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BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN author ANNIE PROULX has slated the Academy Awards for giving the Best Picture Oscar to CRASH at this year's (06) presentation ceremony.
In an essay published by British newspaper The Guardian, Proulx describes voters as "out of touch" and "segregated" from current issues, and insists they were easily influenced by Crash's production company Lions Gate Entertainment.
She writes, "Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the Los Angeles area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in deluxe rest homes, out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city, decide which films are good.
"And rumour has it that Lions Gate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of 'Trash' - excuse me, Crash - a few weeks before the ballot deadline.
"Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over free silver." (MP/WNBGU/SC)
(c) 2004 World Entertainment News Network
