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| - You would think that a good movie is a good movie, and that good movies just get Oscars, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, it isn't so. Because Oscars get people to the theater, and because ticket sales increase a studio's bottom line, movie studios and producers have come up with many schemes to get Oscars for their films. Nevertheless, for a long time, the kinds of movies that won Oscars were enjoyed by both the public and the critics, though not all of them have aged well. Often, bigger was better for budgets and box-office receipts. This can also happen on TV as Emmy Bait.
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| abstract
| - You would think that a good movie is a good movie, and that good movies just get Oscars, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, it isn't so. Because Oscars get people to the theater, and because ticket sales increase a studio's bottom line, movie studios and producers have come up with many schemes to get Oscars for their films. Nevertheless, for a long time, the kinds of movies that won Oscars were enjoyed by both the public and the critics, though not all of them have aged well. Often, bigger was better for budgets and box-office receipts. But the prime years of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, in tandem with the crumbling "New Hollywood" of the 1960s-70s, caused a schism to emerge. Studios started targeting the Lowest Common Denominator more often with the rise of the Summer Blockbuster. While Spielberg and Lucas's best works were beloved and received many nominations and awards, their perceived "lightweight" nature kept them from winning in "important" categories (acting, direction, writing, picture). On the other side of the coin, audiences became less interested in the weightier fare that did win in those categories; that "serious" fare that has become Oscar Bait. If it's not a big Broadway musical or an epic, cast-of-thousands extravaganza, then Oscar Bait is usually a depressing drama because True Art Is Angsty. Comedy has had a hard time at the Oscars from the beginning; this is one reason Tom Hanks Syndrome exists. Other genres doing hard are western, sci-fi and fantasy. If it deals with some form of mental illness or an example of man's inhumanity to man (as noted, the Holocaust is a big draw here), then so much the better. Remember, pile on the pain, make them sad, make them dark, and include a Downer Ending by any means necessary. Oscar loves angst. Animation? Pre-2001, forget it, but post-2001, every promising animated feature film has a chance... at their own category. Oscar Bait movies tend to run longer than other movies; longer running time means more room for melodramatic pretension. They aren't all gloom and doom. A heartwarming, inspirational drama or Dramedy or even a Dark Comedy film can easily be positioned as Oscar Bait because there's still room for suffering. If your movie is science fiction or fantasy, however, you might as well not bother; these types of movies usually get the technical awards such as Visual Effects, but not much else. The act of setting out to create a movie with the explicit intention to cleaning up at the Academy Awards is known as "Oscarbation." Making your movie Oscar Bait is a great way to attract Hype Aversion and especially Hype Backlash: people might be turned off by the over-hype your movie receives and, if they get around to watching it, may not be as impressed by the result as the awards panel was. Deader Than Disco, as noted at that trope entry, may well follow - especially if your movie comes out empty-handed or only picks up technical awards. Indeed, many of these movies have not done well at the box-office in recent years. The diminishing ratings of recent Oscar telecasts may be related to the dislike the casual viewing public has for the average Oscar-nominated film. Some have argued that it's time the voters started getting back in line with "popular tastes" (though there are a few recent nominees that are blockbusters). But the people who do the nominations are unlikely to change their criteria, so the status quo continues. In extreme cases, this can lead to an Award Snub: movies widely accepted to be genuinely deserving but don't appear to tick the correct boxes are overlooked in favor of less-deserving fare which does. It's worth nothing that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that starting with the 2010 ceremony (honoring the films of 2009) the Best Picture category would be expanded to include ten nominees instead of the long-traditional five. This Roger Ebert piece wonders if successful films that don't conform to Oscar Bait will find a place at the table again this way. This appears to have come true, as the 2010 ceremony's best picture category included the likes of Avatar, District 9, Inglourious Basterds and Up, with the winner being a war drama that few people actually saw (being a limited release in the middle of the summer and all). In 2011, the winner was The King's Speech --a historical biopic about a soon to be king struggling against a speech impediment-- winning for Best Picture and Best Director, which helped it become a big sustained box office hit for the general movie going public. It's also worth noting recent Best Picture winners like The Departed and No Country For Old Men, along with the large number of depressing historical dramas (read: Oscar Bait) that don't win. The Academy may be able to detect more blatant bait. This can also happen on TV as Emmy Bait. Compare Death by Newbery Medal. See also Award Bait Song. Not something to lure Soviet SSGNs. Also compare Award Snub where films deserving an Oscar don't get one. Contrast Summer Blockbuster, Dump Months.
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