IMDb slamdogs to Gus Van Sant:
“I drink your Milk shake, I drink it up.”
We all know about the well-documented “Oscar bump” a movie receives when nominations raise its profile and thousands of moviegoers check it out to see what the fuss is about. This year we see a nastier and more disturbing phenomenon occurring. Give a movie with a gay theme some Oscar attention, and there’s a backlash from certain quarters that can only be called gaybashing.
That sudden slump in Milk’s already battered position on the IMDb charts is exactly what happened to Brokeback Mountain three years ago. As soon as enough people start to see an important gay film as a threat, the same types who believe gay marriage is a menace to society climb out of their holes and start shredding it.
I talked about this a couple of days ago when I noticed the percentage of “1” scores for each of the BP nominated movies.¬† We decided to call it the IMDb “Hate-Rate” ¬Æ
Even the best films will always have 1-2% of IMDb voters giving it the lowest score of “1” as if it sets their eyeballs on fire to watch it.¬† But Milk has 5.6% of IMDb voters saying it’s the lowest movie scum in existence.¬† The number of “1” scores for Brokeback Mountain is an astonishing and despicable 8.1%. (Adam Sandler’s Bedtime Stories has 6.4% of voters giving it a “1”)
As predicted, the wide-release of Frost/Nixon following its own Oscar respect has bumped F/N up to a #249 chart position. That fulfills the prophecy that 4 out 5 BP contenders would come from the IMDb Top 250. And there’s another revolting development I hate to see happening — a head-on collision involving a Gran Torino.
But most shameful and disgusting of all is the brutal bashing Milk is taking for daring to bring a gay hero to the Oscars.
