Heath and Harvey and Oscar

Today is the anniversary of the stunning and tragic death of Heath Ledger.

His death, we now know, resulted from a strange and improbable combination of drugs and situation . . . during a time when he was delivering a dark, sinister portrayal of evil in the Dark Knight. It was a performance that he may have, quite literally, put his entire being into.

Many consider it the Oscar-winning performance.

Or not.

Heath, at least, is in the running. The rest of the Dark Knight was shut out of Oscar consideration altogether, including Best Picture, in news that surprised the general population as much as the Hollywood scene.

That Hollywood. They just don't get it, do they? They're so caught-up in their own self-importance that they don't realize how small is the little closet they've stuck themselves in.

If you read my blog two years ago -- about the Oscars and how the "Academy" (that's a euphemism for ya) seems hell-bent on making itself irrelevant when they thoroughly snubbed Brokeback Mountain -- you know that I have little use for the arrogant snobs that make up the body of Oscar voters.

They sure talk a nice liberal, "out there" talk, but they're every bit as homophobic, racist and provincial as any Pentecostal housewife in Junction City, Kansas.

Take Milk, for instance.

The movie about gay activist Harvey Milk and his improbable rise to power and his stunning and tragic death (gee, where have I heard that phrase before? Oh yeah. I just said that about Heath Ledger) is up against movies that are really good, much like Brokeback was up against some really good movies.

Doesn't matter.

Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle sums up Milk's prospects quite well.

A month or two ago, it seemed that "Milk," in addition to getting the votes of people who recognize its achievement, might also get the votes of academy members who simply want to flatter themselves as right-thinking, socially concerned individuals. (Or who want to atone for passing over "Brokeback Mountain.") But the socially concerned vote seems to be going now to "Slumdog Millionaire," which has become this season's litmus test for deep sensitivity.

The best picture contest will thus be decided between people who want to feel good about themselves ("Slumdog Millionaire") and those who mistakenly see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" as innovative. "The Reader" and "Frost/Nixon," also nominated, won't be a factor. The membership will split along age lines, too. Older voters, attracted to the original message that mortality is a really, really lousy thing, will favor "Benjamin Button," and younger voters, who confuse muscular editing for passion, will favor "Slumdog."

Of course, there's an outside chance that the clueless vote will split, and "Milk" will somehow slip in there. But don't count on that. The clueless vote seems in particularly strong force this season. SFGate, Thursday 22 Jan 09

That "clueless vote," of course, is in particularly strong force every season. And so is the homophobic force.

I predict Milk will get lots of nice, polite kisses and hugs and, like Brokeback Mountain, on Oscar night will be roundly snubbed. It's about gay men, after all. Again. And, it's history.

Who in Hollywood needs history -- even worse, gay history! -- when you can have "feel good?"
Speaking of feel good . . . back to Heath.

So, are the odds good that he'll win the Best Supporting Actor nod, posthumously? After all, Hollywood likes to feel good by patting itself on its collective back, self-assured in its nice-ness, right?

Well, the betting men are saying 'no' here, too.

Writing in the Washington Post today, John Rogers notes that only once in Oscar history has the academy voted for a dead guy for a major award . . . and it's not for lack chances.

James Dean -- nominated twice, in 1955 and in 1956, and Spencer Tracy once, in 1967 -- were among many other Hollywood notables who had passed away and yet passed-over in favor of someone very much alive.

"The fact that only one actor has ever won an Oscar from the grave tells us that in general at the Oscars, the feeling is when you're dead, you're dead," Tom O'Neil, a columnist for TheEnvelope.com, told The Associated Press last year after Oscar buzz began to build for Ledger's riveting performance as Batman's malevolent nemesis The Joker in "The Dark Knight." Washington Post 22 January 2009

Heath was last year's news.

Literally.

Exactly one year ago . . . and, in dog years, that's only seven years.

In Hollywood, that's an eon.

.