FWD [forteana] The final irony

From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Jul 08 2003 - 19:51:50 MDT

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    < http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,985375,00.html >

    The final irony

    'Isn't it ironic?' You hear it all the time - and, most of the time,
    actually no, it isn't. Hypocritical, cynical, lazy, coincidental, more
    likely. But what is irony and why did pundits think it would die two
    years ago, after September 11? Zoe Williams meticulously, sincerely,
    unironically, hunts it down

    <big snipperoo>

    Irony and America

    There are a few reasons why we think the Americans have no sense of
    irony. First, theirs is rather an optimistic culture, full of love of
    country and dewy-eyed self-belief and all the things that Europe's
    lost going through the war spindryer for the thousandth time. This is
    all faith-based - faith in God, faith in the goodness of humanity, etc
    - and irony can never coexist with faith, since the mere act of
    questioning causes the faith fairy to disappear. Second, they have a
    very giving register that, with a sense of irony, would be
    unsustainable (how can you wish a stranger a nice day with a straight
    face?). Third, because we think Canadian Alanis Morissette is
    American, and she proved some time ago, with her song Ironic, that she
    didn't know what irony meant (this is so ironic - first, because we
    think we're the more sophisticated and yet don't know the difference
    between America and Canada, second because America sees Canada as such
    a tedious sleeping partner, and yet Canada is subversively sending
    idiots into the global marketplace with American accents. Of course,
    I'm being ironic. Canadian accents are not the same as American ones!)

    In fact, this is absolute moonshine, since the consummate and
    well-documented superiority of US telly over British telly is largely
    due to their superior grasp of irony (as well as the fact that they
    have more cash). Take, for instance, the opening sequences of Six Feet
    Under versus the opening sequences of Casualty - they both start every
    episode with a vignette in which a stranger dies a horrible death or
    suffers a hideous accident. In Six Feet Under, this will never be
    straightforward - the porn star will never die because her silicon
    implants explode, she will die in some way that could happen to
    anyone; the wheezing, scared-looking sportsman will turn out to have
    been just a bit thirsty, while his amazingly strong team-mate will be
    dying in the background from heat stroke. There's always some cosmic
    irony, swiftly followed by ironic dialogue. In Casualty, on the other
    hand - man leaves pub in middle of day; commences dangerous-looking
    welding job; burns own eye out in drunk accident. Dur.

    etc.

    Rob

    -- 
    Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
         Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com >
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