http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Sun, 15 May 2005 20:25:13 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/08/073053.php#comment-153086 NO THANKS! 153086@blogcritics.org Sun, 15 May 2005 20:25:13 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/08/073053.php#comment-32080 Thanks as always Alan, the book looks very impressive, feel free to link it from Amazon. 32080@blogcritics.org Wed, 10 Dec 2003 07:50:14 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/08/073053.php#comment-32076 Thanks for the comment. Irony has a lot of overlap with comedy, esp., I think because it works by incongruity, which is one of the main tools of comedy. Double Indemnity is a classic American example of the wrong man for the wrong job with the wrong outcome model of irony, is an ironic version of a tragic situation, and feels like a nightmare while it's happening, but when I think about it afterwards I always feel that I'm laughing with Billy Wilder at MacMurray's foolishness. Irony is also on a continuum with satire: irony is the more reticent, mysterious end, satire the more explicit end. Irony can also be grouped with comedy over the issue of the protagonist's status with respect to the audience: in irony and comedy we tend to look down at him whereas in tragedy and romance we look up at him. It's all pretty fluid, though--all the genres are constantly spilling over into each other. Makes it more interesting to think about. 32076@blogcritics.org Wed, 10 Dec 2003 07:12:34 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/08/073053.php#comment-31928 Really outstanding and thoughtful analysis, Alan. It's definitely got me thinking backwards through the Chaplin movies. I tend to think of irony as a subset of humor, but your explanation of it doesn't seem to imply that at all. Most intriguing. 31928@blogcritics.org Tue, 9 Dec 2003 01:22:54 EST