From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Jul 08 2003 - 19:51:50 MDT
< 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 > Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html > Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB * U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program ------------ Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]
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