Jesus, there is no C-O-N-spiracy against Brokeback Mountain. The real conspiracy is against The Blacks!!

Today, I've read about 5 articles on how Crash's win for Best Film was an upset and how Hollywood just wasn't ready to give the top nod to Brokeback Mountain because of homophobia. Now, I'm usually down for a good conspiracy theory, but this one just ain't good.

I saw Brokeback Mountain. I saw Crash. In fact, I saw each movie nominated for the Best Film category except Munich. Based on my own humble opinion, Crash was better than Brokeback. However, it's just my opinion. I didn't hate Brokeback. I just didn't love it either. It was a good love story but it dragged in may places and could've been about 45 minutes shorter. Hell, I still think the best movie I saw all year was The Constant Gardener, which did not get a Best Film nomination. Sharky will always maintain that Walk the Line was robbed (I liked that one too).

But Hollywood not ready to give the a top award to a gay-themed film? I just don't buy it. If anything, Holloywood prides itself on being "tolerant" and "liberal" (although I don't buy that one either). That's why so many gay-themed films were recognized this year (aside from the fact that most were good). And if we take a look at the tally I did yesterday, gay-themed films walked away with a lot of the top awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Directing, and Best Lead Actor.

So where is the conspiracy here? I have no clue. I find it hard to believe that there was a real underground conspiracy against a film as hyped and celebrated (it won every other fucking award at every other fucking award show) as Brokeback Mountain.

The real C-O-N-spiracy was the nomination and win for Three 6 Mafia. Now, I debated whether or not I was gonna mention this, but Molly and I spoke about it last night, so now I think I'll write.

I loved Hustle & Flow. In fact, if you haven't seen it, you should. Yes, it's about a pimp who becomes a rapper. However, it's really a story about following your dreams, even if they seem impossible, which is something that almost everyone on the planet can relate to. The song It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp is very fitting for the movie. I won't go as far as to say it's a good song, but it fit the film. So, in that respect alone, the song should've won an Oscar. So congrats to Three 6 Mafia!

Here's my problem. Most of the people viewing the Oscars haven't seen Hustle & Flow. Most of the people viewing the Oscars aren't familiar with Southern rap. Most of the people viewing the Oscars just saw a bunch a black thugs with iced out grillz rapping about being a pimp. Without the proper context (that being familiarity with the film and a little bit of knowledge about Southern rap and culture), Three 6 Mafia's performance only served to reinforce negative stereotypes in middle-America. It's not really their fault. What were they gonna do? Say no to the Oscars? Of course not. It was their moment to shine!

BUT without balance, things like this only hurt black folks (I can't believe that I just said that). Think about it like this. When you turn on the television, what are the images of blackness that you see? It's mostly young people. Usually rappers. Usually booty shakin hos. Usually shuckin and jivin. Usually thuggin and bangin. There are not nearly enough positive images of blackness. Sure, we'll get a character or two on a drama like Gray's Anatomy (which is one of my favorites) but most of the time, the show isn't taking time to explore the character's culture. Now, I like watching videos just as much as the next person, but I also know that these images don't represent the fullness of my culture. That's because it's my culture. I certainly don't think that Molly Mormon in Utah who doesn't know any black folks has that much perspective. And not that it should matter, but it does!

So, the Academy, which is largely made up of rich whities in Hollywood, decides to throw black folks a bone and nominate Three 6 Mafia. Then, they find the song amusing, so they vote it through to win. Great! That way, Hollywood looks like it's "down" with the rap music, thus not racist anymore. Great! Why am I not feeling convinced?

To make matters worse, the only black performance nominated was that of Terrence Howard, who played the pimp in Hustle & Flow. Again, I loved Hustle & Flow, and Terrence Howard could be my future baby-daddy, BUT, the man was in about 800 movies this year and they had to choose the pimp performance? Don't even get me started . . .

In conclusion, stop whining about Brokeback Mountain you brats. It's made more money than all of the other nominated films combined and stands to make much more. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal will go on to have great careers. More gay-themed movies will hit the mainstream. Nothing but good can come from Brokeback's existence. If you look at it that way, Brokeback has already won.