ironic
i’m sick of people pointing out that alanis morisette’s song by this name isn’t actually irony. people have been saying this for years without fail, like they thought of it. it’s really annoying. also, the fact that much of what she sings of in the song that I can think of actually IS ironic makes this piss me off all the more.
the first thing i would like to point out, is that irony (especially as used in the song) is a literary device. literature is an art form. art is subject to interpretation. then, once you get down to the word, all it actually refers to is when you may have certain expectations for something to happen a certain way, and it doesn’t. often, it will happen exactly opposite of how you expected, but that is not a necessary component of what irony is. irony is something happening different OR opposite of what you expected. that’s it. it may have degrees, like slap you in the face irony, or it can be subtle. if you have high expectations for something, and it doesn’t turn out how you wanted it to, this is unfortunate, AND it is irony, though possibly subtle.
so, considering what irony is, and that it is largely subjective, now ask yourselves the following questions.
a) would you find it ironic if it were your wedding day, something you porbably had pictured in your mind your whole life as something perfect, the happiest day of your life, and it pours rain that day? isn’t rain symbolic of sadness, dreariness, depression? sounds freaking ironic to me.
b) would you find it ironic, if you went outside purposefully to take your smoke break, because that was what your have been dreaming of doing all morning, picturing yourself doing, and as soon as you light up, you see a sign that reads “no smoking.” so now you’re on your cigarette break, putting your cigarettes back into your purse and swearing. you thought you’d be smoking on your smoke break, didn’t you? sorry, sucka. textbook irony!
c) what about if you were at a fancy restaurant, and you decide to treat yourself to a fine glass of white wine. and you need a drink bad after the day you’ve had, your hands are shaking by this point you want it so intensely. but what does your waiter bring you? A disgusting fly floating in its $15 watery grave. Now you have to flag him down again before he can get you another one, and the service here sucks. You’re really stressed, and all you want is a drink, which you have, but you can’t drink it. I bet you expected to be guzzling that bad boy down, and now it sits in front of you untouched. taunting you. Sounds ironic to me.
d) i meet the man of MY dreams but he’s YOUR husband. you bitch, i’ve been having inappropriate fantasies about him, and i already have our first three children named. I pictured US together. not YOU. IRONIC!
e) and if i ever found myself drowning in a sea of spoons, and all I need to pry open that hatch which would let me to my freedom is one freaking knife, you’d better believe my dying words would be “oh the irony,” because i am dying in a sea of utensils, all the utensils in the world for all i know, except the one that will save my life. poetic irony!
and the only other refernce from the song i remember, and not to hammer a point into the ground….
d) what if you were terrified of flying your entire life and you finally decided to take a flight. you’re about to piss yourself from fear, but at some point, your nerves calm, and you realize, there’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of. In fact, you feel foolish for driving long distances all these years. You’ll be in Orlando by noon! It’s true what they say, though you never believed them up until this very moment, flying really is safe! And the plane crashes. Sounds like a whole shitball of irony to me.
Give Alanis a break. She was trying to tell a story, and, if you haven’t noticed, songs are like three minutes long. She had to pare it down to the essentials, but i guess most of us are just too damn obtuse to use our imaginations and get a drift.
my conlcusions: people are stupid and try to be smart and sound even dumber. and people latch on to this one thing they heard once that someone else said and that kind of sounded good, and it annoys me when they try and pass it off as their own, when it doesn’t even make sense in the first place.
i’m with you on this one Alanis. Everyone else shut up, or come up with some new material (fyi, this rant was sparked by a comedy central presents episode where some woman made the above joke, which i first heard circa 1997 in my community college english class)
