Besides the rare shakeup, everybody knows there's one specific type of film that tends to rake it in at the Academy Awards. "Oscar bait" films are generally serious dramas that explore the depths of white men's pain (because according to society, those are the only stories worth telling). But once in a while, the Academy will recognize films that touch on the racial issues plaguing this country. That's a good thing, don't get me wrong. But unfortunately, those movies tend to, what's the best way to put it ... suck ass. Like how ...

5 Crash Didn't Give A Damn About Women Of Color

In 2006, Crash won Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain, because while the Academy wanted to show that they were woke, they weren't ready to be that woke. It is a tedious film that explores what the co-creator of Walker, Texas Ranger imagines the daily interactions between Los Angeles residents of different racial and class backgrounds to be like.

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As we watch these characters' lives literally crash into each other (get it?), we are meant to leave the theater reflecting on how we're all more connected than we think, and that we have more similarities than differences. Sure, that's a positive message, but one delivered at the expense of the minorities in the story, especially the female ones.

Like Sandra Bullock's housekeeper, who constantly suffers at the hands of her racist boss, but is apparently suddenly fine with it at the end of the film, when Bullock unexpectedly gives her a hug and says, "You're my best friend." Cool, Sandy, but you're not HER best friend. You're her shitty racist boss who pays her to silently smile as you scream at her about how she folds your and Brendan Fraser's laundry.

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But that's not near as bad as what happens to Thandie Newton, who is sexually assaulted by Matt Dillon's racist cop in front of her husband. Not only does Newton bafflingly end up apologizing to her husband (who honestly needs to apologize to her for being Terrence Howard), but she also gets yelled at by the same cop the very next day when she has an insane car crash and is stuck in the flaming wreckage. Newton understandably freaks out when she realizes it's Dillon and doesn't want him touching her. He yells that he's not going to hurt her and drags her out, whereupon she cries in his arms and he is redeemed. And that's where their story ends; he's learned that we're not so different after all, and she's learned that her trauma doesn't matter to anyone. Dillon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this.