The irony of it all
The Guardian has an interesting piece on irony, a mis-used, misunderstood word as you’ll see if you read the article. Is there really such a thing as an ironic generation? Was 911 the end of the Ironic era? Is irony harmful to childern? (My Q. This was stated on posters hanging on every other wall in childcare institiutions when I was little, making me very confused about the wonderful ironic humour I was growing up with.)
Zoe Williams gets to the bottom of the problem, dividing the ironies into subgroups, revealing common misunderstandings about irony and how irony can be an excuse not to have an opinion.
…other strands of media use irony to assert their right to have no position whatsoever. So, you take a cover of FHM, with tits on the front – and it’s ironic because it appears to be saying “women are objects”, yet of course it isn’t saying that, because we’re in a postfeminist age. But nor is it saying “women aren’t objects”, because that would be dated, over-sincere, mawkish even. So, it’s effectively saying “women are neither objects, nor non-objects – and here are some tits!”
Read the whole piece: The final irony
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