Well, the Oscars are over, and there were some surprises. First of all, the overall event was mediocre. Jon Stewart chickened out and made sure none of his jokes were remotely political. The normally acid, Bush-bashing host was timid and slow in his delivery, and overall I would say his performance bombed. The seemingly indestructible juggernaut of the "Gay Hollywood" movement largely fizzled, with Brokeback Mountain losing out to Crash in the Best Picture category, and Heath Ledger losing the Best Actor Oscar.
I was very disappointed that Hollywood seemed to have lost its fight. Gone were the days of the 2003 Oscars, when Michael Moore caused controversy by telling the nation the truth that we all well know, that the reasons George Bush gave us for entering the Iraq war were "fictitious." He was booed by some stagehands right there in liberal Hollywood that night, but he made his point. Many other actors and actresses spoke out against the war in more subtle ways, such as Susan Sarandon's flashing the peace sign when she entered the stage. You had to be quick to see it, but it was there.
I was sure the gorgeous Heath Ledger was going to win the Best Actor for his role in Brokeback. But that was not to be. After watching the Oscars and coming away very disapponted, I turned on the rest of the Matt Drudge sunday radio show. To my horror, he and Ann Coulter were having a discussion on how Hollywood "backed down" and Coulter called it a "strategic retreat for the left". Drudge made semi-homophobic statements that Hollywood seemed to breath easier once Crash won Best Picture. Coulter somehow thought that some of Stewart's jokes were almost conservative.
Anyway, I am very disappointed in the way the Oscars turned out, both because of the lack of social controversy and the overall mediocrity of Stewart's performance and the production on an aesthetic level altoghter.