Critics attack Academy for Brokeback snub

Times Online reports Leading US critics have questioned whether Hollywood is yet ready to give its biggest prize to a gay love story after the race drama Crash grabbed the Best Picture Oscar at the 78th Academy Awards last night.

Maybe the Academy voters voted for what they thought was the best movie, rather than making a political statement that some wish had been made.

Brokeback Mountain, the story of unfulfilled love between two gay cowboys that was nominated in eight categories, had been the runaway favourite for the award after cleaning up in the Golden Globes and Baftas.

I believe one of those is the result of votes by International Press. Maybe that is why it is the UK site Times Online is so shocked that the American Academy voters picked a different movie as being the best.

But although it won three Oscars, including the Best Director award for the Taiwanese Ang Lee, the year's most talked-about film ended up losing on the final prize of the night.

"Perhaps the truth really is, Americans don’t want cowboys to be gay," said Larry McMurtry, the veteran Western writer who shared the award for best adapted screenplay.

Maybe it goes even further than that. Maybe we dont want to see homosexuality shoved in our faces at the movies or anywhere else.