Irony: 3 types

Hello, today we are going to talk about,

irony.

To help us get started, take a look

at this clip.

[applause and cheering]

[Natalie]: Hey, you again!

[Man]: Natalie, isn't it literally ironic

how we literally run into each other

everyday?

[Natalie]: Yeah, it's really...

[upbeat music, cheer, applause]

[Captain Literally]

Good sir!

[Captain Irony]

Allow me to define ironic for you, fellow.

There's verbal irony,

dramatic irony, and

situational irony,

which is the one you speak of;

that's the incongruity

of the actual sequence of events

and the normal or expected

outcome of a sequence of events.

So when you say that running into

your friend everyday is ironic,

it's not ironic, it's just interesting.

Irony taught!

[laughter]

[Captain Literally]:

What?!

Who are you?

I'm Captain Irony,

here to educate the masses on

the use of the word 'irony,'

hipsters love me!

[Natalie]:

I have always wanted

to know how to use the word 'irony.'

I've never really met anybody...

[Captain Literally]:

Shhhh..shush...

Wait, so you don't even

have the power to restore

balance and your catch phrase

is, "Irony taught!"

A captain without superpowers,

now that's ironic.

[Captain Ironic]:

No it's not, believe me.

[Captain Literally]:

Ironically, sometimes I'd

think it'd be nice not to have powers.

[Captain Ironic]:

Did you just hear yourself?

You just put the word 'ironically'

in front of a totally unrelated

sentence.

That's like saying,

'Ironically, the ocean is neat!'

[laughter]

[Captain Literally]:

You know what's ironic?

A captain who's a woman,

am I right?

[laughter]

[Captain Irony]:

Ahh..that's so funny to me.

[Captain Literally]: Really?!

[Captain Irony]: No,

I was being ironic;

Irony taught!

[laughter]

[Captain Literally]:

Well, "Captain Irony,"

I'll have you know I got my real

powers from a nuclear blast...

[laughter]

[Captain Irony]:

Who are you?!

The nuclear ninja.

I just punch people who

mispronounce the word

'nuclear.'

Our friend Captain Irony mentioned

three different types of irony.

Did you catch that?

"There's verbal irony,

dramatic irony, and

situational irony."

So we have verbal irony,

dramatic irony, and

situational irony.

Captain Irony even gave us a definition

for situational irony which was,

the incongruity of the acutal

sequence of events and the normal or

expected outcome of a sequence

of events.

So basically, what you'd expected to

happen, didn't.

So situational irony occurs when,

"What actually happens is not

what is expected to happen."

Let's take a look at an example.

[strong wind, growls, rustling of leaves]

Ahhh!!

[continued rustling and growling]

[dramatic background music]

Ahhh!!

[happy music]

[groans] What do you want?!

[squirrel talk]

Oh, for me?! Why, I don't know what

to say.

[bashfully laughs]

What?!

Hit the road bucky!

[dramatic music]

Ahh.....ow!!

Huh!!

[growling & dramatic music]

Huh!

[dramatic music]

Huh...huh!!!

[light peaceful music]

[squirrel talk)?

No, no no no no...

[squirrel talk] yesss....

No, don't...

[squirrel talk] yes...

[loud pop]

Ha!

uhhh....

[growling]

In this clip, there were a couple

instances of situational irony.

The first occured when Kuzco heard

the growls and rustling coming from

the bush.

We expect a large, ferocious animal

of some sort to jump out and attack,

but what we actually get

is a little squirrel.

Later when the squirrel blows up

the balloon and pops it, we expect

the jaguars to wake up and attack

Kuzco, but it's actually Kuzco's yell

that wakes them up.

What actually happened was not

what we expected to happen.

Our next type of irony is verbal irony,

which occurs when what someone says

is not actually what they mean.

Captain Irony used this technique when

she said that she found

Captain Literally's comment funny when

she really didn't.

Sarcasm is a common form of

verbal irony.

The distinction is that sarcasm is

bitting and is usually is meant to

hurt someone.

This picture represents the third type

of irony, dramatic irony.

Dramatic irony occurs when,

"The audience know something

that one or more characters do not."

So the entire Star Wars prequel

trilogy is just an extended exercise in

the use of dramatic irony.

We, as the audience, know that

Anakin is gong to turn evil and

turn into Darth Vader.

We know when and how Obi-Wan

is going to die.

In fact we know that most

of the characters on the screen are

going to die at some point, but the

characters are not aware of this.

So, the audience knows more than they do.

This makes it dramatic irony.

Let's review.

We have three different types of irony.

Verbal irony which occurs when

what someone says is not actually

what they mean.

Dramatic irony, which occurs when the

audience knows something that one or

more characters do not, and

situational irony

which occurs when what actually

happens is not what we expected

to happen.

Got that?

Good.

It's quiz time.

Take a look at these examples

and see if you can figure out

which type of irony is being

represented.

Romeo is banished.

Juliet is promised to another man.

Juliet fakes her death so she can

escape with Romeo, but the news

doesn't reach Romeo in time.

Returning to what he thinks is

a dead Juliet, Romeo kills himself

and then Juliet wakes up from

her drugged sleep and kills herself.

This is a classic example of

dramatic irony.

Romeo is unaware that Juliet is actually

faking her death so that she can

be with him.

The audience knows this, but Romeo

does not and he kills himself

because of it.

This is the use of dramatic irony.

[speaker announcing...ding sound]

"Welcome aboard folks.

Just go ahead and take any empty seat

that you see. [mariachi band music]

[cough...blowing nose...]

uk, I hope it's not contagious.

[playing a musical recorder]

[clipping toenails]

[snoring]

So, I do have it.

[woman expresses disgust]

[continued mariachi band music]

[backbone cracking]

[baby crying]

[silence]

[mariachi band music restarts]

[crunch sound]

When your mom wakes up,

can you tell her about me?

This clip shows an example of

situational irony.

We expect, and the man on the

plane expects, that the attractive woman

will be attracted to his bag of Doritos

and come and sit down next to him.

Our expectations are upset, however,

when we see that the woman

is carrying a baby.

[Ross]:

Hey, everything's gonna be

fine. The baby's sleeping.

[Rachel]:

Well, what is she jumped out of the

basinett?

[Ross]:

Can't hold her own

head up, but yet jumped!

[audience laughter]

[Rachel]:

Oh my god,

I left the water running!

[Ross]:

Rach, you did not leave the

water running, please,

just, please, pull yourself together, ok?

[Rachel]:

Wait, wait, did I leave the stove on?

[Ross]:

You haven't cooked since 1996.

[audience laughter]

[Rachel]:

Is the window open because

if a window's open a bird

could fly in there and

[Ross]:

Well, oh my God, you know what,

I think you're right.

I think you, wait, listen,

[Rachel]: What?!

[Ross]:

Listen, a pigedon.

[audience laughter]

Wait, no, wait no, no,

an eagle flew in.

[audience laughter]

Landed on the stove and caught fire!

[audience laughter]

The baby...seeing this,

jumps across the apartment

to the mighty bird's aid.

[audience laugher]

The eagle however misconstrues

this as an act of aggression

and grabs the baby in its

tallon!

Meanwhile the faucet fills

the apartment with water!

[audience laughter]

Baby and bird still ablaze

are locked in a death grip,

swirling around the whirpool

that fills the apartment!

[audience laughter]

[Rachel]:

Boy are you going to be so sorry

if that's true.

[audience laughter]

This is an obvious example of

verbal irony.

What Ross says is happening to the baby

is not actually happening and everyone

knows it.

What he's saying is not actually what

he means.

This is an example of specifically,

sarcasm.

Good work everyone.

Irony is used all over in all sorts of

media from literature, to tv,

to movies, to music; however,

they don't always get it right.

Let's take a look at an example

in an Alanis Morissette's song

entitled, "Ironic."

[music]

The problem here is that

none of the things listed in the song

are necessarily ironic, which

given the title, is kind of ironic.

"Irony taught!"