would band together for a dual purpose – to socialize and more importantly, to help mediate labor disputes with the hope that
unions would not find a firm footing at the studios.  The membership (an honor from the outset) was chosen from the top branches
of every aspect of filmmaking.  The organization would also give out awards annually to its own and with this stroke of brilliance the
Oscars were born.

As Thomson describes it, though the power of the film companies was eventually tested by labor, nothing could stop the power of the
annual Academy Awards “from preserving the legend that the movies are a binding part of our experience.”  Ironic as we approach
the 80th anniversary of the awards to find labor and the ceremony at a stand off.  “And then the strike happened,”
Bruce Vilanch,
the gay icon and veteran contributing writer to 17 past Oscar ceremonies told me with a touch of sadness last November when talking
about the writer’s walkout.  I nodded in agreement understanding exactly what he was saying – I want the writers to get their fair
share but I want the magic of the Oscars, too.  It’s the gay man’s national holiday after all.

Like much in life and particularly at the movies, a form of entertainment designed to fulfill and articulate our dreams, the reality is
not quite as magical as we would like to believe.  Sometimes the duality is blatant – the veil bluntly lifted – as it was at this year’s
Oscar announcement ceremony.  On top of the question of what form the beloved Oscar ceremony will take this year (if at all) the
announcement of the nominations was tinged with the tragic news latter that same day that Heath Ledger, one of the movie’s
brightest young actors – and yes – stars, had died at the shockingly young age of 28.  Musings about whether or not Angelina Jolie
got dissed by not getting a nod for
A Mighty Heart (trumped by Juno’s snot nosed Ellen Page – go ahead, sue me) or that The Hoax,
one of the year’s best pictures was dismissed while over enthusiasm rained down on the not bad/not great
Juno and okay but what’s
the big deal
No Country for Old Men at once seemed trivial.

Daniel Day-Lewis, who was tapped for his riveting performance in
There Will Be Blood (one of the greatest ever captured on film)
addressed this when he was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in a show about this year’s nominees.  The reluctant star interrupted the
nomination talk to discuss the terrible loss of a fellow actor and was visibly moved.  Winfrey was taken aback (diversion from Oprah’s
agenda is rare) but quickly seemed relieved that Lewis brought up the subject – an elephant in the room – and thanked him for
doing so though getting back on track to the “what are you going to wear/where were you when you heard” questions was tougher.  
Oscar, the potent symbol of movie magic and glamour doesn’t mix easily with real life events.

For gay people Ledger’s loss coming on the day of the Oscar nominations once again had the effect of opening the scab that hasn’t
quite healed with regard to the
Brokeback Mountain loss for Best Picture in 2005.  I wanted Capote to win that year – I still prefer it
though I recognize and love
Brokeback, too.  But to see Brokeback lose to Crash (which made sense at the time to me) very quickly in
hindsight seemed a sad step back for Our People.  In losing Ledger we lost a straight actor unafraid to play gay characters and
speak up for our rights while firmly insisting that
playing gay was no big deal.  There have been very few leading men (straight or
closeted gay) – or women for that matter – willing to do the same thing.  I mourn the roles that might have been.  I mourn Ledger’s
sensitivity and fair mindedness.  

Acceptance is coming in the social stratum for gays but movies are still the great leveler and we are still lagging behind.   Most
moviemakers have worked for over 100 years to keep Our People shunted to one side or out of sight completely while we have
unfailingly kept the magic of their movies in our hearts and continue to do so.  But we’re not the only group still dream projecting.  
Nor are we the only group caught up in the weird dance of embrace/denounce that has been part of the implicit contract between the
Dream Merchants and the audience.  From the beginning the Oscars have had trouble deciding between “success” (i.e. most
profitable and beloved by audiences) and the “best” (i.e. those with enduring power and the promise of lasting “art”).  This is
another duality the Oscars are not going to sort out any time soon.

After mooning about all this movie stuff throughout most of the day I took a look at the rest of the nominations and my heart leapt
up.  Finally, for GLBT audiences there was some good news – spectacularly good news, in fact.  Documentary director
Cynthia Wade,
a married mother of two and my new personal nominee for Friend of the Community – whose movie
Freeheld, which is about the
struggle over pension benefits for a lesbian couple – had gotten a nod in the Documentary Short Subject category.

I hope she wins and gets to make one of those heartfelt speeches that will momentarily unite the world in sympathy for Our People
and silence our denouncers.  But even if she doesn’t, here at last is proof positive that reality and dreams can co-exist at the
Oscars.  My
Oscar fantasies can once again commence.
Fantasy vs. Reality:
The Oscar Nominations and the Death of Heath Ledger
Expanded Edition of 1-30-08 Windy City Times Knight at the Movies Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.