Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls Do you like "Tragic Irony"?

I thought of this poll yesterday. Funnily enough, it matches with Wendy's poll.

"Tragic Irony" is a term first used in the Ancient Greek drama. It's when the heroes don't know something the viewers do know, and it's used to make the viewers more anxious about what's going to happen next. It's different from a spoiler. L&C ex.: Lois doesn't know Clark is Superman, but the viewers do, because they see Clark spinning into Superman's costume, saving the day etc..

Do you like "Tragic Irony" in what you watch/read? Do you like to see the heroes struggling to find the truth you already know?
Do you prefer not knowing something the heroes don't know? Like, for example, in many mystery books, when the POV is centered around the hero and you only know what s/he knows?
Do you like both styles equally?
Do you prefer having just a bit of 'teasers' that do not reveal anything for certain? (i.e. "The shadowy figure picked up something from the hero's drawer and left, thinking it would come in very handy.")
Does it depend of the kind of story?
Do you have another opinion you'd like to share?

Personally, I like both ways. Each one has its merits

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

I voted for the first option, but I have to admit that when that kind of stuff happens in movies, it drives my wife crazy.

Not because she doesn't like that kind of thing, it's because I can't help but start talking to the screen characters telling them their going the wrong way or something like that.

Because of such tendancies on my part, we haven't been to very many movies...

James

Actually, I was taught the term "Dramatic Irony," and I think it suits the situation better. It doesn't always have to be tragic or angsty or suspenseful or otherwise negative (I personally don't have much use for catharsis). It can be funny, too, and probably other things.

Like many such things, it's a technique. A tool. It can be used for a lot of different purposes, and whether or not I like it depends on whether or not I think it's the right tool for the job and whether or not I think the one wielding the tool is doing a good job of it.

Paul

My mistake, Paul I didn't mean it to sound as if it's only about negative stuff. We use the word "tragic" over here, but maybe it's just because we've only been studying tragedies. Or, it's the book's mistake. Wouldn't be the first time

I agree, the term "dramatic" works better.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Exactally, Paul. As a Lit. Professor I can say it is called "dramatic irony". Now I really love it. Dramatic Irony is a term also used to predict the future of events that actually turn out to come true in the end.

I simply love it.

actually i am like Tempus... God, I love irony

MDL.

I voted that it depends on what kind of story it is. One thing is clear, though, and that is that nothing works very well unless it is well written.

Sometimes I love it when I don't know more than the narrator (or the main character) and that suddenly, that character makes a fundamental, earth-shattering discovery. For example, I remember a sci-fi story about a group of people living inside a train, which they slowly pulled across endless expanses of land. They were following an energy source that apparently emanated from the interior of the planet, and which moved across the surface of this world. This group of people had a relatively hazy recollection of their common history, but they were convinced that their ancesters had travelled through space in a spaceship and landed on this alien world, on which their descendants were now stranded. In the end of the story, the people and their train have reached a coastline, which opens up onto an endless expanse of water. And now it's time for the mind-shattering revelation. It turns out that the coastline is the west cost of Portugal. The expanse of water is the Atlantic. The seemeingly endless land mass across which they have slowly pulled their train is Eurasia, all the way from eastern China to western Portugal. This has taken about 200 years or something, and the energy source they have been following has changed them, so that the Earth seems strange to them. Wow. I was so convinced that they were indeed on another planet. Seeing how the Earth is the same - well, more or less the same, because there has obviously been some kind of catastrophe or a holocaust or something - and that it is the people who have become fundamentally different was as much of a shock to me as it must have been for them.

Another shocker to me was an old Agatha Christie mystery. It turned out that it was the narrator who was the murderer, and I had never suspected him. Wow! In this case, i knew less than the narrator.

Then there was another story, whose opening chapter told us who was going to be killed and by whom. Even so, I can't tell you how totally, devastatingly gripping this story was. After revealing what would happen in the end, the writer then proceeded to tell the story from the beginning. Knowing the inevitability of what was going to happen was terrible and totally captivating at the same time.

And seeing that it is Anna B the Greek who's asking, I guess I must tell you, Anna, that some of your ancient Greek tragedies are fantastic. Surely Oedipus Rex must be the hands down champion of all "tragic irony" or "dramatic irony" stories. How about being told that you are going to kill your father and marry your mother, so you run away from home to spare them this fate. But only because you run away from home do you actually meet your real father, whom you kill (though he shouldn't have killed anybody - bad boy, Oedipus) and your real mother, whom you marry!

As for Lois and Clark stories, however, I sometimes find the stories a little too predictable.... But hey, who am I to complain???? I don't even write any stories of my own. But I do prefer the L&C stories that manage to surprise me. Within limits, of course. For some reason, a truly tragic ending of a L&C story - say, an ending where Lois dies young - simply never works for me! Gotta tell you, when I look up stories in the Archive I usually read the endings first, to decide if I'm going to like this story!

Ann

I like both, and a combination of both styles. And of course it depends on the story. One of the things I like about the tv series 'Lost', is that you have a combination of both styles. You know certain things about the background of the characters, that the others don't know. But the things about the island, you find out piece by piece, together with the characters. So it's fun to know more, but also not knowing what it's all about.

I picked "both work for me", but I'd like to add a small proviso. Both work for me IF they're done well.

We've all read stories where we can easily predict what's going to happen, and it's written in such a way it bores you to tears. Whereas there are others, when you do know what's going to happen that still keep you hooked.

Same goes for stories where you don't know. If you don't know, and then the ending given is completely implausible, albeit surprising, I'm not buying (and I'm usually rather perturbed). Well done surprises, though, like Yvonne's stories, are always winners with me.

But the best of all...is when it's ironic and hilarious. If you can make me laugh, I will never forget you