You Gotta Give Em Hope Time

Bless Awards Daily for looking at a uniquely embarrassing problem over @ the IMDb. They posted a chart of the fall Gus Van Sant's Milk took from the small but dedicated group of homophobes who troll mainstream web destinations.

Note the immediate drop in ranking, as soon as the film is
nominated for Best Picture on January 22nd

Apparently this same form of sabotage happened to Brokeback Mountain in its year post nomination day. Anti-gay feelings are still the most accepted and enduring kind of prejudice in America endorsed as they are by many politicians, funded and spread by some religions (they're still working on that "love one another" thing. Admittedly, it's a toughie) and embedded in our common vernacular, so it's not surprising to see this pattern reflected in popular entertainment polling. Though something about seeing it in chart form still packs a punch. I love IMDb for research purposes, and I'm enjoying being a news desk partner but I don't follow the top 250 charts as some sites do because

1. It's obvious that there's too much tampering by people with agendas
2. You don't have to see a movie to vote on it -- same problem with all awards bodies ;)
   
3. You can actively vote AGAINST something. That's no way to do awards or "favorites" lists. I suspect this is also what happened to Bruce Springsteen's nomination for The Wrestler. Get enough people in the room with something against a particular nomination happening and it's easy to sabotage. The Original Song category uses a 1-10 point system like the IMDb's and if enough people score something really low to weigh the averages down (you need an 8.25 or higher to qualify for a nomination), sabotage accomplished.
   
4. It's so slanted to whatever is out now that it's useless for any sort of real snapshot of What People Love. It's more like "What People Are Obsessed With Right This Second Even If They Haven't Seen It" but that's less catchy than "Top 250".
   

Milk is currently # 223 on the IMDb chart. Brokeback Mountain, inarguably one
of the most passionately loved movies of the Aughts, is not in the top #250.

I suppose it could be worse. Had Milk won Best Ensemble last night (as it definitely should have given the films nominated) you'd probably have even more haters coming out of the woodwork and before long the movie could be in Razzie territory, average vote wise.

But, let's take a cue from the great man honored by Van Sant's film and be optimistic. "You gotta give em hope" One day in the distant future the majority of the populace will want to live in a Post Homophobe world. Notice the widespread jubilation at the mere idea/fantasy/hope that we're entering a Post Racist world. It'll just take more time, that's all.

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
-Abolitionist Theodore Parker, c. 1850's