Post-irony


Post-irony and Ancient Greek εἰρωνεία eirōneía, meaning dissimulation ) is a term used to denote a state in which earnest and ironic intents become muddled. It may less commonly refer to its converse: a return from irony to earnestness, similar to New Sincerity. Examples of post-ironic artwork include the London based record label PC Music, South African band Die Antwoord, the British television show Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and the Werner Herzog film . Noted surreal humor comedian Tim Heidecker portrays a man living a post-ironic lifestyle in The Comedy.
In literature, David Foster Wallace is often described as the founder of a "postironic" literature. His essays "E Unibus Pluram" and "Fictional Futures and the Conspicuously Young" describe and hope for a literature that goes beyond postmodern irony. Other authors often described as postironic are Dave Eggers, Tao Lin, 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. Over the years, it has become an increasingly common form of rhetoric on imageboards such as Reddit, iFunny, 4chan, 8chan, Krautchan, Ylilauta, and Mintboard.
One example given is the film :

Criticism

This term has become increasingly popular and has some detractors: