Dramatic Irony

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  • #16
    Re: Dramatic Irony

    Originally posted by Dr. Vergerus View Post
    I think there should be an active expectation, not a default assumption. Otherwise, everytime the audience knows more than the character, that would be a case of dramatic irony, even if there's nothing ironic in the situation. Do you see irony in the following: a contract killer puts a bomb in some guys car; the guy gets in the car in the morning to go to work, starts the engine, and it's blown to pieces.

    I don't know, but we could end up like this:
    -Yesterday I went to the doctor for a check-up.
    -Yeah? How did it go?
    -Turned out... I have cancer.
    -Well, that's ironic.
    isn't that thinking literally rather than visually? if one character knows he has cancer and tells another character, then we as the audience are learning it at the same time so it's not ironic.

    but,

    if one character learns from his doctor that he has cancer then goes to meet the other character for lunch and lashes out at his friend, then that's ironic because the other character doesn't yet know his friend has cancer; and, we saw the first guy with his doctor and learned it first.

    anyway, my understanding, YMMV.
    Last edited by asjah8; 02-08-2012, 12:31 PM.
    life happens
    despite a few cracked pots-
    and random sunlight

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    • #17
      Re: Dramatic Irony

      Originally posted by Dr. Vergerus View Post
      I think he used that example to explain "suspense", not dramatic irony.
      Yes, he did V. But I think it probably counts as DI as well.
      Forthcoming: The Annual, "I JUST GOT DUMPED" Valentine's Short Screenplay Writing Competition. Keep an eye on Writing Exercises.

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      • #18
        Re: Dramatic Irony

        @asjah8: It was meant to be an example of what I think is a wrong understanding of dramatic irony, taken to the absurd extreme.

        Going back to the situation of the bomb under the table, I think we could speak of dramatic irony if, for example, the couple at the table are lovers, holding hands and planning a future together with a white picket fence and three kids; the dramatic irony comes from the distance between their hopes and dreams, and the reality that we know and they ignore; we are like God looking at them and thinking "you poor things..."

        "Irony" because of the contradiction between both terms, expectation and outcome. "Dramatic" because they are both meaningful and have a certain intensity. There's nothing dramatic about sitting at a table and not expect anything unusual to happen.

        @The Road Warrior: I think he used this example in the book of interviews with Truffaut, but I haven't read it in a while. What do you think of my example in the second paragraph?

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        • #19
          Re: Dramatic Irony

          You guys are WAY overthinking this.

          If we know there's a bomb under the table but the characters don't, it's dramatic irony. If they know there's a bomb, it's not dramatic irony.
          Chicks Who Script podcast

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          • #20
            Re: Dramatic Irony

            Originally posted by emily blake View Post
            You guys are WAY overthinking this.

            If we know there's a bomb under the table but the characters don't, it's dramatic irony. If they know there's a bomb, it's not dramatic irony.
            I disagree: that's just suspense. But I may be wrong.

            Although, in the end, it doesn't really matter how it's called...

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            • #21
              Re: Dramatic Irony

              Dramatic Irony often creates suspense.

              For example, in Romeo and Juliet the Baz Luhrmann version:

              While Romeo prepares to drink the poison, Juliet stirs. Romeo doesn't see this because he's looking up, so we as the audience shout at him to look down because we know she's alive. Dramatic Irony. There is a lot of suspense in the moment as we wait to see if he'll notice her moving.

              On the other hand, in I Am Legend:

              There's a scene where Will Smith's character searches for his dog. We don't know where his dog is, or what's around the corner, but we know that it's dark and scary. We see blood - is it his dog's blood? We don't know, but we hope not. We wait to see, on the edge of our seat, waiting to find out if the dog is dead. Not Dramatic Irony because we don't know what's around the corner, but plenty of suspense.
              Chicks Who Script podcast

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              • #22
                Re: Dramatic Irony

                I agree with what's been said. To me, dramatic irony is the disparity between what the audience knows and the character knows.

                The disparity doesn't have to be immediately obvious like the ticking bomb example.

                An additional example would be in CASTAWAY when Tom Hanks says to his wife, "I'll be back soon," even though we know that he's going to end up stranded on a tropical island.

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                • #23
                  Re: Dramatic Irony

                  Everybody is waiting for me to say something stupid, not knowing I'm the only one who gets it.
                  "I am the story itself; its source, its voice, its music."
                  - Clive Barker, Galilee

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                  • #24
                    Re: Dramatic Irony

                    Originally posted by emily blake View Post
                    Dramatic Irony often creates suspense.

                    For example, in Romeo and Juliet the Baz Luhrmann version:

                    While Romeo prepares to drink the poison, Juliet stirs. Romeo doesn't see this because he's looking up, so we as the audience shout at him to look down because we know she's alive. Dramatic Irony. There is a lot of suspense in the moment as we wait to see if he'll notice her moving.

                    On the other hand, in I Am Legend:

                    There's a scene where Will Smith's character searches for his dog. We don't know where his dog is, or what's around the corner, but we know that it's dark and scary. We see blood - is it his dog's blood? We don't know, but we hope not. We wait to see, on the edge of our seat, waiting to find out if the dog is dead. Not Dramatic Irony because we don't know what's around the corner, but plenty of suspense.
                    Nice examples. Dramatic irony is a literary device we can use to create suspense. (And we may use dramatic irony to create other feelings in the audience)

                    In your second example, suspense is created by another technique.
                    Does that technique have a literary name?

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                    • #25
                      Re: Dramatic Irony

                      Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                      Nice examples. Dramatic irony is a literary device we can use to create suspense. (And we may use dramatic irony to create other feelings in the audience)

                      In your second example, suspense is created by another technique.
                      Does that technique have a literary name?
                      i haven't seen the film in awhile, but if i recall right, the dog comes bounding out of the darkness all happy and okay...? i believe that's situational irony. it's the difference between what we believed would happen and the result of what did happen.
                      life happens
                      despite a few cracked pots-
                      and random sunlight

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                      • #26
                        Re: Dramatic Irony

                        No, that's not really situational irony either. I think it's just a scene.
                        Chicks Who Script podcast

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                        • #27
                          Re: Dramatic Irony

                          thank you for the head's up. in literary works it's that period of disparate time when you've been led to believe one thing but then another thing happens... a reversal leading to situational irony. so how does it work with visual works?
                          life happens
                          despite a few cracked pots-
                          and random sunlight

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                          • #28
                            Re: Dramatic Irony

                            My understanding of situational irony is just that: when result doesn't meet intention.

                            An example might be a guy introducing a girl he fancies to a buddy and hopes the buddy will talk him up as he gets the drinks. But when he returns, he finds the girl kissing the buddy.

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                            • #29
                              Re: Dramatic Irony

                              thanks! it sounds similar to literary but i might not have chosen a good sample in my earlier post...

                              so, it seems like the difference between situational irony and dramatic irony is the writer's intent...? in dramatic irony the writer tells the truth to the audience (shows them a bomb under the table); but, in situational irony, the writer tells the truth but then the truth is reversed to be a lie (shows them a bomb but then reveals it's a dud)...?
                              Last edited by asjah8; 02-09-2012, 11:50 AM.
                              life happens
                              despite a few cracked pots-
                              and random sunlight

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Dramatic Irony

                                Originally posted by Dr. Vergerus View Post
                                Originally posted by emily blake View Post
                                You guys are WAY overthinking this.

                                If we know there's a bomb under the table but the characters don't, it's dramatic irony. If they know there's a bomb, it's not dramatic irony.
                                I disagree: that's just suspense. But I may be wrong.
                                You are wrong.

                                ANYTHING the audience knows that the character in the story does not know = dramatic irony.

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