Furthermore, there are different types of irony as situational irony, verbal irony and dramatic irony. It is a situation where the exact opposite of the expected happens. For example, a police station gets robbed, or a marriage counsellor gets divorced.
If we look at situational irony in literature, the story of Romeo and Juliet is a perfect example. In Romeo Juliet, Juliet drinks the sleeping draught and falls into sleep, hoping to be reunited with Romeo.
But this action results in both their deaths. In this, the irony is a statement or a comment in which the expressed meaning is greatly different from the intended meaning.
It is a literary device mostly used in theatre and movies. Here, the audience knows more about the situation than the characters. For example, in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo assumes that Juliet is dead, but the audience knows she is not dead.
And as a history of the period, it is peculiar, to say the least. Opinions about the purpose of the author have run the gamut from political propaganda to a pagan attack on Christianity. Because this audience shared common ground with the author, they were able to appreciate an intent now obscured by the passage of time. Finally, sharing common ground is essential for appreciating the purpose of satire.
A satiric critique may be perceived as humorous by members of one community but as offensive or even blasphemous by members of another. The Al-Qaeda attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is a tragic example of what can happen when satire is perceived as sacrilege. Recognizing pretense and sharing common ground are essential for understanding both verbal irony and satire. As a result, the two terms are sometimes used synonymously.
But not all irony is satiric, and not all satire employs irony. To complicate matters further, satire is often confused with parody, our next topic. As we have seen, pretense is an essential component of many forms of irony, and this holds true for parody as well. At its heart, a parody is an intentional imitation of something else, although the goals of the parodist vary. At one extreme, the intent may be to gently poke fun at the original work or its creator.
At the other extreme, however, it may involve full-throated condemnation. The more aggressive forms of parody liberally use exaggeration, satire, and sarcasm to ridicule the authentic work and, by extension, the person who produced it.
The overlap of these figurative forms and genres can lead to confusion and cause them to be mistaken for one another. As a literary genre, parody, like satire, dates back to the Old Comedy of ancient Greece. The form has been popular in Western literature for several centuries.
Parody is also commonly employed in the visual arts and music. And many radio programs, films, and television shows are parodic in nature. A parody succeeds as a parody only if the audience is able to recognize the original work being lampooned. As with satire, the consumer of a parody must maintain two distinct mental representations at once.
In this case, however, these are the literal meaning of the work and an awareness of what is being imitated. Many cartoons on television employ parody, but the imitation is often lost on children because they have not yet encountered the original. Later, as parents, they may watch the same cartoons with their kids and discover a whole new layer of meaning: the clever imitation that went over their heads the first time around during their own childhoods.
Ironists and parodists share the same occupational hazard: the danger of being taken literally. Those who choose to criticize public figures, however, have legal precedent on their side. In a Supreme Court ruling Hustler Magazine v. Falwell , the televangelist sued the publication after being depicted as an incestuous drunkard in a parody of a liquor ad.
Therefore satires and parodies of public figures do not entitle such individuals to damages for emotional distress. Parodists who choose to imitate well-known artistic works, on the other hand, have to contend with thin-skinned and litigious authors and musicians who may take umbrage at having their creations exploited in this way.
In their defense, parodists can invoke the principles of artistic expression and fair use. However, the original creator can claim that the parody infringes on a copyright or trademark. One such case, Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music Inc. In that case, the Court ruled that the parody fell within the scope of fair use. A caricature can function as a satire or a parody, but it is perhaps best thought of as a separate entity.
The essence of caricature is exaggeration, typically for humorous effect. The lack of shared context in online communities makes users less likely to recognize nonliteral language as such. Online works of satire, in particular those involving heavy irony, may be mistaken for genuinely held beliefs or attitudes. This problem was recognized in the s, even before the emergence of the web, by users posting to newsgroups on Usenet.
If you submit a satiric item without this symbol, no matter how obvious the satire is to you, do not be surprised if people take it seriously. Parody can also be difficult to express online, since it requires an audience to recognize that some prior work is being imitated.
Neither satire nor parody requires irony to accomplish its particular ends, however. Parody, in particular, can be highly effective when it closely resembles the original. And in some cases, the goal may not be mockery at all. The lines that separate homage, parody, and outright plagiarism are murky at best. How would you feel if you created irony with your post? Today, on my blog I spoke about the pain of losing my brother as the first anniversary of his death arises.
I feel "Better" having heard your news - not because you had bad news - but because I realized that my pain, a year old, is less than the fresh pain. Feeling bad for someone else made my pain less. Your pointing out your loss didn't trivialize mine or make me happy. It simply helped. Okay, I'm not sure if I'm describing this right. WE are glad you're back, even if you would like to be stuck in England!
I think Theresa's next post would have been on something much more headache building than Irony. I think she wanted to share hers with the rest of us :P Actually, this blog has improved my writing, even if my commenting skills still suck.
A year ago, I wrote something. I looked at and thought about sending it in. I started reading over it. If it ever sees the light of day, it will be after MUCH editing and revising.
More than I have time for now as I'm busily finishing up stories and writing on two paranormals which, thanks to Jami's advice I'm no longer stuck on to try and fix it. Thankfully, my new work is reflective of the things I've learned here.
Keep it up :D. Thanks-- it helps to think it won't hurt as much in a year. Time passes-- maybe then the memories will be pleasant reminders. Oh, well, it is the great circle of life, I guess. My condolences, Alicia. The ache does become less immediate as time passes, although I'm afraid it never vanishes.
The good memories strengthen, though, and the bad weaken, at least for me. Your thoughts on irony are very interesting. I don't try to use it much, as if it isn't strong enough to hit me over the head I usually miss it, so I'm not good at it. Maybe I need to ponder on it more.
Alicia, I'm so sorry for your loss. This is one of those times as a writer that I wish I had some "magic words" to make you feel better. Know that you're in my thoughts. To answer your question, I don't think irony is always funny, as it's difficult to encompass opposites if both things have to be on the happy-happy-joy-joy side of things. As you said, people tend to define irony differently, but everyone's probably familiar with the simultaneous communication of opposites bittersweet definition though.
But I guess I tend to see that as happening more at the sentence or paragraph level She wanted A but got B. It feels more like irony to me if it has a larger scope. But because of the single 3rd POV I use, I don't usually utilize the dramatic style of irony, as the reader wouldn't know more than the character. However, I do use what I consider situational irony, where the entire situation is a juxtaposition when a death is both tragic and uplifting at the same time or a character sacrifices out of selfishness.
But I've heard that the goal of true irony is to have the reader see the truth of both extremes. Imagine a bad guy that garners a touch of reader sympathy because they can understand his motivations. Or that the hero's main weakness is also their greatest strength. I'm not sure if that's what you meant, but that's the way I think of it.
Yeah, I love juxtaposition, but irony as the main mode of humor tends to annoy me. I never got Seingeld, for example. But I do like subtext, and I think that can use irony. My heart goes out to you, Alicia. I'm not good with irony, especially in humor. The bittersweet version is the only type I understand. Lydia Sharp posted this thought blog, a while back: "Every effective pitch has to contain some kind of irony.
Deb, why don't we think of it as "juxtaposition" and not irony? Like say you were pitching a story about an arranged marriage: "It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. It can be clever, I suppose, like if the reporter was infiltrating a vampire matchmaking service: "It was love at first bite.
I don't think it's as easy to create irony! Alicia, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. Though a lot of people argue about if the lyrics of her song are actually Ironic. Which I think is the core of the problem. A lot of people use "irony" to me "funny" or "curious" when irony seems to be more about the juxtaposition of opposites the woman who has always been terrified of dentists who winds up married to a dentist.
I don't know if I use this. I've never really thought about it in those terms. I like to play around with core concepts like Good vs Evil Is that Ironic? But as to your 2 bankers, if Banker A was Banker B's idol and Banker A went down for corruption because Banker B was so sure Banker A was innocent that he actually helped the feds out to prove Banker A's innocence and actually ended up providing the feds with the access to seal Banker A's fate Is that ironic?
This is making my head hurt. Hey, JewelTones - your scenario strikes me as ironic! Alicia, I think I see what you mean. Right now I'm not juxtaposing the right things. Le sigh. JT said: I like to play around with core concepts like Good vs Evil That's exactly what I was talking about. And no, I don't think Alanis's lyrics actually entail irony. They're more of those coincidences, I think I can't remember the lyrics right now, but I remember that was my impression of them.
Alicia, I think subtext can play a role in this as well. The reader can assume character A is "good" because they're working toward some good end, but what if the means to that end is shown to be bad? And I love your juxtaposition pitches.
You could probably run a blog post just on those. Help us out with coming up with them.
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