Effectiveness of irony is Pixar Movies
Thesis Writing –
Intro:
“Once upon a time there was_______. Every day, ______. Because of that, ______. Until finally ______.”1
~Pixar's fourth rule of storytelling
“In a stunning turn of events, a superhero is being sued for saving someone who didn't want to be saved.”2 As with many Pixar movies, The Incredibles' main plot is based entirely around irony. The Incredibles is an ideal story that demonstrates Pixar's Fourth rule of storytelling. It begins with a unique character, who winds up in an unpredictable situation.
Once upon a time, there was a superhero. Every day, he saved lives. One day, he was sued for saving the life of someone who did not want to be saved. Because of that, Mr. Incredible and other superheroes were mandated by the government to remain hidden behind their secret identities. Because of that, Mr. Incredible assisted in improving a dangerous weapon, believing it was for the greater good. Until finally, the world needed a true superhero to save them from that very machine.
Pixar's fourth rule of storytelling appears in a majority of interesting and charming stories, but what sets Pixar movies apart from other films in the animated family film genre? Pixar's outstanding storytelling stems from its extensive and extraordinary use of irony. Although there may be a standard formula, Pixar goes above and beyond to make it unique and interesting. Irony is the most frequent and effective literary device used in Pixar's successful storytelling recipe for entertaining its audiences.
Irony is a common literary technique that has Greek origins, meaning “dissimulation” or “feigned ignorance.” Many people commonly confuse irony with coincidence, but it is really ...
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...re's Romeo and Juliet,6 in which most of the characters believe Juliet is dead, but the audience knows she only took a sleeping potion. When Romeo finds Juliet in her drugged coma, Romeo has the same misconception as the other characters when he kills himself. Shakespeare was a master of dramatic irony. It also appears in Shakespeare's Othello, in which the audience knows that Desdemona has been faithful to Othello, but Othello does not. The audience also knows that Iago is scheming to bring about Othello's downfall, a fact hidden from Othello, Desdemona, Cassio, and Roderigo. In these plays, the character reacts in a way contrary to that which is appropriate or wise, but if they had known the true facts, it may have ended differently. There is a marked contrast between what the character understands about his acts and what the overall story demonstrates about them.
Heroes help us escape life's harsh realities and provide us with the strength to dream and to believe in ourselves. Many people find it easy to relate to heroes in myths because they share a journey similar to the one we take in real life. Linda Seger suggests in her essay “Creating the Myth” that there are many similarities between hero stories among different cultures. Seger explains, “Many of the most successful films are based on these universal stories. They deal with the basic journey we take in life. We identify with the heroes because we were once heroic or because we wish we could do what the hero does” (123). These mythical archetypes are recognized universally even in movies. They continue to capture our imaginations and inspire us because every person secretly desires to be recognized as a hero one day. The movie Rango illustrates an adventure of a sheltered pet lizard that lives as an ordinary family pet. After he gets accidently lost in the desert, he finds himself facing a major identity crisis. The movie is based on the same plots that Seger suggests when creating hero myths.
Dramatic Irony is when you know something the main character doesn’t. This is seen a lot in horror movies. Like when the character runs into a room or into a hallway and they can’t see the killer but he
“Fear me,love me,do as I say,I’ll be your slave” says Jareth The Goblin King from the Labyrinth. By using irony, the author of a story can create a surprising events. Authors use multiple kinds of irony to make stories more surprising.
Irony is used in writing to add new interest to a seemingly ordinary subject. Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game and The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe use irony throughout their stories, creating unique works. To recognize Irony, you must first understand it, then you can see how it is used in these two works. Irony is a word with many meanings aside from what we often think of as irony.
“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. ” (Pg. 18). By creating a comedy using both dramatic and situational irony, Shakespeare was able to get the true meaning of A Midsummer Night’s Dream across to his audience: “love is blind”. When using situational irony, the readers were often tricked into believing in different outcomes to certain events in the story. With dramatic irony, on the other hand, it was used mainly for a comedic effect, rather than creating a plot twist for the audience. By creating a comedy using these two types of irony, Shakespeare was able to deliver his message of the true meaning of love.
By definition, irony is the expression of one’s meaning that typically signifies the opposite. Authors have scribed irony in their literature since before pen and paper existed because even ancient bards such as Homer discovered the power irony can bring to a good story. Khaled Hosseini, the author of the novel The Kite Runner, masterfully weaves intricate and delicate examples of irony to enrich the story. Irony plays a pivotal role in the novel to develop the plot, by creating suspense, the themes, by informing the reader, and the characters, by showing their personalities and unconscious motives.
In many of William Shakespeare’s plays, the main character is driven to make decisions based ironic situations they are faced with. Oftentimes, these decisions ultimately lead to their downfall. In William Shakespeares, Hamlet, the author uses both situational and dramatic irony to facilitate the downfall of his characters. In this tragedy,Shakespeare exemplifies this irony through Hamlet’s sexual tension for his mother, the irony surrounding the role of Laertes in relation to Hamlet as well as the situational irony surrounding the role of Claudius.
What is irony? Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is actually the opposite of what is expressed by the words the author used. This technique is used to ridicule or mock a particular subject by expressing laudatory remarks, but implying contempt and denigration. There are several examples of irony in the novel _All_Quiet_on_the_Western_Front_ by Erich Maria Remarque, a realistic, yet fabricated account of a soldier's experience in an international war. The lighthearted irony quickly transitions into dark satire with the use of dramatic irony, the setting, and situational irony to mock the glorification of war and introduce reality.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story about two lovers who are from two disputing families, and their eventual suicides. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony throughout the play to create tension for the audience and foreshadow the ending. Dramatic irony is when the words or actions of characters in a story have a different meaning to the reader than to the characters. This is because the reader knows something that the characters do not. Romeo and Juliet’s death could have been prevented if the characters in the story weren’t so ignorant of their situations, and often times the reader recognizes this.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "dramatic irony (literature)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .
A set of practices concerning the narrative structure compose the classical Hollywood Paradigm. These conventions create a plot centering around a character who undergoes a journey in an attempt to achieve some type of goal (). By giving the central character more time on screen, the film helps the audience to not only understand the character’s motivation but also empathize with his/her emotional state. Additionally, some antagonistic force creates conflict with the main character, preventing immediate success(). Finally, after confronting the antagonist, the main character achieves his or her goal along with growing emotionally(). This proven structure creates a linear and relatively easily followed series of events encompassing the leading character and a goal.
When seeing any movie, there is a special message behind each film that the creators want the viewers to notice. DreamWorks and Pixar are two respectable studios that created many successful films throughout the years that sends a positive message to its audience. In the films of “Megamind” and “Wreck it Ralph” the main theme shown throughout the film was the transformation of character from a villain to a hero. The two films focus on the theme of redemption because each main character towards the end of film showed their true character. The films have a story of origin on how they were established as villains, desire to fit into society and showing how they became true hero’s in the films.
Irony is a useful device for giving stories many unexpected twists and turns. In Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," irony is used as an effective literary device. Situational irony is used to show the reader that what is expected to happen sometimes doesn't. Dramatic irony is used to clue the reader in on something that is happening that the characters in the story do not know about. Irony is used throughout Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" through the use of situational irony and the use of dramatic irony.
Irony, the literary device that may trick readers into thinking the outcome may be something completely different than what the author has planned (Work Cited – literary device website). Edgar Allan Poe shows off that he is a master of using irony in the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado”. Starting from the very line in a character’s name, Fortunato (Work cited – story). The name means “the fortunate one”, the irony becomes apparent when Montresor’s evil plan is revealed (Work cited – cliffs notes). Poe moves quickly with adding more irony into
Wilson, Deirde & Sperber, Dan. "On Verbal Irony." The Stylistics Reader: From Roman Jakobson to the Present. Ed. Jean Jacques Weber. London: Arnold, 1996. 260-279.