Irony in The Modern World

Irony is the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite. In class, we looked at different ironic situations-- what made them ironic and what their stance on the topic was. There are three different types of irony: dramatic, situational, and verbal. Irony in modern day culture is mostly found in movies and plays in order to hook and drive their audience to continue watching them. For example, take this older movie called Alien: Resurrection. It's about this girl named Ellen who, 200 years after her death, comes back to life as some sort of human robot/clone sent out to defeat the space aliens and stop them from reaching Earth. SPOILER ALERT!! What makes the movie ironic though, is that the survivors in the movie aren't who you would expect in any other action movie. For example, in most Marvel and DC movies, the superhero's are usually the ones to win and the evil guys are the ones to lose. If the characters from Alien: Resurrection were put into one of those Marvel or DC movies, the audience wouldn't expect the same results as in the movie they were originally founded in. This movie seems as if someone wrote the entire script, and did the complete opposite, which is a different type of ironic effect.

Dramatic irony is found in many books, such as the famous Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. In the book, Harry has trouble recollecting his memories from his visions from the past summer. On the other hand, the reader clearly remembers and only adds to the dramatic irony of the book. Because of the irony, it adds suspense and draws the reader to continue reading the book to find out whether or not Harry Potter recalls his visions from the summer.

All in all, irony is a very powerful device used in literature and film making, as it adds emphasis and suspense, and draws in the audience to continue watching or reading.

Comments

  1. LanceFebruary 23, 2020 at 7:38 AM

    I found your blog quite interesting and how irony is an important tool in books and movies to tell an important message.

    ReplyDelete

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