WHAT'S THE BUZZ - More Crash Backlash
I don’t want to beat a dead horse by continuing to sing the praises of Crash, but I keep hearing how undeserving of the Oscar the 2005 Best Picture Winner is. People like Eli Roth, who gave us such “masterpieces” as Cabin Fever (2002), have been voicing their objection to the film saying Crash is preachy. This is a criticism I’ve heard from others and frankly, I just don’t get it. Preachy is when someone tells you the way things should be, not when someone tells you the way things are. Paul Haggis may take some artistic liberties, but he is simply showing us what is – reflecting a sociological reality back to us.
Simply shedding light on a problem is not being preachy. Telling us how wrong the problem is or what to do about it or who is responsible for it – that’s being preachy. With Crash, there is no value judgment being made; something that one would associate with the “p” adjective. Crash is no more preachy than Brokeback Mountain, or any other socially conscious film worth its merit. Or is it suddenly the case that a preachy film is any one that highlights a controversial topic. If so, there are a lot of preachy films around. For instance I haven’t heard any complaints about 2004’s overrated Oscar winner, Million Dollar Baby being preachy – a film that clearly states how good the right to die is or even The Constant Gardener – a film that clearly states how bad American drug corporations are.
If Crash makes a statement, it is this and nothing more – racism exists, and it is a complex, widespread phenomenon that taints all cultural communities. I think some of the backlash against Haggis' Oscar winning film is due to the fact that people don’t really believe racism is as pervasive a problem as reflected in the film. And if that's the case, those people are sadly mistaken.
Simply shedding light on a problem is not being preachy. Telling us how wrong the problem is or what to do about it or who is responsible for it – that’s being preachy. With Crash, there is no value judgment being made; something that one would associate with the “p” adjective. Crash is no more preachy than Brokeback Mountain, or any other socially conscious film worth its merit. Or is it suddenly the case that a preachy film is any one that highlights a controversial topic. If so, there are a lot of preachy films around. For instance I haven’t heard any complaints about 2004’s overrated Oscar winner, Million Dollar Baby being preachy – a film that clearly states how good the right to die is or even The Constant Gardener – a film that clearly states how bad American drug corporations are.
If Crash makes a statement, it is this and nothing more – racism exists, and it is a complex, widespread phenomenon that taints all cultural communities. I think some of the backlash against Haggis' Oscar winning film is due to the fact that people don’t really believe racism is as pervasive a problem as reflected in the film. And if that's the case, those people are sadly mistaken.
P.S.
On the upside of buzz, I’ve heard that Lord of the Rings: The Musical opened to less than stellar reviews recently in Toronto. Who would have thought that a lavish, multi-million dollar Broadway production about boring hobbits would be a disappointment?
On the upside of buzz, I’ve heard that Lord of the Rings: The Musical opened to less than stellar reviews recently in Toronto. Who would have thought that a lavish, multi-million dollar Broadway production about boring hobbits would be a disappointment?
posted by Rix Flix at 8:05 PM
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