IRONIC?
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 11:51PM What the hell is Ironic? Is it Ironic that we are discussing the meaning of Ironic? No! but if we were a group of people discussing the meaning of Ironic and none of us knew what it meant, I guess that would be rather Ironic!
Lately, I passionately wonder if things that happen, are said, are thought, etc, are ironic or not. Why? Coz the word is passed around like a cheap whore, just like the “open and end quote” gesture (future blog). My first meeting with Irony was during high school English classes when we were studying Shakespeare. Shakespeare worked dramatic irony into most of his plays, often scenarios where the actor delivers a dialogue without presently knowing its impact, but the audience does and is greatly amused! I barely remember a scene where Orlando is practising courting Rosalind, on Rosalind, who is dressed as a boy, Ganymede. The audience knows that Ganymede is his love, Rosalind, but he doesn’t, making the scene ironic. Milking the irony Shakespeare makes Orlando ask her of her actions, “But will my Rosalind do so?” and she replies “By my life, she will do as I do!”
These days this word that used to pique my interest makes me furious. All credits to Alanis Morissette and her masterpiece Ironic! I guess there is a lotta controversy as always, coz fans will explain anything, and critics will tear down anything, coz we havta be unquestionably Democratic or Republic, black or white, gray is just not allowed. Here are my feelings for Alanis other than this song: “U oughta know” blew my mind away, the music, the voice, the lyrics, her other songs mostly rock, and yeah! I did not enjoy her being naked in her video for “thank you”, I felt like saying, “Thanks but no Thanks!”
Well, lets get right down to the point. The song is called Ironic, and I believe she was listing things which she believed could be Ironic. Will get to the controversy in a bit but here is the break down.
An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
Okay, let’s start! That is very unfortunate, NOT Ironic. If the old man committed suicide the day before coz he wasn’t winning the lottery, then maybe, this way, NO, NO, NO!
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
That is just weird, take the fly out and drink the damned Chardonnay, woman! But even though not Ironic, since Chardonnay is white, and the fly is black, and she wont drink her drink, I’ll give her half a point outa 10!
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
Again, boo hoo, and the word for the boohoo feeling, is SAD not IRONIC!
It's like rain on your wedding day
Seriously?
It's a free ride when you've already paid
What?
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
That’s just bloody stupid. Call the song “Bloody Stupid”
Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly
He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down he thought
"Well isn't this nice..."
Mmmmm! Well, this time she spent an entire verse describing the event, as an ironic situation might require, and maybe one more line would completely bring out the irony, but cool, I give it to you, this one is Ironic, esp the sarcasm!
A traffic jam when you're already late
Here we go again! Somebody stop her! Boo hoo, waah! UN-fucking-FORTUNATE!
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It doesn’t matter coz you’re on dope Alanis, and on dope anything can be anything! But sure, why not, 1 outa 10. hahaha
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
Not unless you normally carry ten thousand knives! Otherwise, ten thousand times Un-fucking-fortunate!
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
What can I say, good for the man! But the good news is “I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to geico!”, just kidding (I miss my little cousin, he just loves that joke), the good news is that’s the last line we havta dissect.
Well, I am sure all of you have different notions of ironic. Her examples to me just don’t cut it. Some fans argue that the ironic part is that there is nothing ironic in the song and then others come up with dictionary definitions of situational irony. Pretty wishful thinking in my opinion. Wikipedia even reports that she has said that that’s what the title means, its ironic coz nothing in the song is. The report awaits citation. If it’s true, nice way to save your ass Alanis. If that’s what you intended, and you yet included the lines
And isn't it ironic...dontcha think
A little too ironic...and yeah I really do think...
We should just go back to calling the song, BLOODY STUPID!
Honestly, I know tons of people have spotted this too. I kinda forgot about it. Was in Radioshack to buy a power strip, instead the salesmen managed to entice me into buying an expensive surge protector to protect my computers, distortion unit, etc from voltage fluctuations. I gave in owing to my love for these gadgets. While checking out he asked me if I wanted to add $8 for a 2 year insurance to which I immediately said no! Just outa curiosity I asked him “So what’s the insurance for?” He said “Well, the surge protector might blow in case of a voltage fluctuation!” Alanis, is that just stupid or was there some irony in the situation?
NeurONSENSE!
Reader Comments (2)
could it BE more apt....:)
Awesome article.
Thot the same thing this morning when I saw the video online. hehe. I can't forgive Blair for turning of the microphone though! God bless the Blair-Bitch Project!