Abstract
This chapter of Irony in Film turns its attention to specific properties, devices, and conventions of filmmaking and explores how they can be and have been used to ironic effect. The author here offers a sustained engagement with the material particulars of numerous movies, undertaking close analyses of moments where sound, editing, mise en scène, cinematography, and performance help create irony in a host of disparate American movies. The films examined in this chapter include Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927), The Scarlet Empress (Joseph von Sternberg, 1934), The Public Enemy (William A. Wellman, 1931), The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946), Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon, 1959), Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986), Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995), and Far From Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002).
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MacDowell, J. (2016). Ironic Filmmaking: Properties, Devices, and Conventions. In: Irony in Film. Palgrave Close Readings in Film and Television. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-32993-6_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-32993-6_3
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