Post-irony is a term used to denote a state in which earnest and ironic intents become muddled, or alternatively to describe a return from irony to earnestness, similar to new sincerity.
In literature, David Foster Wallace is often described as the founder of a "postironic" literature. His essays "E Unibus Pluram"Post-Irony Is the Only Thing Left in the World That Gets a Reaction - Vice and "Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young" describe and hope for a literature that goes beyond postmodern irony.Wallace, David Foster. "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction", Review of Contemporary Fiction 13(2), Summer 1993, pp. 151-194. Other authors often described as postironic are Dave Eggers,Jensen, Mikkel. 2014. "A Note on a Title: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" in The Explicator, 72:2, 146–150. Tao Lin,David Foster Wallace was right: Irony is ruining our culture|Salon.com and Alex Shakar.
Overview Whereas in postmodern irony, something is meant to be cynically mocked and not taken seriously, and in new sincerity, something is meant to be taken seriously or "unironically", post-irony combines these two elements by either having something absurd taken seriously or be unclear as to whether something is meant to be ironic.
One example given is the film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans:
A central element of post-irony is the obfuscation, ambiguity, watering-down, degradation, or simple lack of meaning and intent in statements and artwork, and whether the creator or disseminator intends this to be celebrated, decried, or met apathetically can itself be part of this uncertainty. As journalist Dmitry Lisovsky writes, "Post-ironic memes [...] don't even have to be of great quality: I once took 10 random pictures from a few post-ironic meme communities and shuffled the captions between them. Users had a hard time telling the difference between the new ones and those that came before." Post-irony, "meta-irony", and the often vague deconstruction and reconstruction of irony in general, are common elements in millennial and zoomer humor. Post-irony has been stated to be utilized in internet memes to spread disinformation and as a tool to radicalize people into extremist communities, especially relating to the American alt-right and related movements.
Criticism
In 2003, Zoe Williams described the increasing popularity of the term with disapproval:Williams, Zoe. "The final irony", The Guardian, June 27, 2003.
See also Absurdism Dog whistle (politics) Gaslighting Guerrilla ontology Metamodernism Poe's Law Independent film
References
External links Hirschorn, Michael. "Diary" Slate Magazine Shaviro, Steven. “Prophecies of the Present,” Socialism and Democracy, vol. 24, no.2 Sincerity, Not Irony, Is Our Age's Ethos - The Atlantic