Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / OscarBait

Go To

1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1331109870064120100
2%% Please do not change or replace without starting a new thread.
3%%
4[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oscarbait_9451.jpg]]
5
6->''"The diseased/addicted/mentally impaired character always gets the Oscar."''
7-->-- [[https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2002/4/hollywood-rule-book "Hollywood Rule Book"]], ''Vanity Fair''
8%%
9%% One quote is sufficient. Please place additional entries on the quotes tab.
10
11It would be naïve to think filmmakers always make movies according to whatever story they want to tell, and that a prestigious award like an Oscar, if they're lucky enough to be honored with one, is just icing on the cake.
12
13[[MediaNotes/AcademyAward An Oscar]] is a big deal. It enhances the reputation of the actor, director, and studio and boosts future ticket sales for projects involving them. Since around the early 1980s, instead of expecting an Oscar to be a natural side-effect of a film being exceptionally good, studios and producers have often tried to engineer certain films specifically to attract Oscar nominations. Typically, the results are [[TrueArtIsAngsty more serious, depressing, or "artistic" films]]. They're called '''Oscar Bait''', and the practice is also derisively known as "Oscarbation".
14
15The trend started in the 1980s in the wake of the emergence of the SummerBlockbuster, and as UsefulNotes/NewHollywood ended. Before then, it was a pretty good bet that the most popular movies were also the best ones and thus the likely Oscar winners. But as directors like Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/GeorgeLucas hit their stride, they made beloved and well-received movies which were nevertheless seen as too lightweight to win the "important" categories--acting, direction, writing, and picture--though they're more likely to clean up in the technical categories. At the same time, the "serious" fare that did win the artistic categories slowly became less popular. While into the mid-'90s it was common for at least one major, mainstream hit to make it to the highest categories when it came to Oscar nominations, and sometimes they even won (''Film/RainMan'' and ''Film/ForrestGump'' were the highest-grossing films domestically in their respective years), there was a growing focus from studios on targeting younger audiences with simpler {{Summer Blockbuster}}s that didn't deal with realistic concerns of people over the age of 30. With fewer and fewer opportunities for "serious" films to get made and widely released at all since the TurnOfTheMillennium, what ones ''are'' made tend to focus on going for the gold and making their studios at least ''look'' like they care about True Art.
16
17Such films are usually [[TrueArtIsAngsty depressing dramas]], {{Glurge}}y inspirational films, and examples of [[HumansAreBastards man's inhumanity to man]] – an abnormally large proportion of Oscar Bait films have been set during UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust. There's also a big focus on racism, mental illness, and InspirationallyDisadvantaged characters. It's rare for [[ComedyGhetto a comedy film to do well at the Oscars]]; in fact, one of the biggest clichés of this trope is [[TomHanksSyndrome a comedic actor starring in a heavy-handed drama in an attempt to be Taken Seriously]]. [[SciFiGhetto Sci-fi]], fantasy, and horror don't do much better, and [[AnimationAgeGhetto animated films]] were given their own categories once they flirted with pushing into the big leagues. These aren't hard and fast rules; you might see a {{Dramedy}} or DarkComedy get major nominations, mostly because there's still room for suffering.
18
19The cost of all this is that most Oscar Bait movies don't do well at the box office. HypeBacklash and HypeAversion play into that -- the heavy campaigning to win an Oscar can be a big turn-off. Furthermore, many Oscar Bait films are released around December or January (as a direct lead-in to the Academy Awards show in late February), so it's easy to tell them apart from {{Summer Blockbuster}}s. Perhaps because the Academy can actually tell the difference between a good, honest movie and an Oscar Bait attempt, and partly because sometimes they respect the general public's opinion of a movie and will try to reflect that, there are many movies that are ''obviously'' gunning for awards that don't get nominated at all much less win. (This can mean an AwardSnub.) And no matter how genuinely good these kind of films can be, [[AngstAversion depressing films about people suffering through tragedy, alienation, physical and mental disability, and/or the horrors of the worst periods in human history don't often have the makings of a fun night out at the movies]].
20
21This trope is far more common with the Oscars than the top honors in other media. With theatre, "Tony Bait" is less discernable because theatre naturally lends itself to melodrama, while the Emmys and Grammys have the brilliant idea to give awards based on genre. This allows, for example, a sitcom to be judged on its merits as a sitcom though a VerySpecialEpisode is often blatantly gunning for an Emmy. The AwardBaitSong, by the way, is not the Grammy equivalent. That trope refers to the lead single from an Oscar Bait movie soundtrack that's just as thirsty for an Oscar as the movie itself, though they'll hardly complain if they snag a Grammy or four along the way. See also DeathByNewberyMedal for the literary equivalent. Contrast ItsNotSupposedToWinOscars.
22
23----
24[[foldercontrol]]
25
26!!Oscar Bait tactics and examples:
27
28[[folder:Positioning the film to win awards]]
29* 1978's ''Film/TheDeerHunter'' was a game-changer. After a disastrous preview screening the studio brought in Allan Carr, a flamboyant producer (he was just coming off of ''Film/{{Grease}}'') and party-giver, as a consultant. He didn't expect much but loved the movie once he saw it. Still, he knew that it was so grim and depressing that people would only watch it if they had heard that it had been nominated for Oscars. Before then, it was the other way around -- films (usually) got Oscar nominations based on their popular reception. Carr turned the system on its head and gave the film only a short run of screenings in New York and Los Angeles near the end of the year; the audience was mostly limited to film critics and Academy members. The former raved about the film, and the latter nominated it for multiple Oscars; it ultimately won Best Picture and Director among other honors. Only then was it put into wide release to the general public.
30** To an extant however, its Oscar campaign is a bit of an UnbuiltTrope. Since the film was already completed before Carr entered the picture, it was not originally intended to be an OscarBait film as we know it today. If anything, it became one out of ''financial'' reasons more than anything else: the film had a then-high budget of $15 Million and was not expected to make its investment back. This was especially a concern since the Vietnam War was still fresh in the public's mind and a film about the conflict may alienate a potential audience. So Carr hoped that the Oscar campaign would enable positive word-of-mouth to spread to the general public and enable the film to make back a profit. [[CrazyEnoughToWork And it worked]]; ''The Deer Hunter'' made back more than three-times its budget and was among the top 10 highest grossing films of 1978. This is pretty different from many current OscarBait Films which, as described above, tend not to do well at the box office and typically are ''made'' to get nominations & prestige.
31* “Oscar-worthy” films tend to be released in the last two months of the year, to get them in before the December 31 deadline but as close to the February ceremony as possible to ensure that the film hasn't fallen out of the public consciousness. Sometimes this results in [[ChristmasRushed rushed productions]]. Specifically, to be considered for an Oscar a film must shown in a theater for at least one full week in the year of nomination in either Los Angeles or New York (more often L.A., due to it being, you know "[[ShapedLikeItself Hollywood]]"). So to push it as close to that deadline as possible, studios will do two things: 1) release the film on/around the Christmas weekend, the last week of the year, and compound that with 2) only giving it in limited release to start. In this, they can technically qualify, letting the limited release period build up word-of-mouth as well as early nomination talk, then go into a wide release that will take the film, should it have legs, well into February and right up against the Oscars.
32* Long before Oscar Bait became a thing, studios would and still do shamelessly lobby the judges directly by:
33** Massive advertising directly to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (''i.e.'' the famed “For Your Consideration” ads). These campaigns got so out of hand at the TurnOfTheMillennium that people speculated that it may have been a reason the Oscar ceremony was moved from March to February – to get people to pay attention to the films and not the ads. (The main reason, of course, was to coincide with UsefulNotes/{{Sweeps}}.)
34** Widespread distribution of free “screeners”, often for “little” films which may not have been in theaters for long. These were typically just [=DVDs=] mailed en masse to all the voting members (which are so pervasive that many Academy members never even go to theatrical screenings, although they often don’t have the time to). Academy members have also been known to “accidentally” leak these screeners to smugglers, although that never dissuaded the studios (and [[http://iteso.mx/~lcoria/index_archivos/page0005.html a Mexican scientist]] did invent a watermarking technology for them). However, starting in TheNewTwenties this was done away with in favor of special streaming sites made for voting members, due to environmental initiatives.
35* Studios will sometimes vie to be the one to get the most Oscars in a given year, which leads them to release several Oscar Bait films in a row. One of the most notorious for this was Creator/{{Miramax}}, who hit us with ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', ''Film/{{Chocolat}}'', ''Film/{{Chicago}}'', and ''Film/ColdMountain'' within a few years. At the turn of the millennium, virtually all of the major studios set up subdivisions specifically for “arthouse”-style films, like Paramount Vantage, but most of these went out of business in TheNewTens due to studio downsizing as more attention was paid to SummerBlockbuster tentpoles.
36 [[/folder]]
37
38[[folder:Subject matter and characters]]
39* The typical Oscar Bait film is a PeriodPiece or CostumeDrama with “serious” subject matter. This often leads them to be {{Biopic}}s (or at least BasedOnATrueStory) as well. But they don’t always follow this pattern. Some Oscar Bait films can be lower-budget dramas aimed more at the age group of the Academy voters, such as ''Film/AwayFromHer'' and ''Film/SteelMagnolias''.
40* From about 1993-2008, kicked off when Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/SchindlersList'' finally got him proper attention from the Academy, UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust was a go-to setting for films gunning for Oscars. It checks all the boxes: historical, dramatic, [[HumansAreBastards man’s inhumanity to man]], DownerEnding, TrueArtIsAngsty; it also helps that a large number of Academy voters are Jewish. It even worked if you made it a comedy (''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'' did it); this was a license to print money. (One winner was [[Film/TheCounterfeiters about people in a concentration camp printing money]]!) However, for every film of this type that made it to the nominations there was at least one that didn't (i.e. the American remake of ''Film/JakobTheLiar''). Over 2008-09, there was a major backlash to ''Film/TheReader'' being nominated for Best Picture in 2008 over more acclaimed but less "serious" fare like ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{WALLE}}'', and another film using the setting, ''Film/{{Defiance}}'', couldn't get anything more than technical nods. More details on those can be found in the next folder. After this, the setting became less popular and more recent films that have used it (such as the 2013 adaptation of ''Literature/TheBookThief'') have largely been brushed off or at least viewed with suspicion by critics and commentators, some of whom have complained about creatives exploiting and/or trivializing the subject matter for awards glory and/or {{Glurge}} purposes.
41** It was particularly prominent in the Best Documentary Feature category from 1995 to 2000: three of the five winners directly involved the Holocaust (''Film/AnneFrankRemembered'', ''Film/TheLastDays'', and ''Film/IntoTheArmsOfStrangersStoriesOfTheKindertransport'') – and another winner, ''Film/TheLongWayHome'', was about post-WWII Jewish refugees. See also the 1981 winner, ''Film/{{Genocide|1981}}''.
42** Holocaust-themed foreign language films that have won the Foreign Language award include ''Film/TheShopOnMainStreet'', the aforementioned ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'', ''Film/TheCounterfeiters'', and ''Film/SonOfSaul''. There's also ''Film/NowhereInAfrica'', about a Jewish couple that fled to Africa before the war started, but have family members back in Germany that fall victim to the Holocaust, and ''Film/{{Ida}}'', about a Polish novitiate nun finds out that she's actually Jewish and that her parents were betrayed and murdered when she was an infant.
43** Short films about the Holocaust that have won the Short Film prize include ''Film/VisasAndVirtue'' and ''Film/{{Toyland}}''.
44** This phenomenon was referenced in ''Series/{{Extras}}'', where Creator/KateWinslet’s character notes that the best way to win an Oscar was to play in a Holocaust movie. Amusingly, Winslet herself later won an Oscar for Best Actress for ''Film/TheReader''.
45** Over at the Cannes Film Festival, the most famous of the international festivals, UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr-winning films that center around the Holocaust include the feature ''Film/ThePianist'' and short film ''Film/WithHandsRaised''.
46* Broadway musicals adapted to films might pick up a MovieBonusSong purely to snag a “Best Original Song” Oscar nomination. This was a common strategy even before that category existed, just as a way to differentiate the film version from the play (and get people to see both). But with the Oscar incentive added on, studios will add songs whether or not the score needs it. The movie versions of ''Theatre/AChorusLine'', ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'', ''Film/{{Evita}}'', ''Film/{{Chicago}}'', ''Film/{{The Phantom of the Opera|2004}}'', ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'' and ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' all got original song nominations this way; the only one of these to win was “You Must Love Me” from ''Evita''.
47* Make it [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged about mental illness or disability]]. It’s been a consistent Oscar winner over the years:
48** The first actor to win an Oscar for playing such a character was Creator/CliffRobertson in 1968, for playing the mentally handicapped hero of ''Film/{{Charly}}'' (an adaptation of the short story ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon''), after a massive “For Your Consideration” campaign.
49** Creator/JohnMills won Best Supporting Actor in 1970 for playing a mentally deficient, mute, ''and'' crippled character in ''Film/RyansDaughter'', baffling his costar Sarah Miles.
50** ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' is one of only three films to win all of the “Big Five” Oscars (Picture, Screenplay, Director, Actor, and Actress).[[note]]The other two, for those keeping score, are ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'' and ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''[[/note]] Oddly, though, the acting awards were given to actors who played non-mentally ill characters.
51** Creator/PeterSellers was the subject of an infamous AwardSnub when he was nominated but didn’t win an Oscar for playing the mentally-challenged Chance the Gardener in 1979’s ''Film/BeingThere''. He was hit by the ComedyGhetto and his insistence on treating the film not as Oscar Bait, but rather the role’s inherent challenge and extremely personal RealitySubtext. When people later found out how much Sellers put himself into that role and how badly he wanted that Oscar, Sellers ''himself'' became the subject of award bait in 2004’s ''Film/TheLifeAndDeathOfPeterSellers'' (where he was even played by Creator/GeoffreyRush, who had himself won an Oscar for playing a mentally disabled character in ''Film/{{Shine}}'') – that film, released on TV in the U.S., nearly swept that year’s Emmy and Golden Globe awards. Amusingly, ''Being There'' is something of an UnbuiltTrope version of the modern trend, since the central joke of the story is that Chance has nothing profound to say about the world or to teach others but has those things projected onto him by people who don't know he's handicapped.
52** ''Film/RainMan'' gets a lot of credit for kicking off the modern trend. The film won Best Picture, Best Direction, and Best Original Screenplay in 1988, and Creator/DustinHoffman won Best Actor for his portrayal of the autistic savant {{Deuteragonist}} (the protagonist is played by Creator/TomCruise). It was ''also'' a huge box-office hit, unlike some of the films that followed it.
53** Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio got his first Oscar nomination for playing a mentally handicapped boy in ''Film/WhatsEatingGilbertGrape''. He kept up acting in typical Oscar Bait films, often to genuine acclaim, [[AwardSnub but wouldn’t win]] for another 22 years!
54** ''Film/ForrestGump'' won four of the “Big Five” (Actor, Director, Screenplay, and Picture) plus two more in 1994, and it centered around a mentally handicapped man. It’s considered a textbook example of how to win an Oscar because of its historical setting and social commentary. It was also a gigantic box-office hit long before the awards started rolling in, being released in the middle of the 1994 SummerBlockbuster season.
55** Live-action shorts about disabilities that have won the Oscar include ''Film/IllFindAWay'' (spina bifida), ''Film/BoardAndCare'' (Down syndrome), ''Film/{{Stutterer}}'', and ''Film/TheSilentChild'' (deafness).
56* The female equivalent of the mental health angle is [[BeautyInversion having an attractive actress play an ugly character]]. But HollywoodHomely isn’t good enough; you would have to [[DyeingForYourArt drastically change your physical appearance to do it]]. Actresses who have won Oscars this way include Creator/CharlizeTheron, who put on 30 pounds and thinned her hair and eyebrows for ''Film/{{Monster}}''; Creator/NicoleKidman, who wore a number of prosthetics to play Virginia Woolf (a character with mental illness, to boot) in ''Film/TheHours''; Creator/AnneHathaway, who played a bald, emaciated, filthy, and apparently toothless BrokenBird in ''[[Film/LesMiserables2012 Les Misérables]]'' (2012); and Creator/AllisonJanney, who played a heavily aged [[AbusiveParent abusive mother]] living in the backwoods area in ''Film/ITonya''.
57* Physical disability can get you an Oscar. This is what got Creator/JamieFoxx a win for ''Film/{{Ray}}'', Creator/AlPacino for ''Film/ScentOfAWoman'', and Creator/DanielDayLewis for ''Film/MyLeftFoot''. Even Creator/JohnWayne got his only Oscar this way, by playing the half-blind Marshall Rooster Cogburn in ''Film/TrueGrit''; he joked he would have put on an eyepatch sooner if he'd known it would net him one! The TropeMaker for this sub-category is probably Creator/JaneWyman, winning the gold statuette for playing a deaf woman in ''Film/JohnnyBelinda''.
58* WhiteMansBurden is a common trend; a privileged white character will take it upon himself to help an underprivileged minority and thus show his nobility. It earns nominations – like for ''Film/GranTorino'', ''Film/TheBlindSide'', ''Film/FreedomWriters'', ''Film/GloryRoad'', ''Film/TheSoloist'', and ''Film/DangerousMinds'' – but of these, only ''Film/TheBlindSide'' was either nominated for or won anything (with Creator/SandraBullock winning Best Actress). ''Film/GreenBook'' went all the way to a Best Picture win for 2018...but many critics and commentators were upset by this, especially as it won over films that made minority characters the center of their stories (such as ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', ''Film/{{Roma}}'', and ''Film/BlacKkKlansman'').
59* An oddly specific recurring theme related to that is the subject of abused, often illiterate, black women. It's more or less "Oscar Bait: Black Edition". The UrExample of this trend is ''Film/TheColorPurple1985'', which got eleven Oscar nominations but didn't win any (it was controversial in the black community for its portrayals of abusive black men and lesbianism, and other commentators felt director Creator/StevenSpielberg's approach to [[Literature/TheColorPurple original Alice Walker novel]] was too sentimental -- this was his first attempt at Oscar Bait). ''Film/MonstersBall'' featured a black woman whose husband is on DeathRow, has to deal with a problematic, overweight son who later dies as well, and then enters a relationship with a similarly troubled white man before she finds out that he's her late husband's executioner. Creator/HalleBerry earned an Oscar for it. ''Film/{{Precious}}'' was about an almost implausibly depressing character – an illiterate black teenager who's raped by her father, abused by her mother, has a child called "Mongo" (short for "Mongoloid"), and whose uplifting ending to the film is just getting the chance to take the GED test. It garnered six Oscars nominations and won two, one of them going to Creator/MoNique (who played the abusive mother).
60* A more recent phenomenon is a heterosexual and cisgender actor playing a gay, lesbian, or transgender character and outlining the injustices or tragedies they face. Examples include Creator/SeanPenn in ''Film/{{Milk}}''; Creator/TomHanks in ''Film/{{Philadelphia}}''; Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman in ''Film/{{Capote}}''; Creator/HilarySwank in ''Film/BoysDontCry''; Creator/ChristopherPlummer in ''Film/{{Beginners}}''; and Creator/JaredLeto in ''Film/DallasBuyersClub''. It wasn’t always a winning formula; films like ''Film/{{Transamerica}}'' and ''Film/BrokebackMountain'' are considered AwardSnub victims (although the latter did win Best Director). This trend began losing credibility at the dawn of the 2020s as many of these actors aren't LGBTQ+[[note]]One notable exception being Creator/DanielaVega, a transgender actress who played the lead role in ''Film/AFantasticWoman'', a Chilean film that won for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018[[/note]], meaning that actual LGBTQ+ performers are not getting opportunities to tell their stories -- and are not often nominated when they do. (For similar reasons there are increasing complaints about able-bodied/neurotypical performers playing disabled characters.)
61* DyeingForYourArt is a common way to win, but only if it’s bad for you; actors tend to do better by losing weight, gaining body fat, or otherwise becoming uglier as opposed to adding muscle mass or becoming more attractive. Actors who have won by punishing their body to look less attractive include:
62** Creator/RobertDeNiro is credited with starting this trend by training and bulking up to become a convincing boxer, then binge eating for months on end to portray the same boxer as a washed-up has-been, and winning Best Actor for ''Film/RagingBull''.
63** Creator/GeorgeClooney, who gained 35 pounds for his Oscar-winning role in ''Film/{{Syriana}}'';
64** Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman, who lost 40 pounds for his winning role in ''Film/{{Capote}}'';
65** Creator/TomHanks and his generally downtrodden and disheveled look in ''Film/CastAway'';
66** Creator/CharlizeTheron, who gained 30 pounds and underwent an extreme BeautyInversion to win for ''Film/{{Monster}}'';
67** Creator/HeathLedger, whose extreme MethodActing to play ComicBook/TheJoker in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' may have contributed to his untimely death but won him an Oscar anyway;
68** Creator/NataliePortman, who did it twice – first slimming down to 97 pounds and undergoing intense ballet training to win for ''Film/BlackSwan'', and second for shaving her head in ''Film/VForVendetta'' to win the Best Actress Saturn;
69** Creator/ChristianBale, who lost a lot of weight to win Best Supporting Actor for ''Film/TheFighter'';
70** Creator/AnneHathaway, who lost 25 pounds, had her head shaved, and picked up the general look of a tuberculosis-stricken prostitute to win Best Supporting Actress for ''[[Film/LesMiserables2012 Les Misérables]]'';
71** Creator/MatthewMcConaughey and Creator/JaredLeto, both of whom lost a lot of weight to earn Oscars for ''Film/DallasBuyersClub'' (Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor respectively); and
72** Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio, who broke his long losing streak by doing extreme things for his role in ''Film/TheRevenant'', including putting on weight, eating raw bison, and sleeping in animal carcasses. Observers joked that the Academy should give him the Oscar right away [[FatalMethodActing before he kills himself trying]].
73* If you’re going to make it more lighthearted, at least have it [[UnderdogsNeverLose star an underdog]]. Winning examples include ''Film/MrSmithGoesToWashington'', ''Film/ErinBrockovich'', ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'', and ''Film/CinderellaMan''.
74* Make it foreign. If nothing else, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Europeans are very responsive to Oscar Bait films]]. And the Academy likes films set in interesting foreign locations. Films like ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'', ''Film/CityOfGod'', and ''Film/{{Babel}}'' are successful examples.
75* An interesting trend is to subvert the typical Oscar Bait film by creating a "quirky" independent {{dramedy}} - among the winners and nominees in the field of such movies are ''Film/{{Juno}}'', ''Film/LittleMissSunshine'', ''Film/SilverLiningsPlaybook'', ''Film/{{Sideways}}'', ''Film/TheBigSick'', ''Film/LadyBird'' and ''Film/HappyGoLucky''. These films always feature “hip” dialogue, eccentric characters, and many a SnarkKnight.
76* Don't make it sci-fi, fantasy, or to a lesser extent action; the SciFiGhetto is very much in effect at the Oscars. They usually only get nominated for Visuals, Sound, or Makeup rather than the "Big Five" categories. The only way they get one of those nominations is if they are more cerebral or philosophical, like ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''Film/{{Inception}}'', ''Film/{{Gravity}}'', ''Film/{{Arrival}}'' and ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}''. If you actually want to ''win'' with a sci-fi or fantasy film, it should be based on [[TrueArtIsAncient a highly acclaimed previous work]] (no, not ''Franchise/StarTrek'', older than that) – this was a big reason ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' won Best Picture (because it was a big-budget groundbreaking adaptation of a highly acclaimed work of literature). ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' notably bucked both trends - it was neither cerebral nor based on a [[Film/MadMax particularly critically acclaimed work]] - but was nominated for Best Picture regardless.
77** Very, ''very'' few actors from horror movies have been nominated, much less won -- especially if they're not seen as sufficiently arty.
78** No actors from animated movies have been recognized, and the Academy had to create a new category to try and make sure an Animated movie didn't get nominated for Best Picture after ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' was nominated in 1991. It didn't entirely work, but it has blocked most animated films from any category besides Best Animated Feature. Actors doing mo-cap fit in here as well, since they're not technically on screen. A good example is Creator/AndySerkis for his roles in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes''.
79* An unusually specific type of Oscar Bait is the movie about a troubled [[CountryMusic country singer]]. Creator/RobertDuvall (for ''Film/TenderMercies''), Creator/JeffBridges (for ''Film/CrazyHeart''), and Creator/SissySpacek (for ''Film/CoalMinersDaughter'') all won Oscars this way. And Creator/ReeseWitherspoon won hers for ''Film/WalkTheLine'', where she plays a troubled country singer helping an even more troubled country singer (played by Creator/JoaquinPhoenix, who snagged a nomination).
80* Actors have had success playing previously celebrated actors (or big stars in general). Examples include Creator/RobertDowneyJr as Creator/CharlieChaplin in ''Film/{{Chaplin}}''; Creator/MartinLandau as Creator/BelaLugosi in ''Film/EdWood''; Creator/CateBlanchett as Creator/KatharineHepburn in ''Film/TheAviator''; Creator/MichelleWilliams as Creator/MarilynMonroe in ''Film/MyWeekWithMarilyn''; and Creator/RamiMalek as Music/FreddieMercury in ''Film/BohemianRhapsody''. Ironically, of these older famous actors, only Hepburn ever won Best Actor or Actress herself.
81* Films about film-making and acting or who include Hollywood and the film industry as a part of their setting such as ''Film/TheArtist'', ''Film/{{Argo}}'', ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'', ''Film/{{Trumbo}}'' (a {{Biopic}} whose plot includes ''three'' historical Academy Awards ceremonies) and ''Film/LaLaLand''. And those are just from TheNewTens!
82* As of TheNewTwenties, a different strain of Oscar Bait seems to be emerging, one seeped in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamodernism metamodernism]], merging self-criticism and deconstruction with genuine sincerity, often involving the value of creating and interacting with media. ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'' is the crowning example, with its message that everything is meaningless but still somehow finding meaning there. ''Film/TheFabelmans'' and ''Film/TheBansheesOfInisherin'' also delve into the "value of art" angle, but both went home empty-handed... only because they were up against ''EEAAO''.
83[[/folder]]
84
85!!Films (or otherwise) that come across as particularly obvious in their ambitions:
86
87[[folder:Oscar Bait]]
88* 1990's ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_See_the_Paradise Come See the Paradise]]'' was identified by a UCLA study as the most blatant Oscar Bait in film history! It's a period drama that spanned TheGreatDepression ''and'' UsefulNotes/WorldWarII; touched on Japanese internment despite having a safely [[WhiteMaleLead white, clean-cut male protagonist]]; included a MalignedMixedMarriage between the [[MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow hero and a Japanese woman]]; and ends with the main character returning to his family after serving prison time for a years-old crime he was an unwitting, innocent accomplice in. The story also managed to shoehorn Academy-pleasing elements like labor unions and cinema itself (the protagonist is a film projectionist). [[EveryoneHasStandards Apparently out of disdain for the sheer shameless pandering]], it received no Oscar nominations whatsoever. It's also [[ArtisticLicenseHistory exceptionally historically inaccurate]] as Japanese women married to white men and mixed-race children born to white fathers were spared of internment so the protagonist's wife and mixed-race daughter would ''never'' have had to deal with the problem of internment in the first place. While white women married to Japanese men ''were'' [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAWAqTVWUAAM3mO?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 interned along with their husbands and mixed-race children]], such couples are rare in Hollywood films as white audiences express discomfort with Asian men being portrayed as romantic leads.
89* ''Film/TheLovelyBones'' was based on a critically-acclaimed book about a murdered girl watching her family from the afterlife. It was directed by Oscar winner Creator/PeterJackson and pushed to the end of the year into Oscar Bait time. The film received mediocre reviews, and the only nomination it got was for Creator/StanleyTucci for Best Supporting Actor.
90* ''Film/{{Nell}}'' is a drama film about a woman born and raised in a cabin in the woods of North Carolina, with almost no contact with other humans and who speaks her own hybridized language. It was widely seen, upon its release, as a vehicle for Creator/JodieFoster, who plays the protagonist, to receive her third Best Actress Oscar after winning for ''Film/TheAccused'' and ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''. Foster's portrayal of Nell received strongly divisive opinions from critics, yet she eventually got a nomination, losing to Creator/JessicaLange for ''[[Film/BlueSky1994 Blue Sky]]''.
91* After Creator/{{Disney}} scored a surprising Best Picture nomination with ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', they tried twice more to get another one. Neither film was successful and actually contributed to gradually derailing the company's "Renaissance" era when audiences also didn't embrace them, though both are seen a little more favorably nowadays.
92** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' had begun pre-production and was planned to be a mostly historically accurate retelling of UsefulNotes/{{Pocahontas}} meeting John Smith - with Pocahontas actually being twelve as she was in real life, speaking Powhatan for the majority of the film and learning English the normal way. Then-head of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg had the filmmakers turn it into a tale of StarCrossedLovers, muting all the talking animal characters to make the story more serious and tackling themes about xenophobia and racism. It received a [[SoOkayItsAverage tepid response]] from both critics and audiences, and the only Oscars it ended up getting were for its music.
93** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' is DarkerAndEdgier than the typical Disney movie, adapting [[Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame a historical classic]] and tackling themes like religious bigotry and justice for the oppressed. The songs were also written to be more operatic, in the vein of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' and ''Theatre/LesMiserables''.
94* This seems to be a trend among the later oeuvre of Creator/ClintEastwood:
95** ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'' is about a disadvantaged woman who makes a place for herself in a traditionally male-dominated occupation -- boxing. It has Creator/MorganFreeman as the {{Narrator}} and stars Eastwood himself as a character who faces an intense moral dilemma near the end. It won four Oscars in 2004, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Creator/HilarySwank, and it was also a sleeper hit at the box office. It may be saying something that the studio didn't plan to push the film for awards, but when they realized their awards season slate that year was unusually thin (initially, it looked like ''Film/{{The Phantom of the Opera|2004}}'' was going to get the big push) its release date was bumped up to take advantage of the season, suggesting it competed more on its own merits than campaigning.
96** ''Film/FlagsOfOurFathers'' and ''Film/LettersFromIwoJima'' are both set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
97** ''Film/{{Changeling}}'' was a 1920s-era PeriodPiece conspiracy film about a missing child, which starred Oscar-baity actress Creator/AngelinaJolie.
98** ''Film/GranTorino'' was a film about a bigot's redemption, starring Eastwood himself. It didn't get nominated for an Oscar, but it did win Eastwood a special UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr at Cannes.
99** ''Film/{{Invictus}}'' had Creator/MorganFreeman playing UsefulNotes/NelsonMandela, trying to unite South Africa after UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra with the power of rugby.
100** ''Film/JEdgar'' was a {{Biopic}} of famous FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, as played by Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio in one of his many unsuccessful bids at an Oscar.
101** ''Film/AmericanSniper'' was a rather controversial {{Biopic}} which starred Creator/BradleyCooper as Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL noted for racking up a high kill count during the Iraq War.
102** The film adaptation of ''Theatre/JerseyBoys'', itself a multiple Tony-winning musical, was a {{biopic}} of Music/FrankieValliAndTheFourSeasons with an AllStarCast.
103* Creator/DavidFincher has tried this off and on ever since ''Film/TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton''. His next film was ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'', which got pretty badly out-baited by ''Film/TheKingsSpeech''. Then he did ''Film/{{The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|2011}}'', which he backed out of campaigning out of his belief that the film has "too much anal rape" (not that this stopped other films, like ''Film/PulpFiction'' or ''Film/{{Deliverance}}'', from getting nominated). And he followed that up with ''Film/GoneGirl'', which got a single nomination for Creator/RosamundPike in spite of it being one of the most praised films of 2014.
104* ''Film/{{Charly}}'', based on ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon'' in which Creator/CliffRobertson plays a mentally handicapped man who takes a drug that makes him intelligent. Vincent Canby of ''The New York Times'' called the film a "self-conscious contemporary drama, the first ever to exploit mental retardation for... the bittersweet romance of it"; he called Robertson's performance "earnest" but points out that "we [the audience] are forced into the vaguely unpleasant position of being voyeurs, congratulating ourselves for not being Charly as often as we feel a distant pity for him." Robertson won the Oscar (defeating Creator/PeterOToole in ''Film/TheLionInWinter'') and launched the trend of "going partial retard" to win an Oscar.
105* Creator/PeterOToole and Creator/KatharineHepburn's performances in ''Film/TheLionInWinter'' were referred to as Oscar bait in a [[https://books.google.com.br/books?id=qtsCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false review of that film]]. In this case, the expression was used with a positive connotation.
106* ''Film/{{Phenomenon}}'' is a dramatic fantasy film directed by Creator/JonTurtletaub and starring Creator/JohnTravolta, about an ordinary man who, for reasons that remain mysterious until near the end of the film, acquires unusual intelligence and telekinetic powers. The film garnered some controversy from critics who saw it as alleged propaganda for the Church of Scientology (of which John Travolta is a longtime follower), but Travolta's performance was widely praised and considered by some to be Oscar-worthy. Ultimately, he ended up not being nominated for an Oscar for the film.
107* ''Film/CourageUnderFire'' is a war drama directed by Creator/EdwardZwick, which revolves around an investigation conducted by a Lieutenant-Colonel (Creator/DenzelWashington) aimed at deciding whether a medical officer (Creator/MegRyan) killed in a battle in the Gulf War should receive posthumously the Medal of Honor. Inspired by ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'', the film shows several versions of what would have happened, all played by Ryan. Considered by many to be an "Oscar film" before its release, it ended up not getting any nominations.
108* Some films from Swedish director Creator/LasseHallstrom were labeled as such:
109** ''Film/TheCiderHouseRules'' is a serious drama about a disadvantaged orphaned main character during WWII who suffers several tragedies. He encounters another character who becomes disabled, has a crisis of morality, and is eventually forced to discard his traditional ethics. It won two Oscars and was nominated for many more.
110** ''Film/{{Chocolat}}'' is a 2000 British-American romantic comedy-drama film adapted from a British novel, with an all-star cast (Creator/JulietteBinoche, Creator/AlfredMolina, Creator/JudiDench, Creator/LenaOlin, Creator/CarrieAnneMoss, and Creator/JohnnyDepp), and with messages of personal emancipation, mainly female, and criticism of religious rigorism. The film received five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The film was very popular at the time of its release, but was stigmatized by criticism of the marketing of the production company Miramax
111* A [[https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/05/movies/film-review-so-what-s-wrong-with-this-picture.html review]] of ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' published in ''The New York Times'' said: "Creator/PeterWeir's must-see new film is guaranteed Oscar bait and delectably clever entertainment, but hosannas and cartwheels are over the top." Similar to the paper's aforementioned review of ''Film/TheLionInWinter'', the term was used with a positive connotation.
112* ''Film/SnowFallingOnCedars'' is a 1999 American legal drama film directed by Creator/ScottHicks, and starring Creator/EthanHawke, Creator/JamesCromwell, Creator/MaxVonSydow, Creator/YoukiKudoh, Creator/RickYune, Creator/RichardJenkins, Creator/JamesRebhorn, and Creator/SamShepard, based on David Guterson's PEN/Faulkner Award-winning novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Hicks and Creator/RonaldBass (who won an Academy Award for writing the screenplay for Creator/BarryLevinson's ''Film/RainMan'' and who is associated with films are regularly nominated for multiple motion picture awards). The movie tells the story, set in [[TheFifties the 50s]], of a trial of a Japanese-American accused of murdering a white man. It ended up getting nominated solely for Best Cinematography.
113* Produced by Creator/JerryBruckheimer and directed by Creator/MichaelBay, with a screenplay by Creator/RandallWallace (responsible for the screenplay for ''Film/{{Braveheart}}''), ''Film/PearlHarbor'' was produced with the clear ambition of being a mixture of ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' and ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'', uniting all the appeals of these two films, with the war epic of the first and the romance of the second. The film, however, received very negative reviews from critics, who complained about the dialogues and the historical inconsistencies. The film received four Oscar nominations, most of them being technical categories, and won one for Best Sound Editing.
114* The film adaptation of ''Film/CaptainCorellisMandolin'', directed by Creator/JohnMadden (of ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'') and starring Creator/NicolasCage, Creator/PenelopeCruz, Creator/JohnHurt and Creator/ChristianBale, acquired a reputation as an Oscar bait long before it hit the screen. The theme, mixing romance and war (a forbidden love on a Greek island occupied by Axis troops during World War II) and the fact that it was a Creator/{{Miramax}} production contributed strongly to the label. The film received negative reviews and had no Oscar nominations.
115* ''Theatre/{{Doubt}}'' started as total Tony Bait and moved into Oscar Bait with its film adaptation. It's about the Catholic altar-boy pedophile abuse scandal, which was RippedFromTheHeadlines. The young victim is also [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement the first black student in an otherwise white school]], who [[{{Gayngst}} may or may not be gay as well]] (and his father [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff is not happy]]). It won multiple Tonys, including Best Play and Best Actress. The film version stars Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman, Creator/AmyAdams, and Creator/MerylStreep -- an Oscar-winning machine if there ever was one.
116* ''Film/ColdMountain'' is an epic historical drama, based on a bestselling book which was in turn based on the letters passed between the author's ancestors, featuring death, racism, and philosophical musings. It was nominated for seven Oscars and won for Best Supporting Actress (Creator/ReneeZellweger as Ruby).
117* ''Film/MonaLisaSmile'', directed by Creator/MikeNewell, and starring Creator/JuliaRoberts, featured a charismatic teacher as protagonist, and addressed themes such as female emancipation and pursuit of personal freedom versus old-fashioned social conservatism, thus ticking some boxes; however, the film suffered from comparisons to its more notorious predecessor ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety'', and it came to be dubbed the [[https://www.salon.com/2003/12/17/wed_31/ "Dead Housewives Society"]]. The movie received mixed to negative reviews from film critics, and received no Oscar nominations.
118* When ''[[Theatre/NineMusical Nine]]'' began production by the infamous [[Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany Harvey Weinstein]], there was strong anticipation that this adaptation of a hit Broadway musical, with an all-star cast that included several Oscar winners and nominees (Creator/DanielDayLewis, Creator/SophiaLoren , Creator/NicoleKidman, Creator/PenelopeCruz, Creator/KateHudson), directed by fellow Oscar nominee Creator/RobMarshall, would not only be a huge critical and box office success, but also receive a large number of Oscar nominations. However, the film turned out to be a huge failure with audiences and critics, and it only received Oscar nominations in the categories for Best Supporting Actress (Penelope Cruz), Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Original Song, winning none of those awards.
119* ''Film/TheHours'' checks all the boxes. It's a CostumeDrama. It references homosexuality, AIDS, and the oppression of women. It has Creator/NicoleKidman undergoing severe BeautyInversion. And it has Creator/MerylStreep in it.
120* ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}'' was designed to be Oscar Bait, and it got nominated for eight awards (including three for {{Movie Bonus Song}}s) -- but failed to get nominations for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, or Director. On the big night, it was shut out in many of the categories it was nominated in. It's often speculated that Creator/EddieMurphy would have won for Best Supporting Actor, were it not for the poor timing of ''Film/{{Norbit}}'' coming out two weeks before that year's Oscars; the film was a major CreatorKiller for him. Just as astonishingly, it didn't win Best Original Song either (although having three nommed songs might have split the vote). In the end, the only Oscars ''Dreamgirls'' won were for Best Supporting Actress and Best Sound Mixing.
121* ''Film/TheReader'' is a [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust Holocaust-themed]] drama, complete with promotion from master Oscar baiter [[Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany Harvey Weinstein]]. It supplanted both ''WesternAnimation/{{WALLE}}'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' for Best Picture, despite most people feeling both those films were better; and it couldn't even beat out the big winner ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire''. That experience was enough that Creator/HughJackman was already lamenting the ''Batman'' film's snub during the ceremony, and it is also often seen as the impetus for doubling the number of Best Picture nominations to ten.
122* ''Film/{{Defiance}}'' is a particularly shameless Oscar grab. It's BasedOnATrueStory and follows a community of Belarussian Jews hiding in the forest from [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust the Nazis]] and has a brooding AntiHero who is forced into [[TrueArtIsAngsty cruel, angsty moral dilemmas.]] It took a page from ''Film/SchindlersList'' and ended with a PhotoMontage of the real-life survivors and their descendants as a WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue. But this one bombed at the Oscars, only getting nominated for its score. Between this and the backlash against ''Film/TheReader'', the trend of Holocaust-set films doing well on the awards circuit might have run its course.
123* ''Film/TheGoodGerman'' is a period drama directed by Creator/StevenSoderbergh, starring Creator/GeorgeClooney, Creator/CateBlanchett and Creator/TobeyMaguire, shot in black and white using only technical resources available in the 1940s, and with a plot set in Berlin newly occupied by the Allied forces in 1945, about a Navy correspondent helps his ex-girlfriend search for her missing husband during World War II. It was considered by many viewers to be a near-parody of Oscar Bait tropes, and it ended up receiving only one nomination for its score.
124* ''Film/JakobTheLiar'' is a {{Dramedy}} directed by Creator/PeterKassovitz and starring Creator/RobinWilliams, based on a book of the same name written by Jurek Becker and published in East Germany, whose story is set in a Polish ghetto in 1944, where a shopkeeper tries to preserve the hopes of the inhabitants by claiming who hears on a clandestine radio set news about the advances of Allied troops. The film received unfavorable comparisons to ''Film/LifeIsBeautiful'', and Williams was even nominated for Golden Rasperry Award for his performance as Jakob.
125* ''Film/{{Valkyrie}}'' is a historical drama directed by Creator/BryanSinger that portrays the failed plot of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, played by Creator/TomCruise, to assassinate [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]. In addition to Cruise, the film boasts an AllStarCast composed of Creator/BillNighy, Creator/TomWilkinson, Creator/KennethBranagh, Creator/EddieIzzard, Creator/CariceVanHouten, Creator/ThomasKretschmann, Creator/TerenceStamp and Creator/TomHollander, among many others. The film came under fire for casting the non-German Cruise in the role of von Stauffenberg, and it did not obtain Oscar nominations.
126* ''Film/TheGreatZiegfeld'', Best Picture winner of 1936, was three long hours of big Broadway musical ''and'' angsty melodrama. This lavish {{Biopic}} starred Creator/WilliamPowell as the producer whose name, four years after his death (depicted in the film’s last scene), was the most legendary in show business.
127* 2011 saw two YoungerAndHipper hosts who had previously been in Oscar-baity movies, Creator/AnneHathaway (who played a woman falling in love and dying of a disease in ''Film/LoveAndOtherDrugs'') and Creator/JamesFranco (who played a hiker who gets in a LifeOrLimbDecision in ''Film/OneHundredAndTwentySevenHours'', which was BasedOnATrueStory). Both were willing to {{lampshade|d}} their situations as they related to this trope; Franco actually was up for Best Actor (but didn't win), and as for Hathaway:
128-->''I thought getting naked would get me an Oscar nod.''
129* ''Film/JohnnyBelinda'' is BasedOnATrueStory of a deaf-mute girl who gets raped, has her rapist’s baby, gets declared "unfit" to raise the baby and has to fight to keep it, and is put on trial for her rapist's murder -- all while struggling to pay the bills on the family farm. Creator/JaneWyman won Best Actress for playing her.
130* Danish director Creator/SusanneBier has this reputation:
131** ''Hævnen'' (Danish for "revenge", but released internationally as ''Film/InABetterWorld'') had everything: a failing marriage, vicious school bullies and attacks, TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior, dead parents, and a doctor in an African refugee camp terrorised by a man who cuts pregnant women open. It won Best Foreign Film at the Oscars.
132** ''Film/{{Serena}}'' is a bleak PeriodPiece set during TheGreatDepression, starring Creator/JenniferLawrence and Creator/BradleyCooper (fresh from the success of ''Film/SilverLiningsPlaybook'') as a morally dubious timber tycoon and his increasingly unstable wife. It bombed critically and commercially and sat on the shelf for a year and a half.
133* ''Film/TheHelp'' checks many boxes. It's a PeriodPiece set in TheSixties whose main character is a white female reporter [[WhiteMansBurden who helps out black maids]], and it’s also based on a best-selling novel.
134* ''Literature/WarHorse'', a 2011 film by Creator/StevenSpielberg, was widely accused of being Oscar Bait -- even on the sole basis of its bombastic, overwrought trailer, which resulted in massive HypeBacklash.
135* ''Film/TheIronLady'', a {{biopic}} of UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher, is clear Oscar Bait, and not just because Thatcher is played by Creator/MerylStreep. It didn't shy away from controversy, addressed [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged Thatcher's struggle with dementia]], is technically a PeriodPiece, and its initial release was in select theaters in Los Angeles and New York on December 30, 2011 -- barely meeting the requirements to be eligible for the next year's Oscars. Observers joked that the Academy must have had a whole box of Oscars with Streep’s name on them and was looking for an excuse to give them to her.
136* ''Film/ExtremelyLoudAndIncrediblyClose'' stars Creator/TomHanks and Creator/SandraBullock who try to raise a child with an unspecified mental condition in the aftermath of 9/11, as he struggles to deal with the attacks. It was also made by a number of people with big Oscar Bait credentials; it was directed by Creator/StephenDaldry (''Film/TheHours'', ''Film/TheReader''); written by Creator/EricRoth (''Film/ForrestGump'', ''Film/TheCuriousCaseOfBenjaminButton''); and produced by Creator/ScottRudin (second only to the Weinsteins in influence over the Academy). It got a Best Picture nomination, as well as a Best Supporting Actor nod for Creator/MaxVonSydow, but it had mixed critical reviews.
137* Creator/RonHoward's ''Film/ABeautifulMind'' is a [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loose account]] of the life of John Nash, pioneer economist, Nobel laureate, and paranoid schizophrenic. The film controversially whitewashed some of the potentially unsavory details of his life (like [[NoBisexuals his bisexuality]]) and suggested he was cured by ThePowerOfLove.
138* ''Film/GreenZone'' is a Post911TerrorismMovie which tried to have an {{Anvilicious}} anti-war message but only really proved that TruffautWasRight. It starred Creator/MattDamon and was directed by Creator/PaulGreengrass, so it had the star power, too. But it got pushed back and was panned by critics when it was released.
139* ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'', a visceral depiction of a man tricked into slavery in the South and the abuses he faced there, was also prime Oscar Bait material. It won Best Picture in 2014 (although it lost many others to ''Film/{{Gravity}}''). This was seen as so inevitable that Creator/EllenDeGeneres addressed this at the start of the ceremony:
140-->''Possibility number one: ''12 Years a Slave'' wins Best Picture. Possibility number two: you’re all racists.''
141* Creator/DavidORussell had a string of four films in the early to mid-2010s (''Film/TheFighter'', ''Film/SilverLiningsPlaybook'', ''Film/AmericanHustle'', and ''Film/{{Joy|2015}}'') that were all seemingly designed to win Oscars. Their premises were all based on Oscar-proven subject matter (either BasedOnATrueStory or a best-selling book), they all had popular actors in showy roles, and they all touched on serious subject matter. Russell may also have been trying to prove that he was a serious director (as he had had issues with his cast and crew in previous films). Russell himself didn't win Oscars for any of these films (only three actors did[[note]]Creator/ChristianBale and Creator/MelissaLeo won for their supporting performances in ''The Fighter'', while Creator/JenniferLawrence won Best Actress for ''Silver Linings Playbook''.[[/note]]), none of them won Best Picture, and ''American Hustle'' went 0-for-10 at the ceremony.
142* ''Film/{{Selma}}'' is a 2014 {{biopic}} of UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr, depicting Dr. King's march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 in support of the Civil Rights Act. It was released in the fallout from ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'' and tried to tick the same boxes, with the added element of being directed by a woman of color, Creator/AvaDuVernay. But the Academy didn't take the bait; it won only Best Original Song, and it was nominated for but didn't win Best Picture.
143* ''Film/GetOnUp'' stars Creator/ChadwickBoseman as Music/JamesBrown, in a musical {{biopic}} about the musician's complicated life and career. It bombed at the Oscars, though observers felt that at least Boseman's performance should have gotten him a Best Actor nomination. The same could be argued for another one of Boseman's movies, ''Film/{{Marshall}}'', about the career of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the only Oscar nod it got being Best Original Song. Both movies bombed financially as well, ''Get on Up'' barely making its budget and ''Marshall'' not making its budget.
144* ''Film/TheHundredFootJourney'' is a joint project from Creator/StevenSpielberg and Creator/OprahWinfrey about two chef families -- one from France, the other from India -- who work to reconcile their differences, while the Indian son has to choose between his family and his dream of becoming a great Parisian chef. It received no Oscar nominations.
145* ''Film/{{Argo}}'' was VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory of a group of American diplomats who escape the siege of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Creator/BenAffleck plays a CIA agent who smuggles them out by having them pretend to be Canadians making a fake movie. It won three Oscars in 2013, including Best Picture.
146* ''Film/TheImitationGame'' was a {{biopic}} about UsefulNotes/AlanTuring, famous UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era codebreaker and later computer scientist, as played by Creator/BenedictCumberbatch. It had the one-two punch of Turing being a genius, InspirationallyDisadvantaged, ''and'' [[{{Gayngst}} gay in an era when that was very much disfavoured]]. It got plenty of nominations, but only won one Oscar for Best Screenplay. Ultimately, people pinned this on ArtisticLicenseHistory and the choice to exaggerate Turing's mental problems and [[ButNotTooGay downplay his homosexuality]].
147* Creator/AlejandroGonzalezInarritu believes so hard in TrueArtIsAngsty that ''Magazine/RollingStone'' dubbed him Hollywood's "King of Pain", and he's raked in the Oscars, for such films as ''Film/TwentyOneGrams'', ''Film/{{Babel}}'', ''Film/{{Biutiful}}'', and ''Film/TheRevenant'' (yes, he's angsty enough to get Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio his elusive Oscar). Even ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'', his least Oscar-baity film, won four Oscars, including Best Picture.
148* ''Film/MommieDearest'' is a {{biopic}} based on Creator/JoanCrawford (herself an Oscar winner) and her abusive relationship with her adopted daughter -- it's even based on the daughter's autobiography. The film was meant to be total Oscar Bait, and Creator/FayeDunaway was convinced that she would win an Oscar for playing Crawford. But she botched it, ChewingTheScenery so hard that it made the film a veritable {{Narm}} fountain. The studio even resorted to a ParodyRetcon to try and claim that it was a campy comedy. The film saw the decline of Dunaway's career as an A-list star.
149* The 1992 Creator/SpikeLee film ''Film/MalcolmX'' is an epic {{biopic}} about the [[UsefulNotes/MalcolmX eponymous icon of the civil rights movement]] (portrayed by Creator/DenzelWashington, who had recently won an Oscar for ''Film/{{Glory}}''), with an inspirational CelebrityCameo from none other than UsefulNotes/NelsonMandela himself. It was nominated for two Oscars, winning neither. {{Subverted|trope}}, though, in that Lee was more concerned with doing justice to the life of Malcolm X than actually winning anything, but the cynics among us will say that the film was calculated Oscar Bait.
150* ''Anime/MillenniumActress'' is a unique anime take on Oscar Bait. It's a [[TearJerker weeper movie]] that opens with [[{{Film/Titanic 1997}} an old woman recalling her past through flashbacks]], heavily features BeenThereShapedHistory-type period piece, and has a tragic ending. It failed to receive any nominations, even in Best Animated Feature, which had only three nominations that year (though it would have likely lost anyway to ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'').
151* Following his well-reviewed performance as UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli in the 2001 biopic ''Film/{{Ali}}'', which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Creator/WillSmith has taken to making these, from the biopics ''Film/ThePursuitOfHappyness'' and ''Film/{{Concussion}}'' to {{Glurge}}-filled ''Film/SevenPounds'' and ''Film/CollateralBeauty''. While ''Happyness'' earned him another Best Actor Oscar nom, he finally won the Best Actor Oscar for ''Film/KingRichard''.
152* In 2016, you had ''Film/LaLaLand'', in which an [[Creator/DamienChazelle acclaimed young writer-director]], whose [[Film/{{Whiplash}} previous film]] garnered an [[Creator/JKSimmons acting Oscar win]], stretched his artistic muscles by doing a fresh take on TheMusical, in a manner reminiscent of one of the great names in UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave cinema, Creator/JacquesDemy. It seemed like a lock for Best Picture. Then along came ''Film/{{Moonlight|2016}}'', which ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'' summed up thusly: "a young [checkmark], black [checkmark], gay [checkmark] man struggles to escape from poverty [checkmark] and drug addiction [checkmark] told across three decades [checkmark]. Based on a play [checkmark] based on the life story of its author [checkmark]." Surprising absolutely nobody, ''Moonlight'' won (though, thanks to an envelope mixup and ensuing confusion on the part of presenters Creator/WarrenBeatty and Creator/FayeDunaway, it took a few minutes to establish that for certain).
153* Creator/AngelinaJolie's 2014 World War II biopic, ''Film/{{Unbroken}}'', was a shamelessly heavy-handed example. It was BasedOnATrueStory, had an [[AllStarCast All-Star Crew]] and came out on Christmas Day. However, while most critic reviews praised the actors (''especially'' Creator/JackOConnell), they were all too aware of Jolie's intentions with the film and strongly criticized her for taking too long to tell the story, focusing on the blatant pandering for Oscar potential rather than the film, and drawing too many parallels between Louis Zamperini and [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Jesus Christ]]. It only received three nominations in total: Cinematography, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
154** Her films ''[[Film/ByTheSea2015 By the Sea]]'' and ''[[Film/InTheLandOfBloodAndHoney In the Land of Blood and Honey]]'' also qualify, and neither fared as well as ''Unbroken'' did. Both were {{box office bomb}}s that were ''destroyed'' by critics, with the latter only earning one Golden Globe nomination.
155* Many of Creator/DavidCronenberg's fans were disappointed when his films (which had previously been based overwhelmingly on BodyHorror, violence, and [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness insanity narratives]]) ''seemed'' to became this trope starting with ''Film/ADangerousMethod'' -- a period drama involving UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud which received positive reviews but did poorly at the box office and received no attention from the Oscars. His follow-up film ''Film/{{Cosmopolis}}'' bombed in its limited release, making less then a million dollars in the U.S. (and only averaging $5 million worldwide) and was criticized for being overly pretentious (with Creator/RobertPattinson's performance in particular being derided for being wooden); it too was ignored by the Oscars. However, these films were likely intended less for awards attention and more as means for Cronenberg to tackle humanity's dark side in different settings/genres.
156* ''Film/{{Joker|2019}}'' is, on its surface, a comic book movie, being inspired by Franchise/{{Batman}}’s iconic arch-nemesis. However, it discards the bulk of the Batman mythos and associated tropes -- including any fantastical content -- in favor of a stylistic throwback to UsefulNotes/NewHollywood and the work of Creator/MartinScorsese especially. It's an early 1980s PeriodPiece that presents Gotham City as an alternate version of TheBigRottenApple, and the title character is seen in his pre-supervillain state as a pathetic, mentally ill would-be stand-up comedian who is constantly crushed underfoot by "The Man" until he snaps and ''accidentally'' starts a class war. Creator/JoaquinPhoenix lost a ton of weight to play the lead, too (so much that there were no opportunities for reshoots). Finally, despite its box office success, the film is ''not'' a blockbuster, having a very meager budget for an ostensibly comic book movie ($70 million) and being released during the award-baiting month of October. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor, and won many other awards, including the Venice International Film Festival's UsefulNotes/LeoneDOro. Notably, after its release, virtually none of the media referred to it as a comic book/superhero movie, instead referring it solely as PsychologicalThriller or the like.
157* Although it is a movie about a comic book superhero, ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' generated [[https://variety.com/2017/film/news/wonder-woman-oscars-patty-jenkins-gal-gadot-comic-book-1202509132/ significant]] [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/oct/24/wonder-woman-superhero-movie-oscar-best-picture-gal-gadot expectation]] [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/07/28/why-wonder-woman-deserves-a-place-in-the-oscar-race/ in the]] [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2018/01/18/how-wonder-woman-could-become-the-first-superhero-movie-nominated-for-best-picture/?sh=28fc4d8d22b8 press]] that, given its female empowerment message, its epic tone and its massive public and critical success, it would benefit from a great Creator/WarnerBros' campaign for Oscars and receive several nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Creator/GalGadot and Best Director for Creator/PattyJenkins. However, the film ended up receiving one of the biggest snubs in Oscar history, not even receiving nominations in the technical categories, which generated a notable wave of internet outrage.
158* ''Film/TheBookOfHenry'' is a drama/thriller about a boy genius who devises an intricate plan to save a girl who is being abused by her stepfather. The film, in addition to addressing themes such as child abuse, terminal illness, grief, features an extraordinarily intelligent protagonist (such as ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', ''Film/ABeautifulMind'', ''Film/TheImitationGame''), and a female protagonist who works as a waitress (such as Creator/HelenHunt in ''Film/AsGoodAsItGets'' and Creator/HilarySwank in ''Film/MillionDollarBaby''). Treated as an event film and surrounded by expectations before its release, the film received very negative reviews due to the contrived coincidences and inconsistencies in its script, performed poorly at the box office and had no Oscar nominations.
159* ''Film/{{Aloha}}'' is a melodramatic comedy, in the vein of the various "quirky" indie films that have been featured in Oscars categories, about a white military contractor who falls in love with an half-Asian, half-Hawaiian Air Force Captain while arranging the blessing of a pedestrian gate for a nearby space center under construction. The film's AllStarCast and poster also reek of Oscar bait. It ended up bombing with critics and audiences (especially due to the whitewashing accusations coming from the casting of lily-white Creator/EmmaStone as said Air Force captain), it was dismissed by the Oscars, and the only awards love it received came in the form of three Teen Choice Award nominations. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking It was also ignored by the Razzies]].
160* ''Film/{{Cats}}'' comes across as [[Creator/UniversalStudios Universal]]'s attempt to create the formula for the perfect Oscar-baiting musical adaptation, with the most blatant inspiration being Universal's own ''[[Film/LesMiserables2012 Les Misérables]]''. It's based on [[Theatre/{{Cats}} one of the most popular and successful musicals ever]], directed by ''Les Mis'' director Creator/TomHooper, who won the Best Director Oscar for directing Best Picture winner ''Film/TheKingsSpeech''. It's live-action, appealing to the Academy's notorious anti-animation bias. It features an inevitable MovieBonusSong written by the show’s legendary creator Creator/AndrewLloydWebber and multi-Grammy winner Music/TaylorSwift, plus an AllStarCast to ensure more locks in the acting categories. To top it all off, previous Best Supporting Actress winner Music/JenniferHudson sings "Memory", one of the most iconic songs in the history of show business, in a similar manner to fellow Supporting Actress winner Creator/AnneHathaway with "I Dreamed a Dream". Even the much-touted "digital fur technology" would probably be worth a win for Best Visual Effects, or at least a nomination. [[TaintedByThePreview Then the first trailer dropped]], and it was all downhill from there. Outside of its six Razzie wins, the only positive awards attention it got was a Golden Globe nomination for Best Song and a Kids' Choice Awards nomination for Favorite Movie Actress for Swift (which probably had more to do with Swift’s general popularity than the actual quality of her performance ([[AdvertisedExtra or lack thereof]])).
161* ''Film/DearEvanHansen'' came from [[Creator/{{Universal}} the]] [[Creator/{{Toho}} same]] [[VideoGame/PerfectWorld studios]] as ''Cats'' and is not only based on [[Theatre/DearEvanHansen a popular and well-liked Tony-winning musical]], but has an established producer in Creator/{{Marc Platt|Producer}} (''Film/LaLaLand'', ''Film/BridgeOfSpies'', ''Film/TheTrialOfTheChicago7''), stars his son Creator/BenPlatt reprising his Tony-winning role as Evan amongst a considerable AllStarCast of industry vets and up-and-comers, has baity themes related to teen suicide and mental health, a well-suited director for said themes in Creator/StephenChbosky (''Literature/ThePerksOfBeingAWallflower''), not one but two {{Movie Bonus Song}}s, and much of the vocals for the songs being sung live on set (as with ''[[Film/LesMiserables2012 Les Misérables]]''). But it was TaintedByThePreview (much like ''Cats''), with many unflattering comments being made towards Ben's DawsonCasting and the musical's generally poor adaptation to film, ''and'' it came out in the {{Dump Month|s}} of September, meaning it would be all but forgotten by awards voters by December.
162* The film adaptation of the stage play ''Theatre/AugustOsageCounty'', a heavy tragicomedy about a dysfunctional family with a stellar cast that included Oscar winners (Creator/MerylStreep, Creator/JuliaRoberts), was billed as "Oscar-bait turned to 11" by a [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/20/august-osage-country-oscar-bait headline]] in the British newspaper ''The Guardian''. The presence of Streep in the cast, the themes covered and the fact that the film was produced by Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany certainly weighed in such an assessment.
163* ''Film/MySistersKeeper'' checks several boxes: terminal illness, family conflict culminating in legal dispute. Creator/CameronDiaz was criticized for not accepting to shave her hair for the role, preferring to wear a bald cap. The film did not receive any Oscar nominations, but was awarded at the Teen Choice Awards (Choice Summer Movie Drama), the ALMA Awards (Outstanding Actress in Motion Picture, or Diaz) and the Young Artist Awards (Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress, for Creator/AbigailBreslin, and Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Actress, for Creator/SofiaVassilieva).
164* ''Film/WelcomeToMarwen'' was a drama loosely based on a true story, about an artist who suffers brain damage and mental trauma, resulting from physical aggression motivated by hatred, and who builds an imaginary world set in World War II Europe. Even before its release, it generated strong speculation about a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Creator/SteveCarell. Still, the film was released just ten days before the nominations closed on December 31, 2018. Unfortunately, it ended up being a box office failure and was critically panned, and the Academy didn't take the bait.
165* ''Film/HouseOfGucci'': Music/LadyGaga seemed to be wanting to build on the momentum of her nomination at Best Actress for ''Film/{{A Star is Born|2018}}'', and Creator/JaredLeto is downright unrecognizable as Paolo Gucci, possibly seeking Best Supporting Actor. Not only were they both snubbed at the Oscars, Leto actually won a [[MediaNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Razzie]] for Worst Supporting Actor.
166* ''Film/{{Eternals}}'' is viewed as the rare attempt to make Oscar bait out of a blockbuster superhero film. For its director, Creator/MarvelStudios signed on Creator/ChloeZhao, whose prior experience was in low-budget films with novice actors and who even won Best Director for ''{{Film/Nomadland}}''. The resulting film was an eclectic product, with long stretches of philosophical discussion about the nature of humanity, war and genocide, the ethics of free will and utilitarianism, and stunning vistas shot on location and with natural light amidst sudden massive CGI superhuman battles. Ultimately, it received underwhelming reviews and wasn't nominated at any major awards shows. To date, Marvel Studios' only Best Picture nomination has been for ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', which was a smash hit with both audiences and critics despite Marvel having so little faith in it they rushed it out for Black History Month 2018 with underbaked VFX.
167* ''Film/{{Napoleon|2023}}'' is a near-three-hour-long epic American-British historical biopic film directed by Creator/RidleyScott, written by Creator/DavidScarpa, and starring Creator/JoaquinPhoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte and Creator/VanessaKirby as Josephine Beauharnais. It suffered criticism for its lack of historical accuracy, and its only Oscar nominations were for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, Best Achievement in Production Design and Best Achievement in Costume Design.
168[[/folder]]
169
170[[folder:Emmy/BAFTA Bait]]
171* ''Series/TheWestWing'' episode "The Long Goodbye" was painfully obviously designed to score Creator/AllisonJanney an Emmy nomination. It did so by omitting most of the regular cast to show her character battling her father's Alzheimer's disease. This was particularly strange because Janney won four Emmys on her own over the course of the series, so she didn't ''need'' a weepy Emmy-bait episode.
172* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': "The Body" is a massive tearjerker episode where the cast deals with Joyce's death and seems to be pushing all the Emmy Bait buttons. It didn't get a nomination, but the NoDialogueEpisode "Hush" did.
173* ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' tried several times to net itself an Emmy with various [[VerySpecialEpisode Very Special Episodes]] dealing with death or another weighty topic. Despite all their efforts, it never worked and the show failed to even get nominated during its entire run.
174* ''Film/AmericanSon'', a Creator/{{Netflix}} film (based on a play) that deals with racial tensions in America, is similar to ''Literature/ExtremelyLoudAndIncrediblyClose'' in that it was critically-drubbed upon release for its [[{{Anvilicious}} heavy-handed dealing with the topic]], but managed to earn an Emmy nomination for Outstanding TV Movie.
175* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': Episode 3x09, "Janets" was the last episode to air before the mid-season break, meaning only three episodes were left at the start of 2019. According to the show's official podcast, part of the reason they split the season up this way was so Creator/DarcyCarden's performance would be fresh in the minds of awards groups like the Golden Globes and SAG awards. The episode involves the other main characters transforming into a likeness of Janet, meaning Carden had to essentially play every character. Despite receiving praise for her performance(s), Carden failed to be nominated at any of the major groups. ([[ConsolationAward The Emmys did nominate her for the following season, however.]])
176* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': Animator Tom Tataranowicz, who came up with the idea for the UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode "The Problem With Power", openly admitted in the DVD commentary that he did so to enforce this trope, as episodes in which someone died always won Emmys. It didn't work, though the episode is considered to be one of the very best of the show.
177* ''Film/{{Hawking}}'', a {{biopic}} of famously disabled genius astrophysicist Creator/StephenHawking, was saturated with topics designed to warrant nominations from the BAFTA – and not just about Hawking struggling with his ALS or his efforts in science. It even managed to include a few Holocaust references; a supporting character had to flee Nazi Germany with his family as a child.
178* ''Series/StrangerThings'' dropped the first volume of Season 4 on May 27, 2022, four days before the 2022 cutoff. The most notable episode was "Dear Billy", a Max-focussed episode that deals with depression, suicidial ideations and survivor's guilt, giving Creator/SadieSink a lot of angsty material, before ending in massively emotional style via the use of the Music/KateBush song "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)". The show was nominated for Best Drama Series (losing to ''Series/{{Succession}}'') and got twelve Creative Arts nominations, winning five. Two of the wins, for music supervision and prosthetic make-up, were for "Dear Billy". Sadie Sink, however, failed to get an Emmy nomination despite the trades predicting one, although won a HCA award and ended 2022 with a much bigger profile.
179[[/folder]]
180
181[[folder:Tony Bait]]
182* ''Theatre/InTheHeights'' centers around an inspirational Fourth of July where impoverished immigrants in Washington Heights win the lottery and struggle with issues of college debt, gentrification, and American identity. The characters angst over ''everything'', including (but not limited to): boatloads of UnresolvedSexualTension, the hypocrisy of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream, the expenses of living in the heights, and [[spoiler:the death of a beloved community member]]. Sprinkle in some modern, catchy infusions of hip-hop and salsa music, and you have a Tony-winning musical. It was nominated for thirteen categories, winning four (but none for writing).
183* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', which centers around the [[UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton titular character]] during the Revolutionary War, and has the special honor of being one of the only shows with a cast made up of people of color. It won 11 Tonys, and had 16 nominations in total. If you weren't ''Hamilton'' at the 2016 Tonys, there was no point in showing up.
184[[/folder]]
185
186[[folder:Other]]
187* ''[[Film/YoungAtHeart2007 Young @ Heart]]'' was not eligible for either an Oscar or an Emmy (for various reasons), so it set its sights on international film festivals, particularly the Rose d'Or. It's a documentary about a pensioners' choir going on tour, and it hit so many of the Oscar Bait buttons that it's a surprise that it didn't fall victim to HypeBacklash. It won almost everything it ran for (only ''Film/ManOnWire'' could beat it in anything).
188* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'' has been accused by its detractors of being Oscar Bait in video game form, featuring a gay female protagonist in an [[TrueArtIsAngsty extremely bleak]] and [[ViolenceIsDisturbing realistically violent]] revenge story set in a ZombieApocalypse where the real focus is on [[BewareTheLiving human cruelty]]. While fan reception was divisive to say the least, it certainly wowed critics by sweeping The Game Awards 2020 and becoming the most awarded game of all time until ''VideoGame/EldenRing''. Some critics even went so far as to (in a positive way) call it gaming's ''Film/SchindlersList'' moment.
189[[/folder]]
190
191[[folder:Notable Exceptions]]
192The Oscar Bait trope is so pervasive that it defines the formula that wins Oscars. When a different kind of film wins big, and no one else can replicate that success, it’s worth noting.
193* 1931 film ''Film/{{Skippy}}'' was an unexceptional little family movie about a nine-year-old boy who gets into mischief. Somehow it got four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Creator/JackieCooper (the youngest nominee ever), and it ''won'' Best Director for Creator/NormanTaurog. Even more amazing? It was based on a newspaper comic strip. It wasn't until the 2019 Oscars that another film based on a comic strip, comic book, or graphic novel (''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'') was nominated for Best Picture.
194* The 1934 film ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'' was a small, low-budget romantic comedy RoadMovie, released during a time when Oscar Bait meant elaborate musical and dancing showcases. It gained universal acclaim from both critics and audiences and swept the "Big Five" awards: Best Picture, Best Director (Creator/FrankCapra), Best Actor (Creator/ClarkGable), Best Actress (Creator/ClaudetteColbert), and Best Screenplay. This has only been done twice more in all the years since: by ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'' in 1976 and ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' in 1992.
195* ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' is dark, deals with mental illness, and addresses [[HumansAreBastards man's inhumanity to man]]. It's also a ''horror'' film, a genre that usually gets no love at the Oscars. (The producers were aware of that and billed it as a "PsychologicalThriller".) It was the first horror film to win any of the "Big Five" since ''[[Film/DrJekyllAndMrHyde1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' in 1932 and was only the third film of any kind to ''sweep'' all of the Big Five categories.
196* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', against all odds, found its way out of the AnimationAgeGhetto and wound up being nominated for Best Picture in 1991. It didn't win, but this in itself was an ''incredible'' feat (which Creator/{{Disney}} would futilely try to replicate). It remains the only animated feature to ever get nominated from when the field was five movies (''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Up}}'' got nods after the field was expanded to 8-10 movies).
197* ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' broke out of the SciFiGhetto and got Oscar nominations for Best Director (Creator/GeorgeLucas), Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Creator/AlecGuinness), and Best Screenplay. It didn't win any of them, but it showed that a hugely popular sci-fi film might catch the Academy’s attention. It opened the door for such films as ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', and ''Film/District9'' to get nominations as well, and non-sci-fi films in the same vein (like ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk''). That said, the fact that they didn’t ''win'' anything big pointed towards Oscar Bait becoming an end in and of itself in years to follow.
198* ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' was unusual in that it wasn't meant to be Oscar Bait -- just Creator/JamesCameron's dream project that was supposed to be committed to the screen, and was originally being positioned as a SummerBlockbuster. People latched onto it, and it won almost everything. It does, however, tick a few of the boxes: it's a PeriodPiece centered around a famous historical event, yet still has a decade-spanning story thanks to said Period Piece story being told by a character in the present, and ForbiddenLove between people of different socio-economic classes. Critics who appreciated Cameron's dedication to dutifully recreating many of the details of the ''Titanic'' and its sinking, but didn't care for the fictional love story, accused the director of shoehorning it in to increase his chances during awards season instead of letting the true story of the ''Titanic'' stand on its own.
199* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' is a strange case; although it is fantasy, it was also adapted from one of literature's most important and ground-breaking fantasy works, and it was also a huge spectacle that changed the game in epic filmmaking. But what was truly unexpected was for ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'' to ''sweep'' its awards. Perhaps its wins were meant to be for the trilogy as a whole -- it was filmed as one project, so it might have been unfair for it to eat up all the important awards for all three years it was released over -- but that is still a phenomenal accomplishment for a fantasy film series. More cynical explanations involve the series' great commercial success: either the Academy felt unable to ignore such a big hit, or it wanted to reward the series for helping the cinema industry by getting so many people through the door.
200* ''Film/AnnieHall'' won Best Picture, Best Actress (Creator/DianeKeaton), Best Screenplay, and Best Director (Creator/WoodyAllen). It was unusual in that it was a romantic comedy (although one with a BittersweetEnding). It beat out ''Film/{{Julia}}'' (a {{biopic}} about sticking it to the Nazis) and ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' to Best Picture as well.
201* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' was the first comic book movie to win an acting nomination (for Creator/HeathLedger) and only the fifth film based on a comic strip, comic book or graphic novel to earn an acting nomination.[[note]]The others, for those keeping score at home, were the aforementioned Creator/JackieCooper for ''Film/{{Skippy}}'', Creator/AlPacino for ''Film/DickTracy'', Creator/PaulNewman for ''Film/RoadToPerdition'', and Creator/WilliamHurt for ''Film/AHistoryOfViolence''.[[/note]] With the pervasiveness of serious Oscar Bait fare, the idea that friggin' ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' can win an Oscar was unreal. Then again, Ledger [[DeadArtistsAreBetter may have had the advantage of sadly being dead.]]
202* ''Film/TheDeparted'' was gritty, violent, and serious, but it was also not a war movie, very profane (relative to most Oscar Bait), and otherwise didn't touch on Oscar-baity subjects. And it won Best Picture. It was directed by Creator/MartinScorsese, who had previously whiffed on the more baity ''Film/TheAviator'' and ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' -- although this led some observers to believe that its win was a [[ConsolationAward "lifetime achievement" Oscar]] to make up for Scorsese not winning for previous line of work.
203* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'' followed up on ''The Departed'' and won Best Picture the very next year with the same formula. This, though, was a relentlessly cynical film which won very big -- rather than most Oscar Bait, it presents humanity's failure as inevitable and comments on the meaninglessness of the material world. It was also kind of an upset winner over ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood'' -- an even ''bleaker'' film.
204* ''Film/ThereWillBeBlood'' was a PeriodDrama about the oil boom in Southern California during the early 20th century, but that's where the Oscar Bait qualities end - the movie's main character is a ruthless and sociopathic oilman who descends further into madness, greed, and cruelty the more successful he gets throughout the film, and eventually culminates in him driving away all of his loved ones, with his main rival being [[spoiler:a weaselly FalseProphet]].
205* ''Film/TheHurtLocker'', other than being a Post911TerrorismMovie, had very little going for it on the Oscar front; it had a low budget, no big stars, no big studio to promote it, and not even a political message. It wound up winning Best Picture in 2010, in spite of having at the time the lowest box office numbers of any Best Picture winner ever. One thing that ''did'' work in its favor was the narrative of Creator/KathrynBigelow becoming the first female director to win Best Director -- over her ex-husband Creator/JamesCameron (but some suggest that this was why she wasn't nominated for ''Film/ZeroDarkThirty'' a few years later).
206* ''Film/TheFrenchConnection'', the 1971 Best Picture winner, is a gritty and suspenseful genre film with a nihilistic tone. But unlike most Oscar winners, it has a [[AntiHero morally ambiguous protagonist]] and an ending where [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins and most of the other villains receive a KarmaHoudini]]. Some speculate that the Academy gave the win to a film this dark to distance itself from the [[{{Glurge}} saccharine musicals]] that won in TheSixties.
207* ''Film/TheArtist'' won Best Picture in spite of it being a SilentMovie from 2011. It's not often that LeFilmArtistique (or something vaguely resembling it anyway) gets nominations beyond Best Foreign Film, but this one won the whole thing. It helped that it was also an unashamed love letter to Old Hollywood, which probably appealed to Academy viewers.
208* Creator/QuentinTarantino's films ''Film/IngloriousBasterds'' and ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' certainly seem like Oscar Bait at first glance, the first being set in World War II and the second tackling American slavery. They wound up getting seven and five nominations respectively. They're also quintessential Tarantino films -- fictional and bizarre, so never ''feeling'' like Oscar Bait.
209* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'' is one of the least Oscar-friendly movies ever made. It's the fourth film in a [[Film/MadMax franchise]] that never saw ''any'' Oscar attention before, and had its last installment all the way back in ''1985''. It's a loud, explosive, and unapologetic pure action movie. It has very little dialogue and is essentially a nonstop two-hour car chase scene. And it was released all the way back in May. But it got critical acclaim for its action sequences, ShowDontTell storytelling, and hidden themes and was regarded as one of the best movies of 2015, topping more official Top 10 lists than any other. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accolades_received_by_Mad_Max:_Fury_Road It ended up being an unexpected Oscar contender]], being nominated for ten awards (including Best Picture) and winning six, the most of that year.
210* In the same vein and in the same year as ''Fury Road'', there was ''Film/TheRevenant'', an [[{{Gorn}} ultraviolent]] pulp western, which got nominated for many Oscars and won three, including Best Director (Creator/AlejandroGonzalezInarritu's second consecutive win after ''Film/BirdmanOrTheUnexpectedVirtueOfIgnorance'') and Best Actor (Creator/LeonardoDicaprio's first).
211* ''Film/BlackSwan'' is a horror movie, and the director never denied that. (The producers, on the other hand, marketed it as a "PsychologicalThriller"). It also features a lesbian sex scene, [[SexSells just to get eyeballs on it]]. It still got five Oscar nominations and was regarded as one of the best films of the year.
212* ''Film/{{Get Out|2017}}'' is a horror movie about a black man in a white suburb ''and'' [[DumpMonths was released in February]]. It earned acclaim for not only its storyline, but its hidden social commentary, and was nominated for dozens of movie awards, winning quite a few, including the Best Screenplay Oscar, and in doing so became the first horror movie to win a Big Five Oscar since ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.
213* ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'' had one of the most oddball premises ever for an Oscar nominee (a love story between a [[TheSpeechless mute woman]] and a [[FishPeople fish person]]), which you might think would've alienated the Academy. Instead, it won Best Picture and Director.
214* ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', the eighteenth film in the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, is a solo film about [[ComicBook/BlackPanther one of the most popular black superheroes]]. At first glance, it still feels like your typical superhero movie and the plot is about the hero inheriting the throne of his kingdom only to be challenged by an adversary who wants to lead a global revolution, which is not a common topic for an Oscar Bait. But ''Black Panther'' had an edge over the other solo superhero movies because the film touches on social and political issues that have significant cultural importance to the African and African-American communities. It earned many accolades and became the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. And like ''Get Out'', it was even released during the dump month of February.
215* Being (technically) a non-technical category, the Best Animated Feature category is a good place to subvert traditional Oscar Bait, as the following winners and nominees have shown:
216** ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' was a subversive, ToiletHumor-involving FracturedFairyTale released when most animated movies were StrictlyFormula. It was warmly received by critics and not only did it win the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar, but it also managed to be nominated for ''Best Adapted Screenplay''.
217** ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'', which won in 2015, heavily touches on death and revenge, two very common Oscar Bait themes... and it's still a superhero movie where one of the main characters is a huggable robot. It ended up the first [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel]]-related movie to win any major non-technical category.
218** Four years later, ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' repeated the trick, having themes of loss and redemption, though its main achievement is its artstyle. It earned Creator/SonyPicturesAnimation an Oscar among many other accolades.
219** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' deserves special mention purely for the fact that it's a video game movie, in an industry [[VideoGameMoviesSuck not well known for producing quality video game movies]]. Beyond that, it's about [[PunchClockVillain a video game bad guy]] who wants to prove he can actually be good. No Oscar (it lost to the more Oscar-baity ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}''), but [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772341/awards several other awards and nominations anyway]], including the Best Animated Feature MediaNotes/AnnieAward over ''Brave''.
220* ''Film/{{Parasite|2019}}'' is an interesting case. While it was a South Korean film (let alone the country's ''first'' showing for even the now-renamed Best International Film category) against established directors with credbility like Creator/MartinScorsese, Creator/SamMendes and Creator/QuentinTarantino and ostensible lockins like ''Film/{{Joker|2019}}'', it also dealt with CapitalismIsBad and EatTheRich themes that made it popular with critics and audiences alike, even netting it a UsefulNotes/PalmeDOr win (notably one of the few ''unanimous'' wins of that prize). Still, the supposed odds against it had many people predicting wins for the aforementioned directors and their films, which wasn't helped by Director Creator/BongJoonHo making a critical comments toward the Academy by comparing them to "local film festivals" for having a bias towards recognizing "safe" movies,  which is why it shocked everyone by setting '''historical wins''' by:
221** Being not just the first South Korean film but the first ''foreign language'' film [[note]]while 2011 winner ''The Artist'' was a French production, it was also a silent film [[spoiler: with the sole dialogue being in English]][[/note]] to win '''Best Picture'''.
222** Having Bong also win for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
223** Making Bong the ''second'' person in Oscar history to win ''four'' Oscars (together with an aforementioned International Film win, the only category it was considered a lock for [[labelnote:caveat]]though technically he is not a named recepient in the Best International Feature (it is ascribed to the country of origin)[[/labelnote]]) in one night, a distinction only shared by '''Creator/WaltDisney'''.
224*** More impressively, Disney's four wins for four different films, all of Bong's wins were for ''just this one''.
225** Speaking of the Palme d'Or, it was also just the third film in history to win both it and the Best Picture Oscar, this last happening back in ''1956'' with ''Film/{{Marty}}''.
226* ''Film/{{CODA|2021}}'' had the disability angle going for it, with a mostly deaf cast, but as a remake of [[Film/LaFamilleBelier a French film]] that wasn't particularly known or loved outside France, by a [[Creator/SianHeder writer-director]] only making her second feature film, it got lost in the shuffle during awards season and only netted three Oscar nominations. But then it built up tremendous buzz during the Oscar campaign and ended up winning all three nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Creator/TroyKotsur) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
227* The 2023 Oscars had two major exceptions:
228** ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'' touches on themes of GenerationalTrauma, nihilism, and is about the reparation of a mother-daughter relationship. Sounds like something the Academy would love. What did you say? It's also a humorous, action-heavy, and ''very'' surreal trip into TheMultiverse, featuring concepts like a universe where everyone has hot dogs for fingers, sentient rocks, and an everything bagel capable of destroying universes? OK, maybe not so much. But it was distributed by Creator/{{A24}}, a studio that's carved out a special niche with quirky, auteur-driven GenreBusting movies that do well with critics and audiences alike, and it became a SleeperHit that gradually gained traction throughout the 2022 awards season (and since A24 distributed the aforementioned ''Film/{{Moonlight|2016}}'', they know how to navigate the awards circuit). It got eleven Oscar nominations, the most of any film that year, including Best Picture, and became the first film ever to win six of the seven topline Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, with Best Film Editing giving it a seventh win).
229** ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' was the long-awaited sequel to [[Film/TopGun a film]] that, while a hit with audiences, was never a critical darling, and was a big-budget action SummerBlockbuster released in May. However, it ended up receiving critical acclaim and began to be regarded as one of 2022's best films, which would lead to it getting six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a surprise nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, and eventually won for Best Sound.
230* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' is an odd case of Emmy Bait. The show won an Emmy for the episode "The Eggbaby", which is a comedic slapstick romp that is light-hearted in tone and feels very out of place with the rest of the series. And yet, it won, even though superhero cartoons lived in the sewer of the animation ghetto.[[note]]The producers did this deliberately [[/note]]
231
232[[/folder]]
233
234!!Spoofs of this trope:
235
236[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
237* ''Film/TheMask'' has a shootout sequence where the Mask, after dodging a ridiculous number of bullets, turns into a cowboy and allows himself to be shot -- so that he can give ''several'' {{Final Speech}}es (all {{Shout Out}}s to award-winning movies) and die in another character’s arms. Then the audience cheers, and he gets up and tearfully accepts an award. Even the mobsters shooting him check their hair and straighten their suits as if they were on TV.
238* In ''Film/WaynesWorld'', Wayne gives a dramatic, teary-eyed[[note]]He didn't actually cry, he just splashed water in his face[[/note]] speech, while the words “Oscar Clip” are emblazoned over the shot. He even finished it off by claiming to be [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged illiterate]], which he then admitted wasn't true after "Oscar Clip" stopped flashing on the screen.
239* From the ''Film/RoadTo'' series:
240** At the end of ''Film/RoadToMorocco'', Creator/BobHope's character has accidentally blown up the ship, leaving the main cast [[LostAtSea stranded on a raft]]. Hope [[ChewingTheScenery chews up the scenery]], acting as if they've been stranded there for weeks. Then the camera pans up to reveal the New York City skyline. Creator/BingCrosby’s character tells him to calm down, to which Hope bitterly remarks that they’ve ruined his chance for an Academy Award.
241** In ''Film/RoadToBali'', Crosby finds the Oscar Creator/HumphreyBogart won for ''Film/TheAfricanQueen''. Hope points out that Crosby already has an Oscar, snatches the trophy from him, and begins making an acceptance speech. (While Hope was never nominated for a competitive Oscar, he did win four Honorary Oscars and hosted the show a recorded fourteen times.)
242* In ''Film/DontBeAMenaceToSouthCentralWhileDrinkingYourJuiceInTheHood'', after parodying one of the dramatic scenes from ''Film/BoyzNTheHood'', the main character tells his girlfriend that he's trying to win the Best Black Actor at the Soul Train awards.
243* In ''Film/TropicThunder'':
244** One of the [[RealTrailerFakeMovie fake trailers at the beginning of the movie]] shows Kirk Lazarus and Creator/TobeyMaguire playing Irish monks who fall in love with each other in a clearly Oscar-baity film, ''Satan's Alley''.
245** Action star Tugg Speedman reflects on the failure of his Oscar Bait film ''Simple Jack'', in which he plays a mentally-challenged farmhand. It was a total BoxOfficeBomb and called one of the worst films of all time. Kirk Lazarus explains that it's because people who won for playing InspirationallyDisadvantaged characters never went "full retard”:
246--->'''Speedman:''' What do you mean?\
247'''Lazarus:''' Check it out. Creator/DustinHoffman, ''Film/RainMan'': look retarded, act retarded -- not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho’ -- not retarded. You know Creator/TomHanks, ''Film/ForrestGump'': slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon]] and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. And he was a goddamn war hero. You know any retarded war heroes? You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don’t buy that? Ask Creator/SeanPenn, 2001, ''Film/IAmSam''. Remember? Went full retard, went home empty-handed.
248** Lazarus has a lot of experience with these, as he himself is a spoof of Oscar Bait actors. He's a five-time Oscar winner, and that's before ''Satan's Alley''. He mentions having played Neil Armstrong, ticking the "based on a true story" box. His third Oscar was for a Chinese film called ''Land of Silk and Money'', which he prepped for by [[MethodActing working eight months in a textile factory]]. According to [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental material]], one of his five Oscars is for Best ''Actress'', having apparently tackled a CrossCastRole, going [[LogicalExtreme to extremes with the usual Oscar-worthy physical transformations]]. In the movie itself, he's attempting that again, having undergone "pigmentation alteration" surgery to play a black man, a move which has generated more in-universe controversy than Oscar buzz. He never breaks character, despite realizing very early on in the film that production is ruined. As the icing on the cake, Creator/RobertDowneyJr actually received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Lazarus.
249** Want even more icing on the cake? Along with Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe, one of the inspirations for Lazarus is Daniel Day Lewis, an actor who is to Oscar Bait films what Sylvester Stallone is to action films and Julia Roberts is to chick flicks.
250** At the end of the film, the Oscar for Best Actor is presented. The stills of the nominees include Creator/TomHanks winning a race in a wheelchair and a blind Creator/SeanPenn learning braille.
251* In ''Film/{{Bowfinger}}'', black action star Kit Ramsey (Creator/EddieMurphy) weighs in on the trope:
252-->'''Ramsey:''' White boys get all the Oscars -- it's a fact!\
253'''Manager:''' I know that, but look--\
254'''Ramsey:''' Did I get nominated? No, and you know why? ‘Cos I haven’t played any of them slave roles, where I get my ass whipped -- that's how you get the nominations! A black dude plays a slave role and gets his ass whipped, they get the nomination; a white boy plays an idiot, they get the Oscar. Maybe I’ll split it; find me a script as a retarded slave, ''then'' I'll get the Oscar!\
255'''Manager:''' ''(awkward pause)'' Uh, I'm gonna go schmooze. I'll be right back. ''(starts to leave)''\
256'''Ramsey:''' Yeah, and go find that script. “Buck the Wonder-Slave”!
257* In ''Film/BlazingSaddles'', villain Hedley Lamarr announces to his gang of thugs near the climax:
258-->''You will only be risking your lives, while I will almost certainly be risking an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.''
259* The first fifteen minutes of ''Film/InAndOut'' are rife with references to this trope. Creator/MattDillon’s character wins an Oscar for playing a [[{{Gayngst}} gay soldier unfairly discharged from the military]], in a film that appears to be equal parts ''Film/AFewGoodMen'', ''Film/{{Philadelphia}}'', and ''Film/ForrestGump''. The actors he beat: “Creator/PaulNewman for ''Coot'', Creator/ClintEastwood for ''Codger'', Creator/MichaelDouglas for ''Primary Urges'', and Creator/StevenSeagal for ''Snowball in Hell''.”
260* ''[[Film/TheNakedGun The Naked Gun 33 1/3]]'' includes a scene at the Oscar ceremony, where all the films were ridiculously HighConcept, like "the story of one woman's triumph over the death of her cat, set against the background of the Hindenburg disaster," and "the story of one woman's triumph over a yeast infection, set against the background of the tragic Buffalo Bills season of 1971."
261* ''Film/OmShantiOm'': Parodied when Om has to play a blind deaf mute with no legs or arms. Sure, critics will love it but his fans will be bored.
262[[/folder]]
263
264[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
265* ''Series/TheAfterparty'': Invoked. Culp describes that one of Germain's previous cases is being turned into a limited series with an AllStarCast as a blatant awards play.
266* ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' parodies Emmy Bait with its fifth-season finale “A [[VerySpecialEpisode Very Special]] Drew”. It includes: a homeless woman giving birth; Kate dying of [[SoapOperaDisease a terminal disease]] on her wedding day; Drew battling his [[CompressedVice heretofore unheard-of]] lifelong illiteracy; Mimi battling her also heretofore unheard-of obsessive-compulsive disorder; Lewis snapping at people and reflecting on why [[InnerMonologue out loud to the audience]]; Oswald taking up theft to be closer to his imprisoned father; Drew and Lewis volunteering to get shot so that they’d have a good death scene; and Mr. Wick developing an eating disorder. And a LittlestCancerPatient, who gets the emmy.
267** ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' had a sketch where Ryan Stiles has to report the weather as if it were a scene from an Oscar-winning film. He did so by ribbing host Creator/DrewCarey and referencing “A Very Special Drew”.
268* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' has “The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award”. It’s nominally about the gang trying to win a Best Bar award, but is actually a LeaningOnTheFourthWall commentary on the fact the show has failed to garner any recognition from the Emmys by having the bars stand in for shows. The gang is going up against a bar straight out of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' (with a TokenMinority manager for good measure) where the owners make generic and inoffensive jokes, complete with a LaughTrack. The gang tries to model Paddy’s Pub after the bar that wins, such as by making sure they don't have [[MinorityShowGhetto too many black guys present so the judges won't think its a "black bar"]] and trying to create some WillTheyOrWontThey tension between Mac and Dee. [[AwardBaitSong Charlie even decides to write a song for the bar to help them win]]. Ultimately, as with everything they try, they fail spectacularly.
269%%* Series/FrenchAndSaunders' take on ''Cold Mountain'', where the Oscar Bait scenes immediately segue into "Zellweger" actually receiving it.
270* ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'' sketch [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kj78anyCkM “Oscar Bait”]] spoofs many of the common elements of this trope. It’s a fake trailer for a film about a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot gay, disabled, artistic Jew]] who’s thrown in a concentration camp during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, trying to tick as many Oscar boxes at once. The lead actor even apparently [[BlackComedy killed himself after the film]] to invoke DeadArtistsAreBetter.
271* ''Series/TheFastShow'' spoofs the trope with the film ''Cute Disabled Man'', which wins an award for “Best Portrayal of a Disabled Person by a Fit and Healthy Young Actor Who Wants to Win an Oscar”.
272-->''I love you, black man.''
273* A ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'' sketch shows the best actor nomination at an Oscar show. Three of the actors played InspirationallyDisadvantaged (ranging from being deaf to [[AmusingInjuries having a spike in their head]]); their characters give the exact same RousingSpeech with appropriate music. The fourth clip is of a guy playing Theatre/{{Hamlet}}. They award the Oscar to “everyone but the Hamlet guy!”
274* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' had at least one episode that ended with a heartwarming scene and the subtitle: “For your Emmy considerations.”
275%%* Parodied in ''[[Series/ThirtyRock 30 Rock]]'' with ''Hard to Watch'', an obvious takeoff on ''Film/{{Precious}}''.
276* In ''Series/{{Extras}}'', Creator/KateWinslet’s character plays in a Holocaust movie in an open bid to win an Oscar. Then in 2008, Winslet [[HilariousInHindsight did it in real life]] in ''Film/TheReader''. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAweiV944qI This did not go unnoticed]].
277* ''Series/TheSoup'' had a trailer for a fictional film called ''The Oscar Movie'', with a voiceover discussing almost every Oscar Bait cliché using clips from that year’s actual Oscar nominees. These include: “women distraught, crying, and/or screaming,” comedians [[PlayingAgainstType in serious roles]], Creator/MerylStreep (mentioned at least three times), and “Creator/JohnnyDepp doing something weird.”
278* ''Series/MrShow'' did a sketch about “The Dewey Awards”, which were specifically given to actors who played mentally disabled characters. One winner is a film called ''The Bob Lamonta Story'', about a man who struggles with his own mentally challenged parents (only for Lamonta himself to show up and claim it was all BasedOnAGreatBigLie).
279* ''Series/TheKevinBishopShow'' had a spoof trailer for a BAFTA Bait TV drama, consisting solely of the phrase “gritty BAFTA” said with a pained, serious expression.
280* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' had a suspect who was an actor, who says he’s playing Creator/MattDamon’s “[[InspirationallyDisadvantaged half-wit]] father” because “it’s got nominations written all over it.”
281* In season 4 of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', Rebel Alley (Creator/IslaFisher) discusses the possibility of playing Michael’s deceased wife in a movie. After learning that said wife died of a terminal illness, Rebel says that all she needs now is to have her be mentally-challenged as well, and she'll be guaranteed an Oscar for her performance.
282* ''Series/DerryGirls'': In the first episode of the third season, the girls and James try to make a short film about UsefulNotes/TheTroubles after hearing that, supposedly, a few kids from Germany made a short film about the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall and won an Oscar.
283-->'''Michelle:''' Aye, but they probably had, you know, talent.
284* ''Series/MockTheWeek'':
285-->'''David Mitchell:''' I'd like to thank the person who cast me as a [[LittlestCancerPatient blind, autistic,]] [[TrueArtIsAngsty Parkinson's-disease-ridden mute]], for making this award almost inevitable.
286* ''Series/LateNight'' with ''Creator/SethMeyers'' presents: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjE9Fl4zKNs Oscar Bait]]: RealTrailerFakeMovie.
287* ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' has the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cBV8KFFasY Warren G. Harding biopic]] starring a wax sculpture thereof and Oscar-nominated actors.
288* ''Series/TheOtherTwo'':
289** The play ''8 Gay Men With AIDS: A Poem in Many Hours'' is a multi-night, overly pretentious, badly-paced TragicAIDSStory that [[PoliticalOvercorrectness nobody wants to criticize or walk out on for fear of offending the LGBT and HIV+ communities]]. It is quickly nominated for at least one Tony, to Cary's shock.
290** Cary, deciding he wantes a similar level of acclaim, demands an Oscar from his team. His agent quickly gets acclaimed director Creator/KellyReichardt and buzzy star Music/HarryStyles attached to a gay film that everyone is confident will keep Cary in the Oscar conversation. [[spoiler:He realizes, however, that [[HorribleHollywood the industry is turning him into a bad person]] and decides to take a break from acting rather than do the film]].
291[[/folder]]
292
293[[folder:Radio]]
294* ''Series/DeadRingers:'' The cast of ''Time'' lay things out to Sean Bean that the show must be as bleak and miserable as humanly possible so that they can get "wall to wall [=BAFTAs=]". When he breaks one of the rules, keeping any monologue to under two minutes, the rest of the cast come back to beat him senseless. Funnily enough, ''Time'' did in fact go on to win two [=BAFTAs=]...
295-->'''Stephen Graham:''' I warned you, Monologue Boy! ''Think of the [=BAFTAs!=]''
296
297[[/folder]]
298
299[[folder:Web Originals]]
300* 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 [[SubvertedTrope subversion]]; most participants tend to be fans of this kind of movie and are genuinely trying to pitch good ideas.
301* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'':
302** From "A Very Special, Award-Winning Episode of ''Zorc & Pals''".
303--->'''Florence:''' What's wrong, Zorc? Why haven't you [[RunningGag destroyed the world?]]\
304'''Zorc:''' I have [[SoapOperaDisease a terminal disease!]]\
305'''Florence:''' You can't die! What about [[HoYay our adopted daughter]]?\
306'''Zorc:''' [[RuleOfDrama She also has]] a terminal disease!
307** In ''Anime/YuGiOhBondsBeyondTime Abridged'':
308--->'''Yugi:''' [[spoiler:(''holding his grandpa's bandanna'') [[SkywardScream GRANDPAAAAAAA!!!]] (''{{beat}}'')]] Can I have my Oscar now?
309* 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 Website/{{Cracked}}. It was such a spot-on parody that it even got its own page on TV Tropes, ''WebVideo/ATrailerForEveryAcademyAwardWinningMovieEver''.
310-->''Catchphwase!''
311* ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' has this in every scene regarding Spoony’s attempts to avoid “giving in to the madness” (''i.e.'' his EnemyWithin Dr. Insano). He even engages in HamToHamCombat with it.
312* In the third segment of [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]]’s ''WebVideo/HistoryOfPowerRangers'' series, he shows a clip of [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Bulk and Skull]] trying to save a bunch of kids from drowning in a lake. They run down the pier in slow motion with inspirational music. Linkara responds by putting "Oscar Clip" at the bottom of the screen. (And it turns out the lake was knee-deep and the children were just playing.)
313* ''Podcast/NerdToTheThirdPower'' host Dr. Gonzo swore up and down that ''Film/{{Precious}}'' would win Best Picture (based on his belief that Oscar winners were always the most depressing movie on the docket), 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!" (It didn’t; ''Film/TheHurtLocker'' did.)
314* 11points.com had an 11 Points Countdown webisode about the [[http://www.11points.com/Countdown/11_Least_Deserving_Best_Picture_Winners_-_11_Points_Countdown 11 Least Deserving Best Picture Winners]], which claimed that ''Film/TheEnglishPatient'' and ''Film/TheKingsSpeech'' were Oscar Bait. One of the commentators even says that ''The King's Speech'' was blatantly pandering to the older Academy voters, saying that it wouldn't have looked out of place winning Best Picture in 1965.
315* On ''WebVideo/MidnightScreenings'', Brad Jones says he thinks calling a film Oscar Bait is an overused criticism. But he says he thinks it fits at least the trailer for the film of ''Literature/TheBookThief''.
316* ''Website/CollegeHumor'' made a video on this topic titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSNwudFGUOU 21 Steps to Making an Oscar Movie]], including: high-contrast low-saturation lighting, suspenseful piano music, period clothing, disability, drug addiction, low camera angle, suicide, and a lot of other clichés.
317* [[WebVideo/GameTheory Game Theorist]] Matthew Patrick on his second channel ''Film Theory'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdwySyRSgqc spends fifteen minutes discussing]] the formula yielding the highest statistical chance of winning an Oscar.
318* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_B0kgSh_5s Super Deluxe]] released an “Oscar contender” trailer for ''Film/StraightOuttaCompton'', with the joke being that the film was made more appealing to the Academy voters by presenting it as an uplifting WhiteMansBurden movie about the group's Jewish manager.
319* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' gives a ''fierce'' TakeThat to ''Film/{{Selma}}'', ''Film/TheBlindSide'', ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'', and ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' when Malcom refers to them as "WhiteGuilt Oscar Bait movies" and points out the only reason he likes them is because The Critic always takes him out to dinner after they watch one.
320* ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'' mocked Creator/AnneHathaway's role as Fantine in ''Film/LesMiserables2012'' as this, crediting her as "I Really Really Really Wanted To Win An Oscar".
321[[/folder]]
322
323[[folder:Western Animation]]
324* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'':
325** Greg and Terry decide to film Stan as he searches for Oliver North's gold in "Stanny Slickers 2: The Legend of Ollie's Gold":
326--->'''Terry:''' We are a lock for an Oscar if there isn't a documentary about [[Film/MarchOfThePenguins penguins]] or genocide this year.\
327'''Greg:''' [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or penguin genocide.]]
328** In a ''Film/JamesBond'' spoof, Roger played the role of Tearjerker, a villain whose EvilPlan is to make a film that’s such a {{tearjerker}}, it will kill anyone who watches it. That film, ''Oscar Gold'', is a [[DeliberatelyMonochrome black-and-white]] Holocaust drama about a mentally challenged alcoholic Jewish boy whose puppy dies of cancer while he's hiding from the Nazis in an attic like Anne Frank. When the plan fails, Tearjerker tries to go even sadder -- six hours of a baby chimpanzee trying to revive its dead mother.
329* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny has been known to occasionally shill for Oscars with overwrought “dramatic” performances:
330** In ''The Wabbit Who Came to Supper'', Bugs pleads with Elmer Fudd to let him into his house, complaining in a very dramatic fashion about the cold. He suddenly perks up and says, “Hey, this scene oughta get me the Academy Award!” Then he finishes “dying”, complete with mournful violins.
331** In ''What's Cookin’, Doc?'', he’s so enamored with his “acting” that he crashes the ceremony to demand his Best Actor award.
332* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'':
333** One short was an {{Anvilicious}} spoof of not just Oscar Bait, but also the animated awards the show could actually compete with. It started with saving a beached whale and went on from there. [[spoiler:They didn’t win, and everything went to Hell after that.]]
334** In a Thanksgiving episode, Miles Standing is out hunting turkeys, while the Warners play Native Americans ''raised'' by turkeys. While Dot waxes eloquent over their hardship, the caption “ACADEMY MEMBERS VOTE NOW!” flashes on the screen.
335** During their "Jokahontas" sketch, a TakeThat against Creator/{{Disney}} movies, the song "Same Old Heroine" has this line:
336--->''The Schloscar it will win / With the same old heroine / It worked once, why not again?''
337* ''WesternAnimation/CloneHigh'': Season 2's "For Your Consideration" tries to sell itself as a heartbreaking award-worthy story from the get-go. It tells Mr. Butlertron's over-the-top tragic backstory (repeatedly referred to in-universe as "award-worthy"): he grew up in poverty (depicted in a DeliberatelyMonochrome style), left his family to become a prostitute, [[spoiler:seemingly]] impregnated and married a client who then broke his heart, then lost his beloved (human) brother Wesley while out at sea. Along the way, it employs numerous {{Art Shift}}s, blatant religious and spiritual themes, and gratuitous artsy shots of beaches and sunsets. At the end of the episode, the clouds outright spell out "F.Y.C." to hammer it in.
338* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' gives us the self-explanatory "Emmy-Winning Episode." Peter and his family spend the 20 minutes trying to copy the clichés of Emmy-winning shows to try and get one of their own.
339* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
340** Creator/BurtReynolds describes his new film ''Fireball and Mudflap'':
341--->"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."
342** An entry form for Best Documentary is shown to ask entrants to declare if they are “Holocaust-related” or "Non-Holocaust-related”.
343** When Marge Simpson attends the Sundance film festival, she discovers that ''all'' the films on display are extremely depressing (including themes like underprivileged transvestites, underprivileged hippies, and Chernobyl) and most of them have ironically upbeat titles.
344* Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' episode “The Color Ruckus”, where Uncle Ruckus tells his depressing life story to Robert, Huey, and Riley, who can’t help but listen because it’s so sad.
345-->'''Huey:''' That's like, Academy Award winning sad.
346* ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'':
347** In "Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow", when Buster pretends to suffocate in the cage Elmyra put him in, Hamton shows up to give him an award for "Best Death on Daytime Television".
348** In another episode, Meryl Streep receives an Oscar for "Best Ordering in a Restaurant". She puts it in a purse full of many other Oscars.
349[[/folder]]
350
351[[folder:Other]]
352* A hilarious musical performance actually took place at the 79th Academy Awards, featuring Creator/WillFerrell and Creator/JackBlack lamenting about how they never win Oscars for their comedy. They sing about beating up serious actors in the audience until Creator/JohnCReilly joins them on stage and tells them that they should also do serious films from time to time like he does.
353--> '''Reilly:''' Fellas! This madness must stop, there is no need to fear, you can have your cake and eat it too, just look at my career! I didn't cry when I would lose, I didn’t pick silly fights, I chose to be in both ''[[Film/BoogieNights Boogie]]'' and ''[[Film/TalladegaNightsTheBalladOfRickyBobby Talladega Nights]]''! Don't just be clowns, 'cause then you're just bores, mix it up, and Oscars shall be yours!\
354'''Black:''' He's right! I'm gonna re-read that script about the guy who gets lead poisoning and then sues a major corporation, there's not a laugh in there!\
355'''Farrell:''' And I'm gonna take that project about the guy with no arms and legs who teaches gangbangers ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''!
356[[/folder]]

Top