Oscar Bait: Difference between revisions

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This can also happen on TV as Emmy Bait.

Compare [[Death By Newbery Medal]]. See also [[Award Bait Song]]. Not something to lure [[Mnogo Nukes Other Naval Nukes|Soviet SSGNs]]. Also compare [[Award Snub]] where films deserving an Oscar don't get one. Contrast [[Summer Blockbuster]], [[Dump Months]].

Compare [[Death by Newbery Medal]]. See also [[Award Bait Song]]. Not something to lure [[Mnogo Nukes Other Naval Nukes|Soviet SSGNs]]. Also compare [[Award Snub]] where films deserving an Oscar don't get one. Contrast [[Summer Blockbuster]], [[Dump Months]].

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== Subject matter and characters ==

* [[Biopic]] / [[Based on a True Story]] films usually have Oscar in mind. The fact that many are period pieces just makes them more attractive.

** Let's name a few! ''[[Milk]]'', ''[[~~Frost Nixon|~~Frost/Nixon]]'', ''[[Into the Wild]]'', ''[[The Queen]]'', ''[[Letters From Iwo Jima]]'', ''[[Capote]]'', ''[[Walk the Line]]'', ''[[~~Munich (Film)|~~Munich]]'', ''[[Good Night and Good Luck]]'', ''Ray'', ''[[Finding Neverland]]'', ''[[The Aviator]]'', ''Seabiscuit'', ''[[Monster (~~Film~~)|Monster]]'', ''[[The Hours]]'', ''[[Frida]]'', ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'', ''Ali'', ''Iris'', ''[[Erin Brockovich]]'', ''Before Night Falls'', ''Pollock''... All of these only in the last decade. On the other hand, 1999's ''[[Man On the Moon]]'' was [[Oscar Bait]] that didn't take with the Academy, possibly because the [[Comedy Ghetto]] applied to both [[Andy Kaufman|subject]] ''and'' [[Jim Carrey|actor]].

** Let's name a few! ''[[Milk]]'', ''[[Frost/Nixon]]'', ''[[Into the Wild]]'', ''[[The Queen]]'', ''[[Letters From Iwo Jima]]'', ''[[Capote]]'', ''[[Walk the Line]]'', ''[[Munich]]'', ''[[Good Night and Good Luck]]'', ''Ray'', ''[[Finding Neverland]]'', ''[[The Aviator]]'', ''Seabiscuit'', ''[[Monster (film)|Monster]]'', ''[[The Hours]]'', ''[[Frida]]'', ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'', ''Ali'', ''Iris'', ''[[Erin Brockovich]]'', ''Before Night Falls'', ''Pollock''... All of these only in the last decade. On the other hand, 1999's ''[[Man on the Moon]]'' was [[Oscar Bait]] that didn't take with the Academy, possibly because the [[Comedy Ghetto]] applied to both [[Andy Kaufman|subject]] ''and'' [[Jim Carrey|actor]].

* The drive to create [[Oscar Bait]] may have been part of the undoing of the [[Disney Animated Canon]] revival. According to insider Jim Hill, when the [[Animation Age Ghetto]] worked against ''[[Beauty and ~~The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The~~ Beast]]'' winning Best Picture in 1991 (the first animated feature to achieve a nomination in that category, before Pixar's ''Up''), ''[[Pocahontas]]'' was reworked to emphasize an interracial romance with a [[Bittersweet Ending]] and [[Anvilicious]] Aesops - in part to appeal to the Academy (and more adults in general). ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' and Don Bluth's ''[[Anastasia]]'' have similar serious elements. But, unwilling to cut loose entirely from the ghetto, they came across as odd mixes of [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] and [[Oscar Bait]]. ''[[~~Pocahontas (Disney)|~~Pocahontas]]'' won the music Oscars anyway, the others got nominations, but they played to audiences and critics with diminishing returns. The mega-irony? 1995 was also the year of ''[[Toy Story]]'', which eschewed this and wound up getting a screenplay nomination, something no Disney canon film has accomplished. In fact, several subsequent [[Pixar]] films have pulled off the feat...

* The drive to create [[Oscar Bait]] may have been part of the undoing of the [[Disney Animated Canon]] revival. According to insider Jim Hill, when the [[Animation Age Ghetto]] worked against ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'' winning Best Picture in 1991 (the first animated feature to achieve a nomination in that category, before Pixar's ''Up''), ''[[Pocahontas]]'' was reworked to emphasize an interracial romance with a [[Bittersweet Ending]] and [[Anvilicious]] Aesops - in part to appeal to the Academy (and more adults in general). ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' and Don Bluth's ''[[Anastasia]]'' have similar serious elements. But, unwilling to cut loose entirely from the ghetto, they came across as odd mixes of [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] and [[Oscar Bait]]. ''[[Pocahontas]]'' won the music Oscars anyway, the others got nominations, but they played to audiences and critics with diminishing returns. The mega-irony? 1995 was also the year of ''[[Toy Story]]'', which eschewed this and wound up getting a screenplay nomination, something no Disney canon film has accomplished. In fact, several subsequent [[Pixar]] films have pulled off the feat...

* Let's not forget, we now have Paramount Vantage, a subdivision devoted to "arthouse style films". Translation, Oscar Bait. Case in point, Paramount Vantage in association with (what else) Miramax films released both ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'', AND ''[[There Will Be Blood]]'' within two months of each other. Combined Academy Award nominations, 16. Both period pieces, both big name directors ([[The Coen Brothers]] and Paul Thomas Anderson respectively), critically acclaimed stars (Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, [[Daniel Day Lewis]]), and both...truly excellent films deserving of their status. Perhaps there is an upside to Oscar Bait after all.

* [[Oscar Bait Movies]] can ''also'' be low-budget dramas aimed more at the age group of the Academy voters, as in ''Away From Her'' and ''Steel Magnolias.''

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** William Goldman commented on this phenomenon, saying he didn't think [[Angelina Jolie]] should win Best Supporting Actress for ''Girl Interrupted'' because "It's easy to win a Oscar playing someone mentally ill."

** ''[[Rain Man]]'' arguably kicked off the mental health/capacity boom in 1988. [[Dustin Hoffman]] won Best Actor, and the film also won for Picture, Direction, and Original Screenplay. Other leading man examples include ''Shine'' (won Best Actor) and ''I Am Sam'' (Best Actor nomination).

** [[Older Than They Think]]: Cliff Robertson won Best Actor for playing the mentally handicapped hero of ''Charly'' (a ''[[~~Flowers for Algernon (Literature)|~~Flowers for Algernon]]'' adaptation) in 1968, after a massive For Your Consideration campaign.

** [[Older Than They Think]]: Cliff Robertson won Best Actor for playing the mentally handicapped hero of ''Charly'' (a ''[[Flowers for Algernon]]'' adaptation) in 1968, after a massive For Your Consideration campaign.

*** It's the only Best Actor Oscar in a science fiction film, with drama plus mental health overcomes the sci-fi background. There's only one other acting Oscar in sci-fi, Don Ameche in ''[[Cocoon]]'' won in the Supporting Actor category. No victories for actresses.

** Olivia de Havilland won Best Actress for playing a mental patient in "The Snake Pit" 20 years before Robertson won.

** ''[[~~What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Film)|~~What's Eating Gilbert Grape]]'' earned [[Leonardo ~~Di Caprio~~]] his first Oscar nomination for playing a mentally retarded boy.

** ''[[What's Eating Gilbert Grape]]'' earned [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] his first Oscar nomination for playing a mentally retarded boy.

** ''[[One Flew Over the ~~Cuckoos~~ Nest]]'', one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, and one of only three films to win all of the "Big Five" Oscars (Picture, Screenplay, Director, Actor, and Actress -- the other two films, for those keeping score, are ''[[It Happened One Night]]'' and ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]''). The acting awards, though, were given to actors who played ''non'' mentally ill characters (McMurphy and Nurse Ratched).

** ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, and one of only three films to win all of the "Big Five" Oscars (Picture, Screenplay, Director, Actor, and Actress -- the other two films, for those keeping score, are ''[[It Happened One Night]]'' and ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]''). The acting awards, though, were given to actors who played ''non'' mentally ill characters (McMurphy and Nurse Ratched).

** [[Peter Sellers]] was nominated for playing Chance the Gardener in ''[[Being There]]'' (1979) -- a mentally challenged character; as well, he gained weight for the part (see below). But while he always wanted to win an Oscar, and had been nominated before, he ''did not'' want to make this film because it was Oscar bait but because of its inherent challenge and extremely personal [[Reality Subtext]]. And in part due to the [[Comedy Ghetto]], he didn't win the Oscar; it's now regarded as a [[Award Snub|snub]]. Ironically, years later ''Sellers himself'' became awards bait. Geoffrey Rush -- who won for ''Shine''! -- played him in 2004's ''The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'' (and a deleted scene on the DVD reveals an in-joke about mentally handicapped characters when the story gets to ''Being There''). It played theatrically overseas, on TV in the U.S., and it and Rush near-swept that year's Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

** This trend was mercilessly spoofed by ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'', in which action star Tugg Speedman ([[Ben Stiller]]) previously made a transparently [[Oscar Bait]] movie called ''Simple Jack'', about a mentally challenged farm hand. The film-within-a-film was a total box office bomb, and called one of the worst films of all time. Robert Downey Jr.'s character later explains to him that the successful [[Oscar Bait]] films described above worked because the actors didn't go, in his words, "full retard", instead playing their characters as more mildly challenged in order to fish for awards without alienating the audience.

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'''Tugg Speedman:''' What do you mean?

'''Kirk Lazarus:''' Check it out. [[Dustin Hoffman]], ''[[Rain Man]]'', look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know [[Tom Hanks]], ''[[Forrest Gump]]''. Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. [[Peter Sellers]], ''[[Being There]]''. Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, ''[[I Am Sam]]''. Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed... }}

*** Ironically, [[Robert Downey Jr]]'s next film was ''The Soloist'', which features a [[Real Life]] paranoid schizophrenic savant musician played by previous Best Actor winner Jamie Foxx (RDJ played the LA Times reporter who befriends him) - no Oscars for either of them, though.

*** Ironically, [[Robert Downey, Jr.]]'s next film was ''The Soloist'', which features a [[Real Life]] paranoid schizophrenic savant musician played by previous Best Actor winner Jamie Foxx (RDJ played the LA Times reporter who befriends him) - no Oscars for either of them, though.

*** Even more ironically, [[Robert Downey Jr]] was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor" for playing Kirk Lazarus in ''Tropic Thunder''. He lost to [[Heath Ledger]] though, 'cause everyone knows the level of insanity Heath's role reached...

*** Even more ironically, [[Robert Downey, Jr.]] was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor" for playing Kirk Lazarus in ''Tropic Thunder''. He lost to [[Heath Ledger]] though, 'cause everyone knows the level of insanity Heath's role reached...

** And also the movie ''Sling Blade'', which made Billy Bob Thornton into a movie star.

* The female equivalent of the "mental health" [[Oscar Bait]] is [[Beauty Inversion|having an attractive actress play a downright ugly character]]. This often goes far beyond [[Hollywood Homely]] into [[Dyeing for Your Art|changing her physical appearance]] -- Charlize Theron, for example, put on 30 pounds and had her hair thinned for ''[[Monster (~~Film~~)|Monster]]'', while in ''[[The Hours]]'', [[Nicole Kidman]] had prosthetics applied to her face (including a fake nose) to make her unrecognizable.

* The female equivalent of the "mental health" [[Oscar Bait]] is [[Beauty Inversion|having an attractive actress play a downright ugly character]]. This often goes far beyond [[Hollywood Homely]] into [[Dyeing for Your Art|changing her physical appearance]] -- Charlize Theron, for example, put on 30 pounds and had her hair thinned for ''[[Monster (film)|Monster]]'', while in ''[[The Hours]]'', [[Nicole Kidman]] had prosthetics applied to her face (including a fake nose) to make her unrecognizable.

** Averted by [[Julia Roberts]] who finally won her Oscar by donning miniskirts and push-up bras as [[Erin Brockovich]].

** On the other hand, Joanne Woodward won an Oscar for playing a woman with multiple personality disorder in ''The Three Faces of Eve''. So the women can play the mental health card too.

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** First, in terms of acting, there is:

*** Sean Penn for ''[[Milk]]''

*** [[Tom Hanks]] for ''[[Philadelphia (~~Film~~)|Philadelphia]]''

*** [[Tom Hanks]] for ''[[Philadelphia (film)|Philadelphia]]''

*** Philip Seymour Hoffman for ''[[Capote]]''

*** and Hilary Swank for ''[[Boys Don't Cry]]''.

** Then, consider the infamous 2006 Oscars where ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' got snubbed for Best Picture. It still won Best Director. [[Heath Ledger]] and Jake Gyllenhaal were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively, as well as Felicity Huffman for playing a trans woman in ''[[Transamerica]]''.

** Ultimately, ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' and ''[[Transamerica]]'' were out-Oscar Baited by ''[[Crash (~~Film~~)|Crash]]'', which had the far safer message of "[[Anvilicious|Racism is bad]], [[South Park|mmm-kay?]]".

** Ultimately, ''[[Brokeback Mountain]]'' and ''[[Transamerica]]'' were out-Oscar Baited by ''[[Crash (film)|Crash]]'', which had the far safer message of "[[Anvilicious|Racism is bad]], [[South Park|mmm-kay?]]".

* [[Dyeing for Your Art|Punishing your body for the role]] is frequently rewarded, though it's medically unwise to do so. Of note is a (perhaps justified) [[Double Standard]] at play here however: Of the three basic methods of non-surgical body modification (namely losing weight, gaining weight<ref>In the form of body fat</ref>, or building muscle mass) the first two of these are much more commonly lauded as achievements worthy of recognition, regardless of the amount of effort put into the last. This is presumably because they require an actor to ''worsen'' his or her appearance rather than enhance it, the attainment of a fit or muscular body being seen as a prize in itself.

** [[Robert De Niro]] essentially started this with ''[[Raging Bull]]'', when he gained 60 pounds for the part. He won Best Actor.

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** [[Tom Hanks]] for ''Cast Away''.

** ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' for [[Heath Ledger]]'s [[Author Existence Failure|swan song]].

** [[Natalie Portman]] for ''[[~~Black Swan (Film)|~~Black Swan]]'', having slimmed down to 97 pounds and undergone intense ballet training for six months for the role.

** [[Natalie Portman]] for ''[[Black Swan]]'', having slimmed down to 97 pounds and undergone intense ballet training for six months for the role.

** [[Christian Bale]] cut a ton of weight for the third time of his career for [[The Fighter]] which won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

* Remember, the Academy loves underdogs (''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]], [[Erin Brockovich]], [[On the Waterfront]], [[Cinderella Man]]'').

* Movies set in foreign locations with hints of realism, are becoming a big thing with the Oscars. Example are films like ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'', ''[[City of God]]'', ''[[~~Babel (Film)|~~Babel]]'' etc.

* Movies set in foreign locations with hints of realism, are becoming a big thing with the Oscars. Example are films like ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'', ''[[City of God]]'', ''[[Babel]]'' etc.

** Though in ''City of God'''s case, it didn't the run for Best Foreign Film the year before it went up for the major awards (then again, the AMPAS wing responsible for that category is considered the most conservative of all).

* A trend in recent years is to give nominations and awards to what is almost a sub-genre of independent films which can best be described as 'quirky'; often featuring "hip" dialogue with an emphasis placed on irony and / or the seemingly trivial, eccentric characters and a primary theme being an often sarcastic, scathing expose of the hollow, boring and pointless emptiness of everyday modern society and [[You Suck|those who inhabit it]]. See movies such as ''[[American Beauty]]'', ''[[Little Miss Sunshine]]'', ''[[Juno]]'' etc. With some of these movies, there can also be a sense that the filmmakers are striving hard to appear edgy and radical [[Rule-Abiding Rebel|without actually]] ''[[Rule-Abiding Rebel|being]]'' [[The Man Is Sticking It to ~~The~~ Man|edgy and radical]].

* A trend in recent years is to give nominations and awards to what is almost a sub-genre of independent films which can best be described as 'quirky'; often featuring "hip" dialogue with an emphasis placed on irony and / or the seemingly trivial, eccentric characters and a primary theme being an often sarcastic, scathing expose of the hollow, boring and pointless emptiness of everyday modern society and [[You Suck|those who inhabit it]]. See movies such as ''[[American Beauty]]'', ''[[Little Miss Sunshine]]'', ''[[Juno]]'' etc. With some of these movies, there can also be a sense that the filmmakers are striving hard to appear edgy and radical [[Rule-Abiding Rebel|without actually]] ''[[Rule-Abiding Rebel|being]]'' [[The Man Is Sticking It to the Man|edgy and radical]].

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== Oscar Bait examples ==

* ''[[Million Dollar Baby]]'': a serious film (narrated by [[Morgan Freeman]]) about a disadvantaged woman making a place for herself in a traditionally male-dominated occupation. The other major character has an internal morality struggle and ultimately discards his traditional ethic and does the unthinkable, which is what you're clearly supposed to want him to do, in a long melodramatic drawn-out [[Downer Ending]]. Four Academy Awards including Best Picture. Box-office success, because the first two-thirds of the film is actually watchable.

** Heck, ''anything'' [[Clint Eastwood]]'s directed lately: [[WW 2]] films ''[[Flags of ~~Our~~ Fathers]]''/''[[Letters From Iwo Jima]]'', 1920s missing child/conspiracy film ''[[Changeling (~~Film~~)|Changeling]]'' starring Oscar Bait actress Angelina Jolie, and bigot redemption film ''[[Gran Torino]]'' (which didn't get nominated for an Oscar, but earned Eastwood a special Palme d'Or instead at Cannes). ''[[Invictus]]'' was about Nelson Mandela and rugby player [[The Bourne Identity|Jason Bourne]] uniting post-apartheid South Africa, and ''J. Edgar'' was a J. Edgar Hoover [[Biopic]].

** Heck, ''anything'' [[Clint Eastwood]]'s directed lately: [[WW 2]] films ''[[Flags of our Fathers]]''/''[[Letters From Iwo Jima]]'', 1920s missing child/conspiracy film ''[[Changeling (film)|Changeling]]'' starring Oscar Bait actress Angelina Jolie, and bigot redemption film ''[[Gran Torino]]'' (which didn't get nominated for an Oscar, but earned Eastwood a special Palme d'Or instead at Cannes). ''[[Invictus]]'' was about Nelson Mandela and rugby player [[The Bourne Identity|Jason Bourne]] uniting post-apartheid South Africa, and ''J. Edgar'' was a J. Edgar Hoover [[Biopic]].

* ''[[The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]]'' should have been called ''The Curious Case of the 13 Oscar Nominations''.

** Its partner in Oscar glory ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'' (exotic location, a [[Film of the Book]], ethnic orphans, [[Real Life]] slum kid actors, triumph over huge amounts of adversity, a heartwarming love story, lush/gritty real locations, and even a dance number) [[Harry Potter|"pottered"]] (utterly dominated) the 2009 Oscars (though neither in the acting categories). ''Benjamin Button'' won the visual effects Oscar over '''''[[The Dark Knight]] and [[Iron Man (~~Film~~)|Iron Man]]''''' with make-up generally considered to plunge into the [[Uncanny Valley]], while ''Slumdog'' took the sound Oscar from ''[[WALL-E]]'', a movie whose first half is '''nothing but sound'''. To ''Slumdog'''s credit, it really was an underdog film that no one thought would even get made (the director had to finance it himself), let alone win [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Best Director and Best Picture]].

** Its partner in Oscar glory ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'' (exotic location, a [[Film of the Book]], ethnic orphans, [[Real Life]] slum kid actors, triumph over huge amounts of adversity, a heartwarming love story, lush/gritty real locations, and even a dance number) [[Harry Potter|"pottered"]] (utterly dominated) the 2009 Oscars (though neither in the acting categories). ''Benjamin Button'' won the visual effects Oscar over '''''[[The Dark Knight]] and [[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]]''''' with make-up generally considered to plunge into the [[Uncanny Valley]], while ''Slumdog'' took the sound Oscar from ''[[WALL-E]]'', a movie whose first half is '''nothing but sound'''. To ''Slumdog'''s credit, it really was an underdog film that no one thought would even get made (the director had to finance it himself), let alone win [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Best Director and Best Picture]].

*** Since ''Benjamin Button'', [[David Fincher]] has had an up-and-down relationship with the Oscars. His next film, ''[[The Social Network]]'', was heavily campaigned for the Oscars but lost Best Picture (and more astonishingly, Best Director) to the bait-ier ''[[The King's Speech]].'' The disappointment with that led to him backing out of campaigning with ''[[The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo]]'', saying the film has "too much anal rape" to appeal to Academy viewers (though that hasn't stopped [[Pulp Fiction|other]] [[Deliverance|films]] from getting Oscar attention, so who knows? specially as the anal rape victim got a Best Actress nom!).

* ''The Cider House Rules'': Serious drama featuring a disadvantaged main character (orphan), who suffers several tragedies. Also features WWII. Another major character becomes disabled. Finally, the major character encounters a situation in which he has a morality struggle and eventually discards his traditional ethics. Serious ending, albeit perhaps not a downer as such. Two Oscars and numerous additional nominations.

* ''[[Doubt (~~Theatre~~)|Doubt]]''. It won multiple Tonys on Broadway, including Best Play and Best Actress for Cherry Jones. The film's cast is [[Oscar Bait]] in itself... [[Meryl Streep]], Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams take the lead roles. Then there's the actual ''plot''... it focuses on the Catholic altar-boy scandal, with the added benefit of the boy in question being the school's first black student. Streep has already secured a nomination, and if she delivered anywhere near what she's capable of, she's virtually guaranteed a win as well.

* ''[[Doubt (theatre)|Doubt]]''. It won multiple Tonys on Broadway, including Best Play and Best Actress for Cherry Jones. The film's cast is [[Oscar Bait]] in itself... [[Meryl Streep]], Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams take the lead roles. Then there's the actual ''plot''... it focuses on the Catholic altar-boy scandal, with the added benefit of the boy in question being the school's first black student. Streep has already secured a nomination, and if she delivered anywhere near what she's capable of, she's virtually guaranteed a win as well.

** It managed acting nominations for all four principal actors, and an Adapted Screenplay nod as well.

** It was [[Troperiffic]] Pulitzer bait long before it was Oscar Bait. It's, essentially, a [[Ripped from the Headlines]] battle of wits between [[Manipulative Bastard|a popular and well-liked]] [[Pedophile Priest]] and the [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|rather acerbic]] [[Dean Bitterman|School Principal]] / [[Nuns-N-Rosaries|Nun]] who suspects him of molesting a young boy. Add this to the fact that the boy is not only [[Civil Rights Movement|the first black student in an otherwise white school,]] but the boy's Father [[Gayngst|suspects him to be gay as well]] and [[Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off|punishes him for it]]. John Patrick Shanley has gone on record linking it to [[The War On Terror]] because of its ambiguity and [[Who Shot JFK?|the Kennedy assassination]] because of [[The Sixties|the time period]] and the overtones of [[Innocence Lost]]. [[Old Shame|This is all from the same guy who wrote]] ''[[~~Were~~ Back a ~~Dinosaurs~~ Story]]''.

** It was [[Troperiffic]] Pulitzer bait long before it was Oscar Bait. It's, essentially, a [[Ripped from the Headlines]] battle of wits between [[Manipulative Bastard|a popular and well-liked]] [[Pedophile Priest]] and the [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|rather acerbic]] [[Dean Bitterman|School Principal]] / [[Nuns-N-Rosaries|Nun]] who suspects him of molesting a young boy. Add this to the fact that the boy is not only [[Civil Rights Movement|the first black student in an otherwise white school,]] but the boy's Father [[Gayngst|suspects him to be gay as well]] and [[Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off|punishes him for it]]. John Patrick Shanley has gone on record linking it to [[The War on Terror]] because of its ambiguity and [[Who Shot JFK?|the Kennedy assassination]] because of [[The Sixties|the time period]] and the overtones of [[Innocence Lost]]. [[Old Shame|This is all from the same guy who wrote]] ''[[We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story]]''.

* The ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' episode "The Body" has been accused of being Emmy bait for pretty much the same reasons that movies are seen as Oscar bait.

** Intrestingly, that episode didn't get nominated for a Emmy, but "[[No Dialogue Episode|Hush]]" got nominated for Best Writing in a Drama Series.

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* An interesting example is the DreamWorks/Paramount movie ''[[Dreamgirls]]''. It was Oscar bait from the moment it was announced and the award hype only increased during production. Sure enough, come Oscar time it was nominated for eight awards (including ''three'' nominated [[Movie Bonus Song|Movie Bonus Songs]]). Shockingly, however, it was not nominated in the Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress or Best Director categories. That "failure" was actually a minor scandal in Hollywood; the movie was created to win Oscars, and in that it failed. And, hilariously, it didn't win for Best Original Song (some believe that having three songs nominated might have split the vote.)

** And the feeling in Los Angeles is that it ''would'' have won Eddie Murphy a deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, were it not for the hideous, ten-story posters emblazoned all over the city for the movie ''Norbit'', starring Eddie Murphy and... Eddie Murphy. Ouch.

* ''[[~~The Reader (Literature)|~~The Reader]]'', a Holocaust-themed drama complete with Harvey Weinstein pimping it out to voters. Actually, probably all of the class of '09 Best Picture nominees. Oddly, compared to the other four, ''Slumdog'' almost seems the ''least'' Oscar-baity, and it turned out to be the big winner.

* ''[[The Reader]]'', a Holocaust-themed drama complete with Harvey Weinstein pimping it out to voters. Actually, probably all of the class of '09 Best Picture nominees. Oddly, compared to the other four, ''Slumdog'' almost seems the ''least'' Oscar-baity, and it turned out to be the big winner.

** ''Reader'' will go down in infamy for supplanting both ''The Dark Knight'' and ''Wall-E'' for the best picture nomination, despite only getting a 62% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] compared to their 94% and 96%, among other measurements of critical acclaim. That double snub is in turn almost certainly the driving factor behind expanding the Best Picture Nomination category to 10.

*** The nomination snub was mercilessly spoofed by Hugh Jackman's glorious opening number: while riding a cardboard Batmobile, he sang, "How come comic book movies never get nominated? How can a billion dollars be unsophisticated?". Later on, while dancing robotically with strobe lights (in lieu of an actual dance routine based on ''The Reader''), Jackman admitted to not seeing the film, singing, "I was going to see it later but I fell behind; my Batmobile took longer than I thought to design."

** What makes Winslet's win even funnier is that ''[[Wayne's World ~~(Film)~~|Waynes World]]'''s Oscar-clip spoof with Wayne tearfully admitting "I never learned to read!"

** What makes Winslet's win even funnier is that ''[[Wayne's World|Waynes World]]'''s Oscar-clip spoof with Wayne tearfully admitting "I never learned to read!"

* ''The Great Ziegfeld'', Best Picture winner of 1936, was three long hours of big Broadway musical ''and'' angsty melodrama. This lavish [[Biopic]] starred William Powell as the producer whose name, four years after his death (depicted in the film's last scene, of course), was the most legendary in show business.

* ''[[Precious]]'' is such a painfully obvious example of [[Oscar Bait]]. It's a [[Film of the Book]] story about an illiterate black teenager who is raped by her father and emotionally, physically, and mentally abused by her mother. Her first child is called "Mongo" (short for mongoloid). The story ends with Precious having a new lease on life and trying to improve her life and the lives of her children as she plans to take the GED test. Honestly, the screenwriters should have just called it Black Oscar Bait or Oscar Bait: Black Edition. 30 Rock brilliantly summed it up by naming a satire ''Hard To Watch: Based on the novel "Stone Cold Bummer" by Manipulate''.

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* The winner of the Golden Bear award in 2010 is the Turkish movie ''Bal'' (Honey). It's about a six year old boy wandering through a forest looking for his father, who is a beekeeper and disappeared after all his bees vanished. Of course the father dies in an accident. There's few dialog or music in the film (and probably not much of a plot as well), and all the characters seem not to be quite right.

* The 2008 film ''Defiance'' might be one of the more shamelessly obvious, borderline cynical attempts at an Oscar grab in the past few years. It's [[Based on a True Story]], set during the Holocaust, and follows a community of Belarussian Jews as they hide in the forests and fight back against the Nazis (in other words: Oscar gold). It has the fairly standard dark and gritty tone favored by Academy voters, with a brooding [[Anti-Hero]] (played by frequent award winner [[Daniel Craig]]) forced into cruel, angsty moral dilemmas that play out as if saying "you seeing this, voters?" [[Schindler's List|The film ends with a short montage of the fates of the people depicted, with real life pictures and the assurance that the descendants of this group numbers in the tens of thousands today.]] Ironically enough, in spite of having pretty much everything needed for a total Oscar blowout, it only received nominations for its music from both Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Proof that the Academy is not entirely gullible, perhaps?

* A different sort of Oscar-bait took place in 2011 with [[Younger and Hipper]] hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco, who both happen to be in the Oscar-bait-tastic movies ''[[Love and Other Drugs]]'' (in which she plays a woman falling in love with a guy played by Jake Gyllenhaal while dying of a disease) and ''[[~~One Hundred and Twenty Seven Hours|~~127 Hours]]'' (in which he plays a [[Real Life]] hiker who {{spoiler|gets trapped by a boulder and cuts off his own hand to escape}}).

* A different sort of Oscar-bait took place in 2011 with [[Younger and Hipper]] hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco, who both happen to be in the Oscar-bait-tastic movies ''[[Love and Other Drugs]]'' (in which she plays a woman falling in love with a guy played by Jake Gyllenhaal while dying of a disease) and ''[[127 Hours]]'' (in which he plays a [[Real Life]] hiker who {{spoiler|gets trapped by a boulder and cuts off his own hand to escape}}).

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by her:

{{quote| '''Anne Hathaway:''' I thought getting naked would get me an Oscar nod.}}

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* ''[[The Help]]''. [[Period Piece]] taking place in [[The Sixties]]? Check. [[White Man's Burden]]-type plot? (the main character is a white female reporter who helps black maids) Based on a bestselling novel? Check.

* Several reviews use the term itself in reference to [[Steven Spielberg]]'s 2011 film version of ''[[War Horse]]''. The film's bombastic, overwrought trailer provoked a similar reaction from many moviegoers even before its release.

* A rather obvious example of the "December release" bait is the 2012 film ''[[~~The Iron Lady (Film)|~~The Iron Lady]]'', getting a limited release on December 30th, 2011 in only Los Angeles and New York, barely above the bare minimum needed for Oscar eligibility.

* A rather obvious example of the "December release" bait is the 2012 film ''[[The Iron Lady]]'', getting a limited release on December 30th, 2011 in only Los Angeles and New York, barely above the bare minimum needed for Oscar eligibility.

** Of course, that's not counting the bait revolving around the movie itself. Technically, it's a period piece, controversial, biopic, [[Inspirationally Disadvantaged]] (they show Thatcher's struggle with dementia), [[Meryl Streep]], need we go on? When the rumors first started that Streep was playing Thatcher in a film, a few people joked that there must be a box of awards with Streep's name already on them, and they were just making the movie as an excuse to finally give them to her.

* The English release of ''[[The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo]]'', while still a solid enough film, has hallmarks that should endear it to the Academy: [[Rooney Mara]]'s character Lisbeth Salander gets {{spoiler|anally raped}}, the movie came out around Christmas, and is set in a foreign location. Fincher and Mara both feel the movie isn't really Academy material, however, it did pick up two Golden Globe nominations: Best Actress and Best Score (for [[Nine Inch Nails|Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross]]'s soundtrack)

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* ''[[Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close]]'', basically the new ''Reader''. Despite getting mixed reviews by critics (47% on Rotten Tomatoes), it got a best picture nomination. Why? The reasons are many. It deals with the September 11 attacks and an [[Ambiguous Disorder]] child who has to deal with them and their effect on his family. It stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, both powerful figures in the film industry. Directed by Stephen Daldry, who directed other Oscar Bait films such as ''The Hours'' and ''The Reader'', written by Eric Roth, who wrote ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' and ''[[The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]]'', and produced by Scott Rudin, second only to the Weinsteins in influence over the Academy.

* ''[[Invictus]]''. A bio pic featuring Nelson Mandela helping inspire South Africa's underdog rugby team.

* Ron Howard's ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'', (loosely) about [[Real Life]] paranoid schizophrenic (and Nobel Laureate in Economics) John Nash. Cured by [[The Power of Love]]? Check. Whitewashes potential unsavory details, such as Nash's bisexuality? Check. Special mention goes to winning an Best Screenwriting Oscar for the man who wrote ''[[Batman and Robin (~~Film~~)|Batman and Robin]]''.

* Ron Howard's ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'', (loosely) about [[Real Life]] paranoid schizophrenic (and Nobel Laureate in Economics) John Nash. Cured by [[The Power of Love]]? Check. Whitewashes potential unsavory details, such as Nash's bisexuality? Check. Special mention goes to winning an Best Screenwriting Oscar for the man who wrote ''[[Batman and Robin (film)|Batman and Robin]]''.

* ''[[Green Zone]]''. Academy Award nominated star and director? Check. War movie? Check. Themes [[Ripped from the Headlines]]? Check. Supposed anti-war message? Check. However, the film got pushed back and was panned by critics when it was released.

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== Notable exceptions ==

* The categories for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay are famous for almost always going to the actual best movie of the year. Seriously; look down those lists and the one for Best Picture. Not a coincidence.

** This trend can be seen going all the way back to ''[[~~Citizen Kane (Film)|~~Citizen Kane]]'', whose sole Oscar win was for its screenplay.

** This trend can be seen going all the way back to ''[[Citizen Kane]]'', whose sole Oscar win was for its screenplay.

* The Animated Feature category established in 2001 may ghettoize the form, but the voters are now more open to nominating independent efforts such as ''[[Persepolis]]'' and often eschew [[Quality By Popular Vote]] (''[[Spirited Away]]'''s 2002 win, [[Film/Howls Moving Castle|the]] [[Wallace and Gromit|2005]] [[Corpse Bride ~~(Animation)~~|nominees]]). On the other hand, anime films have been snubbed from nominations unless they are [[Studio Ghibli]] efforts that benefit from U.S. distributor Disney's lobbying -- no matter how much [[Oscar Bait]] they scream, they [[~~Five~~ Centimeters Per Second|will]] [[Paprika|remain]] [[Sword of the Stranger|in the cold]]. (Even ''with'' Disney's distribution, [[Ponyo On the Cliff By ~~The~~ Sea|there's still no guarantee]]...) Motion-capture films have similar problems.

* The Animated Feature category established in 2001 may ghettoize the form, but the voters are now more open to nominating independent efforts such as ''[[Persepolis]]'' and often eschew [[Quality by Popular Vote]] (''[[Spirited Away]]'''s 2002 win, [[Film/Howls Moving Castle|the]] [[Wallace and Gromit|2005]] [[Corpse Bride|nominees]]). On the other hand, anime films have been snubbed from nominations unless they are [[Studio Ghibli]] efforts that benefit from U.S. distributor Disney's lobbying -- no matter how much [[Oscar Bait]] they scream, they [[5 Centimeters Per Second|will]] [[Paprika|remain]] [[Sword of the Stranger|in the cold]]. (Even ''with'' Disney's distribution, [[Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea|there's still no guarantee]]...) Motion-capture films have similar problems.

** An infamous [[Oscar Bait]] exception in the early days of this category is ''[[Millennium Actress]]'' (RT score 94%): opens with [[Titanic|an old woman recalling her past through flashbacks]], [[Forrest Gump]]-type period piece, [[Tear Jerker]], tragic ending... Sounds perfect for an [[Oscar Bait]]. Didn't received even a nomination at the 2003 Award. In case you're wondering, ''[[Brother Bear]]'' (RT score 38%) received a nomination that year.

** This category itself can be an exception if you take a look at the winners: 10 out of 10 of them are box office blockbusters, at least in their home countries (''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' was a lesser sucess, but still).

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** ''[[Silence of the Lambs]]'' was also released in [[Dump Month|January]] of 1991...a full 14 MONTHS before it won all those awards at the 1992 Oscars ceremony.

** The last horror film to win one of the top awards (and ''only'' one prior to ''Silence'') was ''[[Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'', for which Fredric March won Best Actor...in 1932!

** Consider that the one other film among the 1991 Best Picture nominees that compared in terms of critical praise ''and'' box-office popularity was ''[[Beauty and ~~The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The~~ Beast]]'', which had the [[Animation Age Ghetto]] working against it -- to the point that jokes were made during the telecast about how a film consisting of "movable paintings" (as Billy Crystal put it in his opening number as host) was up against movies with live actors.

** Consider that the one other film among the 1991 Best Picture nominees that compared in terms of critical praise ''and'' box-office popularity was ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'', which had the [[Animation Age Ghetto]] working against it -- to the point that jokes were made during the telecast about how a film consisting of "movable paintings" (as Billy Crystal put it in his opening number as host) was up against movies with live actors.

* ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[Titanic]]'' were about trying to get dream projects on screen, not about winning Oscars. Yet one got a sweep, and the other got almost all of its awards, though the former did not do so until the entire trilogy was finished (it's suggested the awards for Return of the King apply to the whole trilogy as the Academy didn't want a three-year shutout). Both films were widely praised and made a ridiculous amount of money and remain excessively popular to this day, even factoring in the usual [[Hype Backlash]].

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' (the original 1977 film) got Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (for Sir Alec Guinness) and Best Screenplay. It didn't win any of them, of course, but ''still''. ''[[~~Raiders of the Lost Ark (Film)|~~Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' also managed to get nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' (the original 1977 film) got Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (for Sir Alec Guinness) and Best Screenplay. It didn't win any of them, of course, but ''still''. ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' also managed to get nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.

** Same for ''[[E.T. the ~~Extraterrestrial (Film)~~|ET the Extraterrestrial]]''.

** Same for ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]''.

** Likewise, 2010's ceremony saw best picture nominations for sci-fi films ''[[Avatar (~~Film~~)|Avatar]]'' and ''[[~~District 9 (Film)|~~District 9]]''. Both were nominated, without winning, in other major categories: the former was nominated for directing, the latter for adapted screenplay. On the other hand, the ''[[Star Trek]]'' franchise got its first Oscar, for makeup. It only took eleven films and 30 years.

** Likewise, 2010's ceremony saw best picture nominations for sci-fi films ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' and ''[[District 9]]''. Both were nominated, without winning, in other major categories: the former was nominated for directing, the latter for adapted screenplay. On the other hand, the ''[[Star Trek]]'' franchise got its first Oscar, for makeup. It only took eleven films and 30 years.

* [[Sigourney Weaver]] was nominated for Best Actress for the science fiction action thriller ''[[Alien (~~Film~~)|Aliens]]''.

* [[Sigourney Weaver]] was nominated for Best Actress for the science fiction action thriller ''[[Alien (franchise)|Aliens]]''.

** Rightfully so.

* ''[[~~Annie Hall (Film)|~~Annie Hall]]'': Despite being a comedy (which rarely win and when they do it's usually just for screenplay or maybe acting), it won Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. That said, it was a notably [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] comedy and close to a drama at times, which possibly helped sooth the Academy's conscience about awarding it.

* ''[[Annie Hall]]'': Despite being a comedy (which rarely win and when they do it's usually just for screenplay or maybe acting), it won Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture. That said, it was a notably [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] comedy and close to a drama at times, which possibly helped sooth the Academy's conscience about awarding it.

* ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'' -- Period piece? Check. Prison piece? Check. [[Magical Negro]]? Check. Morgan Freeman ''is'' the [[Magical Negro]]? Check. [[Redemption in ~~The~~ Rain]] so iconic that it's the [[Trope Namer]]? Check. "Brooks was here"? Check. Zero Oscars? Yup. Actually widely considered one of the all-time greatest films ever made? Damn straight it is. Tropes are not bad when they are done this well.

* ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]'' -- Period piece? Check. Prison piece? Check. [[Magical Negro]]? Check. Morgan Freeman ''is'' the [[Magical Negro]]? Check. [[Redemption in the Rain]] so iconic that it's the [[Trope Namer]]? Check. "Brooks was here"? Check. Zero Oscars? Yup. Actually widely considered one of the all-time greatest films ever made? Damn straight it is. Tropes are not bad when they are done this well.

** Then again, remember what it was [[Forrest Gump|up]] [[Pulp Fiction|against]].

** The next Darabont direction of a King adaptation was ''[[The Green Mile]]''...another prison piece with the [[Magical Negro]] (getting Michael Clarke Duncan a Best Supporting Actor nod), and was nominated for three others, including Best Picture...but whiffed itself. Probably why the next time Darabont directed a King adaptation, they went as far from [[Oscar Bait]] as humanly possible with ''[[The Mist]]''...

* ''[[The Dark Knight]]'', the first comic-book movie to win an acting nomination (for [[Heath Ledger]]), with three acting nominations for films based on graphic novels (or in one case, a comic strip) preceding this win <ref>For those keeping score at home, these were Al Pacino for ''Dick Tracy'', Paul Newman for ''Road to Perdition'' and William Hurt in ''A History of Violence''</ref>. Not to mention being one of the very few comic-book movies to be nominated in ''any'' of the non-technical categories ([[Dead Artists Are Better|Though it's debated how likely its win would have been if Ledger were still alive.]])

* ''[[The Departed]]'' along with its immediate successor to the Best Picture throne ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' is one of the grittiest, most violent (non war related) movies to ever take the Best Picture Oscar. It also notably has the most profanity of any film to win Best Picture. Other than Martin Scorsese's involvement there's not really anything about it that screams [[Oscar Bait]]. People can't really agree on whether it won on the basis of it being good or [[Consolation Award|because Martin Scorsese had been denied the Oscar numerous times before.]] One thing is for certain though, The Departed is nowhere near the Oscar Bait levels reached by ''[[The Aviator]]'' and ''[[Gangs of New York]]'', Scorsese's two previous films both period pieces and one a biopic. Neither won Best Director or Picture (plus, the latter got shut out of 11 noms!).

* The two "dinner scenes" in ''[[The Nutty Professor]]'', which featured [[Eddie Murphy]] playing all the members of his family, were widely credited with giving the film the Best Makeup award over the favorite, ''[[~~Star Trek First Contact|~~Star Trek: First Contact]]''. Thing is, this was completely accidental - the director hated the idea and didn't want to film the sequences, but Eddie Murphy and Rick Baker managed to persuade him to keep them in.

* The two "dinner scenes" in ''[[The Nutty Professor]]'', which featured [[Eddie Murphy]] playing all the members of his family, were widely credited with giving the film the Best Makeup award over the favorite, ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]''. Thing is, this was completely accidental - the director hated the idea and didn't want to film the sequences, but Eddie Murphy and Rick Baker managed to persuade him to keep them in.

** Eddie Murphy also won a Best Actor award from the National Society of Film Critics for his multiple performances.

* ''[[The Hurt Locker]]'' subverts most of the conventions of [[Oscar Bait]], yet it won the big prize. Super low budget, No big studio to promote it or campaign for it, no [[An Aesop|political message]] despite being about [[The War On Terror]], no major stars in key roles, it came out in June and the lowest box office numbers of any Best Picture winner ever.

* ''[[The Hurt Locker]]'' subverts most of the conventions of [[Oscar Bait]], yet it won the big prize. Super low budget, No big studio to promote it or campaign for it, no [[An Aesop|political message]] despite being about [[The War on Terror]], no major stars in key roles, it came out in June and the lowest box office numbers of any Best Picture winner ever.

** Also there was the narrative to consider; finally getting a woman as Best Director, beating the director of the most successful film ever, and her ex-husband, no less.

* Not only does ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' mercilessly spoof and lampshade this trope, the film itself was responsible for an aversion of sorts when Robert Downey, Jr. was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, as the film is an out and out comedy.

** In the wake of the nominations for that year, more than a few people thought that the Best Supporting Actor nominations were intentionally underdogs, so as to give [[The Dark Knight|Heath Ledger]] a better chance at winning.

* ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'' is a starkly minimalistic, ruthlessly violent film that pegs the extreme end of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] (the cynical end, obviously) with such cheery themes as the nature of absolute evil, the inevitability and unpredictability of death, the violent nature of humankind, and the meaninglessness of the material world. It managed to win several awards including a richly deserved Best Supporting Actor to Javier Bardem for playing [[Complete Monster]] Anton Chigurh, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for the [[Coen Brothers]], and Best Picture, all on the basis of being really damn good.

* ''[[Drive (~~Film~~)|Drive]]'' is a graphically violent thriller (with arthouse/experimental tendencies) about a getaway driver that was originally intended to be a B-movie released in the summer. The final film was near-unanimously acclaimed and has been racking up many critics' awards... only to get a single Oscar nomination, for Best Sound Editing.

* ''[[Drive (film)|Drive]]'' is a graphically violent thriller (with arthouse/experimental tendencies) about a getaway driver that was originally intended to be a B-movie released in the summer. The final film was near-unanimously acclaimed and has been racking up many critics' awards... only to get a single Oscar nomination, for Best Sound Editing.

* ''[[The Artist]]'' and ''[[~~Hugo (Film)|~~Hugo]]'', a pair of [[Playing Against Type]] projects about the early days of cinema designed solely to entertain their audiences and teach film history (both films also uses interesting technologies, ''The Artist'' is silent while ''Hugo'' was shot in 3-D). They have gone on to become the two favorites to win Best Picture at the 2011 Academy Awards.

* ''[[The Artist]]'' and ''[[Hugo]]'', a pair of [[Playing Against Type]] projects about the early days of cinema designed solely to entertain their audiences and teach film history (both films also uses interesting technologies, ''The Artist'' is silent while ''Hugo'' was shot in 3-D). They have gone on to become the two favorites to win Best Picture at the 2011 Academy Awards.

** ''[[The Artist]]'' eventually came out on top for Best Picture, and ''[[Hugo]]'' swept the rest of the nominations, and winning 5. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|Plenty of people are happy about this]].

* The 1992 [[Spike Lee]] film ''[[Malcolm X]]'' seems like an Oscar bait film if ever there was one: an epic biopic about an icon of the civil rights movement, even managing to work in an inspirational [[The Cameo|cameo]] by none other than ''Nelson Mandela''... which ultimately got nominated for two Oscars (Best Actor for Denzel Washington and Best Costume Design), winning neither. Turns out, since the filmmakers were more concerned with fulfilling their vision and doing justice to the life of Malcolm X than raking in awards, they weren't actually too bothered by this.

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== [[Film|Films]] -- Live-Action ==

* ''[[The Mask (~~Film~~)|The Mask]]'', where after dodging a series of gunshots in several comedic forms, the Mask finally turns into a cowboy, allowing himself to be shot, and proceeds to die in another character's arms with a heartfelt [[Final Speech]] - at which point the audience cheers, prompting him to get up and tearfully accept an award.

* ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]'', where after dodging a series of gunshots in several comedic forms, the Mask finally turns into a cowboy, allowing himself to be shot, and proceeds to die in another character's arms with a heartfelt [[Final Speech]] - at which point the audience cheers, prompting him to get up and tearfully accept an award.

** This particular joke has been around since the days of the original [[Looney Tunes]]. Given the Mask's personality, that's most likely where he got the idea.

*** The hilarious part is that the mobsters that were shooting at him also react to the audience, checking their hair and straightening their suits like they were on television.

* ''[[Wayne's World ~~(Film)~~|Waynes World]]'' has Wayne give a tear-filled speech with the words "Oscar Clip" emblazoned over the shot.

* ''[[Wayne's World|Waynes World]]'' has Wayne give a tear-filled speech with the words "Oscar Clip" emblazoned over the shot.

* At the end of ''[[Road To]] Morocco'', [[Bob Hope]]'s character has accidentally blown up the ship, leaving the main cast stranded on a raft. Bob Hope [[Chewing the Scenery|chews up the scenery]], acting crazy and as if they've been stranded for weeks and are dying. When the camera pans up to reveal the New York City skyline, and another character tells him to calm down, they'll be rescued in a few minutes, Bob Hope bitterly remarks that they've ruined his chance for an Academy Award.

** In ''Road to Bali'', when [[Bing Crosby]] finds the Oscar [[Humphrey Bogart]] received for ''[[The African Queen]]'', Bob Hope snatches it away from him, tells him he already has one. Hope then begins making his acceptance speech. (He never was nominated for a competitive one, but he would receive 4 Honorary Oscars and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award - plus, he frequently appeared at the show, often as the host.)

* In ''[[Don't Be a Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In ~~The Hood (Film)|Don't Be a Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The~~ Hood]]'', after parodying one of the dramatic scenes from ''[[Boyz N the Hood]]'', the main character tells his girlfriend that he's trying to win the Best Black Actor at the Soul Train awards.

* In ''[[Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood]]'', after parodying one of the dramatic scenes from ''[[Boyz N the Hood]]'', the main character tells his girlfriend that he's trying to win the Best Black Actor at the Soul Train awards.

* ''Satan's Alley'', one of the [[Real Trailer Fake Movie|fake trailers]] in ''[[~~Tropic Thunder (Film)|~~Tropic Thunder]]'' is a head-on parody of this.

* ''Satan's Alley'', one of the [[Real Trailer, Fake Movie|fake trailers]] in ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' is a head-on parody of this.

* The trope is referenced and mocked in ''[[Bowfinger]]'' by black action star Kit Ramsey (Eddie Murphy):

{{quote| '''Kit Ramsey''': White boys get all the Oscars -- it's a fact!

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** Amusingly enough, while part of the joke was (presumably) that a whacked-out cowboy farce laced with racial humour and fart jokes was ill-positioned for acting nominations, the film ''was'' in fact nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Madeline Kahn).

* Since an Oscar speech kicks off the plot of the comedy ''[[In and Out]]'', the first 15 minutes of the movie has a field day with this trope. First, Matt Dillon's character wins for playing a gay soldier unfairly discharged from the military in a movie called ''To Protect And Serve'', which is a hilariously hammy pastiche incorporating elements of ''A Few Good Men'', ''Philadelphia'' and ''Forrest Gump.'' Second, the other nominees in the category are listed as follows: "Paul Newman for ''Coot'', Clint Eastwood for ''Codger'', Michael Douglas for ''Primary Urges'' and Steven Seagal for ''Snowball in Hell''."

* ''[[~~The Naked Gun (Film)|~~The Naked Gun]] 33 1/3''. The films nominated at the Oscars were all ridiculously [[High Concept]] ("the story of a woman coming to terms with the death of her dog during the Hindenburg disaster).

* ''[[The Naked Gun]] 33 1/3''. The films nominated at the Oscars were all ridiculously [[High Concept]] ("the story of a woman coming to terms with the death of her dog during the Hindenburg disaster).

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

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** Lets not forget Lewis snapping at people and then taking an aside monologue to question why he does so, Oswald starting to steal so he can feel close to his imprisoned father and Mr. Wick developping an eating disorder.

* French & Saunders' take on ''Cold Mountain'', where the [[Oscar Bait]] scenes immediately segue into "Zellweger" actually receiving it.

* ''[[The ~~Chasers~~ War On Everything]]'' had a sketch titled [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kj78anyCkM "Oscar Bait"], spoofing many of the common elements of this trope.

* ''[[The Chaser's War on Everything]]'' had a sketch titled [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kj78anyCkM "Oscar Bait"], spoofing many of the common elements of this trope.

* [[The Fast Show]] spoof 'Cute Disabled Man' won an award for "Best Portrayal of a Disabled Person by a Fit and Healthy Young Actor Who Wants to Win an Oscar'. "I love you, black man."

* A ''[[Kids in The Hall]]'' sketch shows the best actor nomination at an Oscar show, where we see three clips of three actors playing handicapped (from deaf to having a spike in the head) giving the exact same speech, standing up to their detractors (you know, guys who hate the deaf, and such) with the same appropriately stirring music - and a fourth clip of a guy playing Hamlet. The winner? "Omigod - everyone but the Hamlet guy!"

* ''[[Married ~~With~~ Children]]'' had at least one episode that ended with a heartwarming scene and the subtitle: "For your Emmy considerations."

* ''[[Married... with Children]]'' had at least one episode that ended with a heartwarming scene and the subtitle: "For your Emmy considerations."

* Parodied in [[~~30 Rock (TV)|~~30 Rock]] with ''Hard to Watch'', an obvious takeoff on [[Precious]].

* Parodied in [[30 Rock]] with ''Hard to Watch'', an obvious takeoff on [[Precious]].

* In ''[[Extras]]'', [[Kate Winslet]] plays in a movie about the Holocaust because of this. What makes this [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] is that she would win Best Actress in 2008 for ''[[~~The Reader (Literature)|~~The Reader]]''... a Holocaust movie.

* In ''[[Extras]]'', [[Kate Winslet]] plays in a movie about the Holocaust because of this. What makes this [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] is that she would win Best Actress in 2008 for ''[[The Reader]]''... a Holocaust movie.

== [[Video Games]] ==

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== [[Web Original]] ==

* There's a [http://baitanoscar.weebly.com/index.html monthly online contest] called "Bait an Oscar" where contestants write film pitches to be voted on as if they were Oscar contenders. Oddly enough, this is a [[Subverted Trope|subversion]] of the parodies listed below as almost all of the entires are sincere attempts to create good ideas for movies and the contestants tend to be ''fans'' of the Oscars rather than people who attack them.

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series ~~(Web Video)~~|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]'' had "A Very Special, Award-Winning Episode of Zorc & Pals".

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]'' had "A Very Special, Award-Winning Episode of Zorc & Pals".

{{quote| '''Florence''': What's wrong, Zorc? Why haven't you [[Running Gag|destroyed the world?]]

'''Zorc''': I have [[Soap Opera Disease|a terminal disease!]]

'''Florence''': You can't die! What about [[Ho Yay|our adopted daughter]]?

'''Zorc''': [[Rule of Drama|She also has]] [[Ill Girl|a terminal disease!]] }}

* Parodied [http://www.cracked.com/video_18156_a-trailer-every-academy-award-winning-movie-ever.html in this spoof video] done by BriTANicK.com and hosted on [[Cracked ~~(Website)~~|Cracked]]. It was such a spot-on parody that it even got its own page on TV Tropes, ''[[A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever]]''.

* Parodied [http://www.cracked.com/video_18156_a-trailer-every-academy-award-winning-movie-ever.html in this spoof video] done by BriTANicK.com and hosted on [[Cracked.com|Cracked]]. It was such a spot-on parody that it even got its own page on TV Tropes, ''[[A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever]]''.

** See also [http://www.cracked.com/article_18460_5-reasons-oscars-matter-even-less-than-you-thought.html this article] offering further proof that the Oscars exist solely to shit the bed.

* [[Kickassia]] has this in every scene regarding Spoony's attempts to avoid "giving in to the madness," ie his evil split personality Dr. Insano. He's a quite uncharacteristic [[Large Ham]] about having to constantly surpress his evil urges, and occasionally gets into [[Ham to Ham Combat]] over people wanting him to let Insano out.

* In the 3rd segment of [[Atop the Fourth Wall ~~(Web Video)~~|Linkara]]'s ''History of Power Rangers'' series, he shows a clip of Bulk and Skull trying to save a bunch of kids from drowning in a lake (they turned out to be playing, not drowning, as the lake was knee deep at that part), running down the pier on slow motion with inspirational music as they strip from their cadet uniforms into their swimsuits. At one point Linkara puts "Oscar clip" at the bottom of the screen.

* In the 3rd segment of [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]]'s ''History of Power Rangers'' series, he shows a clip of Bulk and Skull trying to save a bunch of kids from drowning in a lake (they turned out to be playing, not drowning, as the lake was knee deep at that part), running down the pier on slow motion with inspirational music as they strip from their cadet uniforms into their swimsuits. At one point Linkara puts "Oscar clip" at the bottom of the screen.

* ''Nerd to the Third Power'' host Dr. Gonzo swore up and down that ''Precious'' would win best picture, because "It's about an underprivileged black rape victim who gives birth to an incest baby with down syndrome. I haven't even SEEN the movie and I already want to kill myself! It HAS to win!" Those keeping score will know the ''The Hurt Locker'' won Best Picture that year.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[~~American Dad (Animation)|~~American Dad]]'': In a ''[[James Bond]]'' [[Whole-Plot Reference]] of sorts, Roger played the role of Tearjerker, a villain who made an [[Evil Plan]] to kill critics and moviegoers by making an incredibly sad movie. The movie, ''[[Meaningful Name|Oscar]] [[Punny Name|Gold]]'', was filled with Oscar Bait: It was about a mentally-challenged Jewish boy that is [[The Alcoholic|driven to alcoholism]] by the death of his puppy during the Holocaust, done in [[Deliberately Monochrome|black and white]]. All while hiding from the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi regime]], Anne Frank-style, in an attic.

* ''[[American Dad]]'': In a ''[[James Bond]]'' [[Whole-Plot Reference]] of sorts, Roger played the role of Tearjerker, a villain who made an [[Evil Plan]] to kill critics and moviegoers by making an incredibly sad movie. The movie, ''[[Meaningful Name|Oscar]] [[Punny Name|Gold]]'', was filled with Oscar Bait: It was about a mentally-challenged Jewish boy that is [[The Alcoholic|driven to alcoholism]] by the death of his puppy during the Holocaust, done in [[Deliberately Monochrome|black and white]]. All while hiding from the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi regime]], Anne Frank-style, in an attic.

** And he mentions having an even sadder movie, which is nothing but [[Rule of Drama|6 hours of a baby chimpanzee trying to revive its dead mother.]]

* One [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] short, ''The Wabbit Who Came to Supper'', had Bugs pleading with Elmer Fudd to let him into his house, complaining in a very dramatic fashion about how cold he was. He suddenly perked up and went "Say...this oughta win me the Academy Award!" Then he finished "dying", complete with mournful violins. He's probably done this a few other times, too. The plot of ''What's Cookin', Doc?'' has him attending the ceremony and demanding he receive the Best Actor award.

** On at least one occasion he is ''actually handed an Oscar statue'' in the middle of an overwrought, melodramatic display.

* ''[[~~Animaniacs (Animation)|~~Animaniacs]]'' did a somewhat [[Anvilicious]] spoof of even the animated awards they'd be qualified to compete for. Saving a beached whale was the start of the short.

* ''[[Animaniacs]]'' did a somewhat [[Anvilicious]] spoof of even the animated awards they'd be qualified to compete for. Saving a beached whale was the start of the short.

** It turns into a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] (or at least one hell of a [[Take That]]) {{spoiler|after they lose...}}

** They also did a more standard gag earlier: in a Thanksgiving episode, Miles Standish was out hunting turkey and the Warners were playing Native Americans ''raised'' by turkeys. This allowed Dot to wax eloquent over their hardship all while "ACADEMY MEMBERS VOTE NOW!" flashed on the screen.

** There's also a brief, but blunt reference during "Jokahontas" their [[Take That]] against Disney movies in particular. During the song "Same Old Heroine" (a parody of Pocahontas' "Colors of the Wind"), which is ALREADY a brutally mocking song about Disney recycling practically the same script for every movie, we hear these lines:

{{quote| '''"The Schloscar it will win / with the same old heroine / it worked once, why not again?"'''.}}

* Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons (~~Animation~~)|The Simpsons]]'' with [[Burt Reynolds]] new film "Fireball And Mudflap"

* Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' with [[Burt Reynolds]] new film "Fireball And Mudflap"

{{quote| "I play Jerry "Fireball" Mudflap, a feisty supreme court justice who's searching for his birth mother while competing in a cross-country firetruck race. It's... garbage."}}

* Spoofed on [[The Boondocks]] on the episode "The Color Ruckus," where Ruckus tells his depressing life story, while Grandpa and Riley can't help but listen, especially because it's so sad.