Several of the 2010 Golden Globe nominees for Best Picture can be described by the phenomenon known as “Oscar baiting.” More and more films are being created with the ultimate goal of receiving an Oscar in mind. Though such superficiality may be extremely off-putting, it cannot be denied that in this case, everyone wins.
Movies made with only material gain in mind tend to be terrible. Movies replete with romantic cliches and predictable punchlines aren’t inherently terrible, but definitely are not of the same substance as, say, “Inception.”
There is a formula of sorts for making an Oscar-winning movie. It requires esoteric, emotionally impactful and often shocking subject matter, somewhat famous actors, a high-class score and artsy cinematography and filters.
“Black Swan” is an excellent example of Oscar bait. The storyline is stereotypically intelligent—a beautiful woman brought down by her own perfectionism. It is suspenseful, but quietly so—boisterousness and theatricality take a backseat to vivid, haunting imagery.
Watching Natalie Portman struggle to conquer her own neuroses, while music from Tchaikovsky’s original ballet recomposed by Clint Mansell plays in the background, nearly forces the audience to feel emotionally connected to the story.
“The Fighter” is another prime example of a predetermined Oscar-bait movie. It is another heartwarming, inspirational sports movie that centers around a broken down and once-great fighter, Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale), who trains his young, up-andcoming brother Micky to success. The older brother also has an addiction to cocaine, which gets in the way of his relationships and training, but in the end, the two brothers prevail.
The Oscar “formula” has its failings. For instance, despite careful observance of the Oscar-worthy formula (a team of talented writers and producers) and a cast of accomplished and highly respected actors, “The Tourist” did badly at the box office and with critics.
Accordingly, some movies that don’t follow the exact Oscar recipe—director Christopher Nolan’s recent fantasy and sci-fi films come to mind—still win big when it comes to awards shows.
This is why Oscar baiting is one of the few materially-motivated artistic undertakings that should not be written off as superficial and creatively invalid.
Movies that are made to win Oscars don’t receive them consistently enough for modern film to ever homogenize entirely. There will always be producers who take risks on iffy movies because of the rewards they may yield.
Beyond that, Oscar baiting doesn’t push more legitimate films out of the way. Oscar nominations for best picture have been recently (and controversially) increased by five whole films. Where there were five, there are now 10. Whether or not this should have been done is a controversy in and of itself.
For now, audiences may rest assured that this is one of the few moves made by studio executives that will ultimately benefit the consumer.
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