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Irony in Film: Theorising Irony for a Mongrel Medium

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Irony in Film

Part of the book series: Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television ((CRFT))

Abstract

This chapter of Irony in Film asks what potential a ‘mongrel’ medium such as film might have for creating irony—in part by comparing its expressive capacities with those of photography, drama, and prose fiction. MacDowell presents the case that, despite claims to the contrary, the live-action fiction film is capable of creating several different kinds of irony by a host of different means: its pictorial qualities help it depict situational ironies, its dramatic and storytelling properties assist in creating dramatic irony, and its narrative dimensions aid its potential to be communicatively ironic. These arguments are supported by close analyses of Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964), Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948), and There’s Always Tomorrow (Douglas Sirk, 1956).

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  1. University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    James MacDowell

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MacDowell, J. (2016). Irony in Film: Theorising Irony for a Mongrel Medium. In: Irony in Film. Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-32993-6_2

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