I'll be on the lookout in tomorrow's papers for alternate explanations, but for the moment I can think of only one: we've seen the limits of Hollywood's tolerance. Brokeback's loss, coming from an institution whose liberalism and open-minded progressive ideals one takes for granted, is hitting me harder than the 2004 election, quite frankly. It's certainly more surprising. For a movie like Crash, whose critical reception was mixed to say the least, to win Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain (and Capote, too, for that matter) seems to be a statement stretching a little beyond aesthetics.