Dramatic Irony

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  • Dramatic Irony

    Definition? Examples?

    Hoping for 43 pages and a podcast on this topic, too.

    Thanks!!

  • #2
    Re: Dramatic Irony

    Code:
    YAY! I won the battle and now I'm the king! 
    
    And damn, my new queen is a tiger in the sack. Very niiiice.
    
    What do you mean I was adopted. 
    
    The evil warlord I defeated was my father. 
    
    His queen, who is now my queen is my mother.
    
    You didn't think it might be a good idea to tell me this earlier?
    
    *draws out dagger, thrusts it into gut, dies in an overly dramatic way.
    
    Dude, I was joking. 
    
    But since the queen is now single...
    Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Dramatic Irony

      The audience knows more than the characters, so the characters' dialogue/action takes on additional meaning than what they understand.

      So if we're in a scene and everyone is crying because someone died, and a guy walks in and jokes "why all the long faces? Who died?" - that's dramatic irony. He wouldn't have said it if he knew what we the audience knew.

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      • #4
        Re: Dramatic Irony

        The American Heritage Dictionary defines "dramatic irony" as " the dramatic effect achieved by leading an audience to understand an incongruity between a situation and the accompanying speeches, while the characters in the play remain unaware of the incongruity."

        It is an interesting definition because it doesn't say the characters need to be aware at any point of the incongruity. That's not to say they must not be aware; probably the effect is more powerful if the character at some point becomes aware of the gap between his expectations/intentions and the/their outcome, but certainly is not a must.

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        • #5
          Re: Dramatic Irony

          Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
          The audience knows more than the characters, so the characters' dialogue/action takes on additional meaning than what they understand.

          So if we're in a scene and everyone is crying because someone died, and a guy walks in and jokes "why all the long faces? Who died?" - that's dramatic irony. He wouldn't have said it if he knew what we the audience knew.

          YAY, I get to disagree with Jeff Lowell for the first time.

          I feel like dramatic irony is something far larger than a scene level dialogue. It's Tom Cruise who upholds the pre-crime system until he's faced with the very crime from a system he believes in.

          Or am I misunderstanding the term?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Dramatic Irony

            I think you're defining irony in drama.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Dramatic Irony

              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony#Dramatic_irony

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              • #8
                Re: Dramatic Irony

                This is the example I use in class:

                In Halloween, the dude with the glasses and the slutty chick are about to get it on, but then the dude with the glasses goes downstairs to get a beer, and that's when Michael Myers stabs him.

                Michael puts a sheet over his head and puts the dude's glasses on over the sheet so he looks super creepy. He goes upstairs to where the slutty chick is lying in bed mostly naked.

                She looks up, sees what she thinks is her boyfriend. But we know better. So while she's all giggly and in love, and Michael Myers is all creepy in a sheet, we're all "RUN B*TCH!!!" because we know what's under that sheet even if she doesn't.

                Dramatic Irony.
                Chicks Who Script podcast

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                • #9
                  Re: Dramatic Irony

                  I believe there's an example given by Hitchcock where two men sit in profile to us in a restaurant, chatting. Under the table, completely unknown to them is a bomb in a suitcase, we can see both the men and the bomb. D.I.

                  Hitchcock had the bomb explode, and in his retelling of the story, said that this was a mistake, it would have been more effective to let them leave. Eventually.
                  Forthcoming: The Annual, "I JUST GOT DUMPED" Valentine's Short Screenplay Writing Competition. Keep an eye on Writing Exercises.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Dramatic Irony

                    I think he used that example to explain "suspense", not dramatic irony.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Dramatic Irony

                      Originally posted by Dr. Vergerus View Post
                      I think he used that example to explain "suspense", not dramatic irony.
                      It's an example of the use of dramatic irony to create suspense.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Dramatic Irony

                        That seems like pushing it a bit... I don't see how there can be dramatic irony without the character having some intention or expectation (and I won't buy that they expect there won't be a bomb under the table)

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                        • #13
                          Re: Dramatic Irony

                          Originally posted by Dr. Vergerus View Post
                          That seems like pushing it a bit... I don't see how there can be dramatic irony without the character having some intention or expectation (and I won't buy that they expect there won't be a bomb under the table)

                          The audience knows but the character(s) don't know. The characters have an expectation that the restrauant is clear of bombs, but you think there should another type of expectation. Hmm.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Dramatic Irony

                            I don't know about you guys, but I always expect bombs to be under the tables of the restaurants I frequent.

                            Be vigilant folks.
                            -chris

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Dramatic Irony

                              Originally posted by jonpiper View Post
                              The audience knows but the character(s) don't know. The characters have an expectation that the restrauant is clear of bombs, but you think there should another type of expectation. Hmm.
                              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.

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