Dramatic Irony: Why Can’t They Just Talk to Each Other?

We have all seen it before in TV shows, movies, and books. There is a miscommunication among characters that leaves them in a frenzy. The audience knows that he is going to propose or that she really loves him, but the characters believe the exact opposite. This type of irony, dramatic irony, leaves the audience on the edge of their seat, waiting for everything to be resolved and the characters to get their happily ever after. For example: in the live action Mulan that Disney released in 2020, the audience knows that Mulan is a woman, when all of the characters in the movie believe that she is a man. Specifically, there is a scene where Mulan goes to the pond to bathe, and one of her peers comes and jokingly asks what else she has been hiding in addition to her stellar performance in training. Mulan, responds shortly, saying they are not friends. Mulan is very uncomfortable because there is a man bathing with her in the pond. Additionally, he is asking her about secrets as a joke, as an attempt to become friends. The man thinks she doesn’t like him, when the audience knows Mulan’s reaction is due to her secret of her true identity. This miscommunication keeps the audience engaged with the movie, actively anticipating when the truth will reveal itself. So why is dramatic irony so intriguing to us?

Dramatic irony is defined as when the audience of a certain media (books, TV shows, movies etc.) knows something that the characters in that media do not know. My guess is that we, as humans, love the drama of knowing something that other people do not. This knowledge makes us feel more important or special. It also adds a level of flare to the media that would be missing if the audience was in the dark along with the characters. Additionally, it puts the audience inside the story line, encouraging them to await the moment the character learns the information the audience is already aware of. Peter Goldie, author of the article “Dramatic Irony, Narrative, and the External Perspective” (2007), would agree with this. Goldie states that the act of imagining another person’s emotions elicits that emotion in us. By feeling that same emotion, we are entertained. So, it essentially boils down to two things: humans are empathetic creatures, and humans like to feel important.

As an avid consumer of all types of media, I find myself completely compelled by dramatic irony every time. This is such a simple tool, yet it is so effective. The plot of the live action Mulan revolves around this one simple idea. If everyone knew Mulan was a girl in the movie, then she never would have been able to become the warrior she did. Furthermore, if the audience did not know Mulan was a girl, then we would think that Mulan was just another moody male that did not want to fight for his people. Neither of these plot lines would have been very entertaining, and we all would have probably regretted the $30 we spent for premium access on DisneyPlus to watch the movie when it came out. We see this technique time and time again, and it never gets old. The way I see it, without dramatic irony, the media industry would not be booming the way it is.

 

Article Citation:

Goldie, P. (2007). Dramatic Irony, Narrative, and the External Perspective. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement60, 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1358246107000045

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