This is definitely a topic close to me. As a baiter who prides himself on baits that are not usually all that baity, it drives me absolutely insane when a fellow baiter reviews one of my baits with the simple statement "Not baity enough". This drives me crazy for several reasons.
REASON #1: NOT ALL BAITS ARE BAITY! Ok? If every movie in Hollywood was made for the sole purpose of winning Oscars, then Hollywood would become as boring and predictable as half of the "baity" movie is churns out. This also applies for this contest. If every bait written was a Historical Drama, or a Bio-Pic, or one of the other "baity" topics, I would have gotten utterly sick of it after a month or two. Yes, it's true, I wrote "The Wall" so I can't say I'm completely innocent of writing horribly baity projects but, to be honest, i try not to. There are several authors out there (I wont name any names) who I don't think have much fun writing baits because they only go for the Big 8 awards. I've won several creative awards for my baits and I take more pride in those than "The Wall" and it's Best Picture win. And here's a tid bit of hope for people, like me, who write non-baity baits. THREE reviewers reviewed "The Vampire Lestat" with "Not baity" and it was nominated for Bait of the Month. There's some hope for us crazy non-baity authors.
REASON #2: ITS JUST PLAIN RUDE! I don't know if these authors in question think they are better than us non-baity authors but I would like to ask them a question. Do you think our effort isn't worth as much as yours? We put just as much effort into our baits as you do. If not more because it's harder to write a good and creative bait than it is to churn out another "baity" project. I just love how you think you can pass off our efforts as inferior because they're not "baity" enough for your tastes. I have seen the comment "Not baity enough" written by several authors in response to several of my baits, as well as other's, and it pisses me off. Instead of giving the bait the time of day and really giving your thoughts on the story or the cast or whatever. You pass it off with "Not baity enough". WTF! That makes me feel like my hours of work were useless because they didn't turn out an idea that was "baity". MANY movies have won Best Picture that were not concidered baity. "The Lord of the Rings" for example. Fantasy is the death nell of the academy but those movies were just so damn good that the academy had to give in and hand out the big prize. "The Silence of the Lambs" for another. Many people referred to this movie as a slasher movie when it first came out but then it went on to not only win Best Picture, but also Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Thats a pretty damn good slasher movie! And then there's "Pulp Fiction". Who ever would have thought that a little movie with lots of violence, foul language, drugs, some of the most lowlife characters in film history, would get nominated for Best Picture? If Hollywood went by your rule book, it never would have been!
So, what I am trying to say here is: Get off your damn high horse and come down to earth with the rest of us. There are great baits that are "baity" and great baits that are not. But good or bad, baity or not, NO bait deserves to be passed off with a comment like "Not Baity Enough"!
COMING SOON: "Over-used" baits (EX: gay baits)
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12 comments:
My sentiments exactly.
This site is my bible, haha.
Wow! You sure are mad and not gonna take it anymore. LOL. Good job.
I agree 100% with james. The same can be said about people who dismiss movie's Oscar chances just because the trailer didn't look baity enough.
Who would have expected that a movie like The Silence of the Lambs or Lord of the Rings would win Best Picture? Or that movies like The Exorcist or Little Miss Sunshine would get nominated? It all comes down to the quality of the film. The same goes for baits. Baitier subject matters are more easy for me to accept just because it's more realistic to something the Academy would like, but if a sci-fi, horror or comedy bait is truly one of the best of the month, it should be rewarded accordingly.
Thank you for mentioning The Exorcist, Brian. It completely slipped my mind.
James, you're bait hasn't even been out that long and people are flocking to it in a hurry. You're definitely a true legend on the site. Really good blog, I could see this working as a t.v. show or something. Really excellent job.
Oops...I said you're bait. I meant your blog.
Don't forget Crouching Tiger, Ghost, Master and Commander, The Sixth Sense, Star Wars, Deliverance, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tootsie, Jaws, hell even MIDNIGHT COWBOY, all great films that probably shouldn't be considered "baity".
Well the contest is called "Bait an Oscar" for a reason, but just because a story isn't baity doesn't mean it isnt any good.
When I say "not baity" its not because I "on my high horse" and I think my story it better than your's. Like in the real Oscars, a non baity projects are open to more criticism than baitier projects and I will grade them according. Saying that it all comes down to quality and if a NB bait is of better quality than a baity bait, it will get a better grade.
I wasn't saying that NB baits should be given any special treatment. I'm just saying that they should be treated the same as all other baits. There are creative awards for a reason. If you dont think the bait is Baity, then talk about what is good in it anyway. Dont just pass it off with "Not baity".
But the contest is called "Bait" an Oscar
Look, I don't like to play favorites on either side, but there is logic to both of them. Yes, a lot of unbaity ideas are very well written and worth consideration (The Vampire Lestat, Dominion), but we can't forget either that many of the classic baits on the site are baity stories (The Arabic Cafe, Once a Hero). I think in the end it doesn't matter what the topic is, but whether the story is worth our time. Is it well written? Does it have depth? Is it convincing? I think that's what it should come down to rather than how the Oscars would view it (personally, the Oscars are a bit snobbish in how they view good movies). But seriously, balance of the topics and quality are important.
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