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Post Day 11 Assignment Here
Post Day 11 Assignment Here
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20 Replies
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Meg Stout’s Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is why Hollywood so often depicts “good” people as evil and “bad” people as good. It’s an easy way to achieve irony. For this assignment, my core material is already rife with irony. I will be working my other two works to ferret out irony.
ASSIGNMENT 1
Thirteen Reasons Why
The students of Liberty High make a big fuss about how beautiful Hannah was and how much they loved her when these same students tormented her and denied her their friendship.
As we learn who the other people on the tapes were, we realize these are the folks who reached out to Clay in the first episode, whether just acknowledging his existence (Justin) or trying to be actively friendly (Courtney).
Though Hannah is dead, she is the person who is most alive to Clay, frequently having to remind Clay that she is dead.
Though jocks are the bad guys in the show, Clay’s friend, Jeff, is one of the jocks. At the same time Hannah’s account makes us revile most jocks, it is her role in Jeff’s death that Hannah arguably regrets most.
Clay, as the one who loved Hannah the most, is the person most destroyed to learn his “role” in Hannah’s final suicidal ideation.
Tony, who we learn in season 2 owes Hannah for her help hiding him from justice, puts himself sideways of the law to fulfill his debt to Hannah.
Fully half of those who hurt Hannah the most are people who cared for her.
Bryce Walker is capable of horrific evil, but he is also the one who reached out to Justin as a kid, extending unquestioning friendship despite the fact Justin was a poor kid with a junkie for a mother.
Minor irony that Hannah, who had only moved to town 2 months earlier, ends up being Clay’s trainer at the Crestmont movie theater.
As revealed in the second season, it is ironic that Hannah moved to Liberty High (where she was bullied) because she had been one of the bullies tormenting a girl at her old school.
It is ironic that Clay’s mother becomes part of the legal team protecting the school just as Clay is listening to the tapes and learning of the responsibility students and a counselor at the school bore for Hannah’s suicidal ideation.
ASSIGNMENT 2
Children of Heaven (or maybe Children of a Loving God, to deconflict with the Oscar-winning work named Children of Heaven)
Bennett comes to Nauvoo to protect the Mormons, then two years later is campaigning nationally to attack the Mormons.
Bennett is someone trained to treat female medical issues, but ends up creating a vast number of issues for women.
The secretly-married Bennett is denied the chance to marry Annie at the same time Joseph is under commandment to restore biblical marriage and its allowance for plural marriage.
Bennett, who has only recently embraced the Mormon faith, is elected Mayor of the Mormon city.
Annie struggles to be willing to accept love at the same time Bennett desires to marry Annie despite being technically married to his estranged wife.
Joseph elevates Bennett to the position of Assistant President of the Church, but Bennett sees it as a meaningless sinecure, the public adulation hollow given Joseph’s insistence that Bennett break with Annie.
It is also ironic that Bennett, as Assistant President of the Church, then commits adultery with the wife of one of the absent Apostles.
It is deeply ironic that Bennett, ostensibly protector of the Mormons, proceeds to pressure a victim of Missouri atrocities (husband killed, herself raped) to yield so he can achieve sexual release.
It is ironic that Annie, herself a spinster, is charged with caring for so many children.
It is ironic that the greatest sin weighing on Joseph and Emma Smith is their combined hesitation to restore biblical marriage, including allowance for plurality of wives.
It is ironic that Joseph, who has worked to protect women from the seducers, is accused of being the agent who victimized the women by seducing them.
In future, it will be ironic that William Law, the new Assistant President of the Church, calls for Joseph’s death after he is removed from office.
It is ironic that Annie’s father will be the most persuasive contributor to the paper (the Nauvoo Expositor) that leads to Joseph Smith’s death (at a time when Annie is one of the women who have covenanted in secret with Joseph).
It is ironic that those who were involved with spreading and yielding to the illicit intercourse heresy (e.g., Brigham Young, Eliza Snow) become the most staunch opponents of Bennett and supporters of Joseph Smith.
It will be ironic that Bennett is nearly killed when he tries to tell the truth and take back his lies (true fact – his attempt to rescind his slanders in a lecture in Boston). In the fictional treatment, the actions to suppress Bennett’s attempt to set the record straight will be initiated by local Mormons.
It will be ironic that Joseph’s own brothers become instruments in the illicit intercourse heresy because they don’t think they need to ask Joseph, presuming that because they are his flesh and blood they are exempt from needing to consult with Joseph.
It is ironic that Joseph and Emma move forward with instituting biblical marriage in large part because of the illicit intercourse heresy.
Not in the screenplay, per se, but I find it ironic that the Smith’s attempts to allow folks to repent without being exposed has allowed Bennett’s slanders from 1842-1843 to stand for over 175 years, even though Bennett himself attempted to take back the slanders in 1843.
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Assignment 1:
The Americans
1.) Elizabeth and Phillip actually love each other, but in trying to bind up the wounds in their marriage, it drives them further apart.
2.) Elizabeth comes to thank Phillip at the motel, hoping to bring him back home, but he’s already gotten an apartment.
3.) Stan wants to stop seeing Nina to save his marriage, but that makes her more alluring, and he breaks his resolve.
4.) Nina now has more responsibility now that she’s become a mole, working against her country.
5.) Elizabeth wants to kill Paterson, the person responsible for Zhukov’s assassination more than anything, but she can’t.
6.) Stan is surprised to see his son coming home from the Rocky Horror Picture Show wearing make-up, but he isn’t gay.
7.) By separating temporarily, Elizabeth and Phillip’s need for each other has grown stronger.
8.) They want to send Gregory to Moscow when his cover is blown, but he’s a black man and the irony jumps off the screen.
9.) A central irony of the show is that Stan and Phillip become friends, as do their wives, Elizabeth and Sandra; in fact, now they help each other out emotionally at their toughest moments—but Stan and Sandra don’t know their neighbors are spies.
10.) Elizabeth hates her boss because of the power she wields over her, and insults her, yet this almost ensures that Claudia will get her back in some way.
11.) The central conflict of the show is the power struggle between the U.S. and U.S.S.R., yet the attention they give each other almost amounts to love.
12.) Amador was talking about his escapades with women while Stan was trying to be loyal to his wife.
13.) A central irony of the show is that two stars are not only ruthless spies who will kill as part of their job, they’re also trying to be good parents, discipline their children and set a good example.
14.) Martha is so in love with Phillip that she brings her parents to meet him, and doesn’t even know he’s married.
15.) In episode 1, Phillip is ready to defect from the country he serves.
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What I learned from this assignment is that you can keep drilling down, through different genres of stories until it’s almost a history of a civilization and evil one that will be created in the future.
Assignment 2
On the lowest level—something never seen before: It’s not really a crime story; it’s a ghost story.
Something terrible happened to the town on the order of the Donner Party, and everyone and their descendants became so traumatized [and wounded psychically and physically] that they were forced to come up with different rules, “a charter of the unthinkable,” based on panic, or bad decisions, or flawed reasoning, or fear, but they thought it was war, it was pestilence, it was famine, it was the end of life, so they made a bargain with this supernatural force, whatever it was, to become a ghost race, so they had to kill men because they needed male ghosts because the whole culture was punished for their original sin [which we’ll find out later] and not allowed to procreate. Women were struck barren and they were dying off as a race. And whoever or whatever this supernatural force was, it chose to create a new race of white, misogynistic, racist, narcissistic real and financial rapists. They went after older women because of simple math. There were more older women than younger women, so there could be more rapes, and more men killed, and therefore more male ghosts to become the seeds of a new society. (Bring in the corporate too.) So, they’re not just rapists, they’re rich rapists, a culture of elites that prey on working people, literally using them up, pulling all their financial assets, all their life-experience out of them, so their just like insect husks left after they’ve been devoured. That’s why Rodion was interested—his love of insects.
And what if when these men raped these older women, they also rob them psychically as well. What if they’re able to rob them of all they’ve even been, and ever thought, and felt and experienced, and when these men are killed for their sacrifice for the evil cause then all these victim’s experiences and thoughts and wisdom are sucked out them and in death all those positive qualities are harvested and transmuted into something incredibly evil, a new elite, rich, evil culture that takes everything for themselves and lives off all the others.
The descendants of this tragedy ended up in a deserted Gothic mansion in the mountains that was a hospital, but some supernatural event took place which imposed a spell or curse or a demonic contract on the town in which they had to kill men to create a new a better race.
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Daniel Melin’s Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is that we all know life is not simple. There are always twists that we don’t expect, and we want the stories we consume to reflect this. I also learned that you can’t just throw random opposites together and hope they click. You have to suss out where organic opposites are already hidden.
Assignment 1—Supernatural
Sam, the brother who wants nothing to do with the supernatural, is the one with supernatural abilities.
Dean, the brother who values his father’s mission above everything, disclosed his family secret to his former girlfriend.
The brothers’ father, who taught them all about hunting monsters, doesn’t want them hunting the monster that killed their mother with him.
Family, which is so valuable to all the Winchesters, makes them most vulnerable to the demon they’re hunting.
When the demon gets ahold of John, Sam is the one who places the mission of killing the demon over John’s safety, while Dean just wants to save their dad.
In the season finale, the demon possesses John, forcing the boys to choose between killing the demon and their father, or saving their father, and letting the demon escape.
Assignment 2—Athens, MN
Tom, who starts the as the most unassuming character in the story, soon finds his ambition and lust for knowledge and power growing exponentially as the story progresses.
Lizzie’s kingdom, Everlasting Summer is meant to be the ultimate paradise, but it slowly suffocates all life within its boundaries.
Lizzie was once a reverend’s daughter, but she soon grows fascinated with the dark arts, and everything her father forbade her from learning.
Lizzie’s love for her child, which was the cause of her lust for revenge has now caused her to harm the children of others.
Mark is drawn to magic, but wants to make it rational and accessible, rendering it completely un-magical in the process.
The only way for Tom to lift his curse and save the curse’s other victims is to penetrate deeper and deeper into Everlasting Summer, which is where his enemy is strongest.
Athens, Minnesota, the city where the story is set is named after an old and very magical city, but it seems, on the surface, as if it is the least magical place in the world.
Tom’s passion is for magic, but his livelihood is as a carpenter, where practicality is the most useful quality.
Miguel says that his open relationship with Milly is based on honesty, but he regularly keeps secrets from her about his other relationships.
Tom is very emotional and non-confrontational, but the two men he spends the most time with are very rational—Mark—and very aggressive—Miguel.
Miguel is very machismo in many respects, but because of his prison record, many of his business ventures rely on support from his fiancé.
When the time comes to confront Lizzie, Mark has to help save the son of Miguel, who he intensely dislikes.
Miguel does not believe in magic, but finds himself having to resort to it, when he realizes his son is under a magical curse.
Tom has played the innocent victim when it comes to his curse, but he eventually realizes that it was his fault he fell under the curse in the first place.
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Emmanuel Sullivan’s Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is just as in real life, we all encounter irony, create it ourselves, so it’s only natural that the characters we create for television should include moments of irony to enable the character to be much more three dimensional.
Assignment #1
Show – The Americans
Philip had to peel off his secret identity in front of Martha to save his relationship, simply talking to her stopped working.
Stan is closer to the neighbor’s son than his biological child.
Paige confides in her pastor who she trusts but he tells his wife who gossips.
Elizabeth is opening up more to friendships and is actually enjoying the new bonds.
When Elizabeth became ill, and if she died, she insisted that Philip stay and raise the kids as Americans, when normally, she would not have agreed.
Assignment #2
Mark wants the world to know he should have had another 4-year term as the president but loses political friends in the party during the process.
Sarah had breast cancer but does not believe in supporting cancer survivor causes.
Andrew likes to gamble and thinks the foundation’s money is his personal bank account because he is the founder, then the board conducts an audit.
Madison portrays a conservative style of romance but at home, she is much more liberal.
Alice resents her liberal roots and occasionally supports the republican agenda to satisfy her past trauma.
Justice thinks that his MBA will give him an advantage applying for the CEO role only to learn they gave the position to someone without a degree.
Molly thinks the foundation and her husband spend too much but she no problem splurging on herself.
Andrew is invited to speak about drug, alcohol, sex and gaming addictions but can’t admit he has a gambling addiction.
Andrew hates when his adult children who run the foundation cannot keep up but loses control when they make mistakes going too fast.
Mark enjoys fundraising for politicians on the campaign trail but hates raising funds for the foundation.
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Renee Brown Creating Irony
What I learned from this assignment is layers can intertwine the characters and situations into a curious and seductive world.
The 100
The one who sent the 100 to earth is the only human left on the ark.
Enya, who jumps into the pod to kill the 100, ends up the only grounder who survives.
Abby wants to save her daughter but must send her to earth to do it.
The child who has nightmares about being murdered turns into a murderer herself.
The ally to the chancellor turns out to be the leader of the coup.
The earth seems to be uninhabitable but is teaming with life.
The 100 are avoiding war, but actually start it at the parler.
In order to protect his sister, he has to kill the chancellor.
In order to find true love, Octavia must betray her brother .
Renee Brown’s Alien Earth: creating Irony
Character
paradox where they have opposite traits or want/need.
Tallas: Wants: Peace Needs: Avenge So: Forges prophecy
Saltar: Wants: Daughter’s happiness Needs: to be relevant So: Sabotages her daughter
Dauntus: Wants: World Domination Needs: Respect So: Writes his dead wife at night
Anauk: Wants: To be a free spirit. Needs: his father’s approval So: acts like the rebel cool kid. Also with his broken wing, the very person he seeks approval from, crippled his freedom.
Steelman: Wants: Peace on earth Needs: Keep the aliens hidden So: Acts as mediator and lies to the public.
Rollin: Wants: to be a scholar Needs: to complete his training So: records his training and trains his sister to take his place.
violate their most important value to get something they need right now.
Tallas: Values: Longheads are original peace keepers. Needs: to avenge his ancestors’ death at the hands of the Deepers. Action of violation: Forges newly found prophesy pages to keep tensions high between Longheads and Deepers.
Saltar: Values: the simple/natural life. Needs: to rule her species with the expected viciousness. Action of violation: Acts the stone cold ruler and seductress.
Dauntus: Values: Dictatorship Needs:Loyalty Action of violation: Almost kills son.
Anauk: Values: Fair and equitable treatment. Needs: to fit in with the Skyfliers. Action of violation: Starts a black market access program to DSOM
Steelman: Values: Peace and Love Needs: Order and Protection Action of violation: Secret affair with a Longhead.
Rollin: Values: privacy Needs: to save the world Action of violation: Secretly trains the One.
The character presents themselves one way, but it turns out to be another way either intentionally or because they don’t know themselves.
Tallas: Presents himself as: Wise Man But turns out to be: Con Man
Saltar: Presents herself as: Savior But turns out to be: Manipulator
Dauntus: Presents himself as: Dictator But turns out to be: Heartbroken
Anauk: Presents himself as: the messed up rich kid But turns out to be: The savior of humanity
Steelman: Presents himself as: hardened military man. But turns out to be: Romantic Idealist.
Rollin: Presents himself as: trainee But turns out to be: trainer
Situational
A. The situation appears to be X, but it is really Y.
Trick: The reality has been disguised in order to lure the victim to their demise.
Layer: There is something underneath the surface that changes the meaning of everything.
Tallas: The prophecy keeps the peace between all factions, but when the truth comes out, it causes the biggest war in the history of earth.
Saltar: It appears to be that Saltar’s daughter is entangled with Anauk, but she is actually in love with Maryum.
Anauk: It appears that Anauk wants to succeed his father as Skyflier ruler, but he is actually leading the resistance with Tallas.
Dauntus: Had his wife killed only for us to find out after his death that his bloodline was more interwoven than hers. He was Zeus visiting human women in the form of…. He has been seeding humanity to prepare for his domination of the world.
Steelman: It appears that Steelman resents the aliens, but turns out he is in love with one of them. It appears that he is to manage the separation of the factions, but his child with his Longhead lover ends up being the trifecta One.
Rollin: It appears that he is hidden from the world, but it turns out he has been using his mind to explore….and communicate with / influence….?
In order to get X, they must give up Y.
Tallas: In order to get world peace, he must give up his resentment.
Saltar: In order to protect her hatchlings, she must give up her chosen life.
Anauk: In order to fly again, he must put himself in the hands of the Deepers.
Dauntus: In order to dominate the world, he must violate the keeping of pure blood Skyfliers.
Steelman: In order to save his love, he must betray humanity.
Rollin: In order to keep himself in shadow, he must step into the light.
avoiding X, but the thing they do to avoid it actually causes X.
Tallas: Prophecy: Trying to keep the peace / tell the biggest lie.
Saltar: Trying to gain Anauk’s affections / Introduces him to her daughter.
Anauk: Tries to keep black market DSOM open / closes his access to see his love.
Dauntus: Trying to protect his bloodline / Kills his wife and almost his son.
Steelman: Trying to mediate loyalties / His own loyalties shift.
Rollin: Tries to train the one / Makes him a better candidate himself.
PLOT LAYERS
Plot Surface: Alien Earth is inhabited by humanity and three factions of Alien. The majority of humanity has no idea it is not alone. The Longheads live in underground cavern cities, the Deepers live in the ocean depths and the Skyfliers live in cloaked sky cities. A top secret military group interacts with the alien factions.
Layer 1: Shocking event: A planet appears between earth and mars. What is this? With each episode, the origins of the planet are reveled along with its ties to the Longheads.
Layer 2: Hidden agenda: The Don of the Skyfliers, Dauntus, uses this distraction to take over the world. But Dauntus’ son Anauk has alliances with humanity and the other two alien species and plots with them to overturn Dauntus.
Layer 3: Mystery: Where did the new planet come from, and how did it get here? How did all the alien species come to earth?
Layer 4: The prophecy: There is a prophecy involving all three alien species and humanity that has kept the peace for over 100,000 years.
Layer 5: Future Consequences: The Longheads are training the One who is to fulfill the prophecy – uniting all living beings on earth. The planet parked between earth and mars has invigorated alien researchers. Steelman’s lover threatens his position and the Longhead’s fate.
Layer 6: Humans have been keeping a secret. In the 1940’s a new Alien species has arrived on earth: The Greys. They have been lurking in the shadows and have made a terrible deal with Humanity. Great cliffhanger to set up Season 2.
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Stuart’s Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is the freedom it allows me to go deeper into my potential characters and situations. It opened up new paths for the supporting storylines, and allowed me to expand the story landscape and value of the supporting characters. This is an important step as I plot out the political intrigue for this season’s story arc, and plot out Hop-Frog’s/Trippetta’s vengeance. It also allowed me to explore the horror genre and riff off Poe imagery and themes with ironic payoffs.
Assignment 1: Irony in Watchmen.
Irony was effectively crafted in the Watchmen series:
• The costumed adventurer – and the first of the Minutemen, “Hooded Justice” (Will Reeves) wears a hanging hood and noose. Also, Will wears whiteface to support the myth that he’s a white man.
• Will Reeves/Hooded Justice needs to hide behind a mask in order to fight for justice within his police precinct.
• By finding his voice and identity for justice hidden behind a mask he loses himself to his wife and son.
• In order for the god to become the human, the all-knowing Dr. Manhattan becomes the amnesiac Cal.
• FBI Agent Laurie Blake is hunting down masked vigilantes but becomes an ally for Angela/the masked-Sister Night.
• Wade, Looking Glass, becomes Blake’s ally.
• In Tulsa, the police need to wear masks to fight for justice.
• The musical Oklahoma offers several ironic elements – the use of songs, “Poor Judd is Dead” when Judd Crawford’s swaying body is revealed. And in the final episode’s closing moments, “Oh what a beautiful morning…”
Irony I’m exploring my series…
Character Irony:
• Prince Brann isn’t Trippetta’s prince charming but in league with Master of Ceremonies.
• The honor for dead King Raynor is assuaging Goplik’s guilt that he murdered his brother.
• The Minister of Hunger who ensures hunger to the subjects is a gourmet cook.
• The meek servant, Hop-Frog, transforms into the minister of death.
• The Minister of Fear is terrified by the ghosts of his ex-wives entombed in his bedchamber’s walls.
Situational Irony:
• The Fool delivers vengeance upon the king.
• Trippetta looking for romantic love but is sexually abused.
• The final celebration for King Goplik – a roast in the comedy world – is a literal roasting of the king delivered by his subjects.
• The Minister of Hunger meets his demise in his own kitchen is cooked/served to the king at the final celebration (a feast of fools).
• The dance of love veils a dance of death.
• The Minister of Disease is imprisoned in shit, disease, rats.
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BIG LITTLE LIES IRONY
The Monterey 5 turn themselves in for killing Perry even though they have gotten away with it.
Jane takes part in her rapist Perry’s death, even though she doesn’t get to shoot him with the gun she bought for that purpose.
Celeste and Madeline identify the wrong man as the rapist for Jane and she almost kills him
Ziggy wasn’t abusing Amabella, Max, Perry’s son was.
Celeste tried to keep the boys from seeing Perry’s abuse but they videotaped it and that saved the day and exposed Mary Louise as the one who probably caused Perry to become and abuser
Mary Louise’s nice act hid her behavior to Perry when he was young.
Bonnie seemed to love nathan, but killing Perry and confronting her mother made her realize that ironically she never did– and ironically that she was a victim of mother abuse like Perry.
Nathan thought bonnie would be the opposite of madeline and she turned out to be just as crazy
Perry seemed so loving and turned out to be horrible to celeste
Everyone thought celeste hada perfect life and it turned out it was a secret nightmare
Renata thought she was rich and happy and ironically, Gordon gutted both her love and her finances and she wound up poorer that Jane.
Ed had every reason to ditch madeline and ironically her cheating led to a deeper truer love between them.
Snarky Ed turned out to basically be a bigger person and more forgiving than any of them.
Amabella and Ziggy, ironically, turn out to be friends. ziggy, who seemed so mean and strange at first, turned out to be sweet.
Max, Josh and Ziggy accept each other as brothers, ironically when it looked like the two families would be fighting each other..
Perry’s death freed both Celeste and Jane, even though, ironically, they turned an innocent accident into a crime by lying about it.
Ironically, we never find out what happened to the Monterey 5 for lying.
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Assignment 1
Big Little Lies
Madeline Mackenzie wants to be a good person wants to be perfect and that’s the image she works hard to portray and is critical of others who don’t meet her ideal or what she perceives is the ideal mom and wife, but she cheated on Ed, her husband, and she isn’t truly happy being a full time mom even though she’s made that her mission in life and even though she’s critical of other mom’s who also have careers. She is Celeste’s best friend yet knows nothing about Celeste and Perry’s violent relationship and that Celeste is about to leave Perry.
Celeste and Perry beautiful successful strong people with a happy marriage is the image they portray, yet behind closed doors their relationship is toxic and violent.
Bonnie is the cool, calm collected yoga, meditator, mediator type, sensible, she’s triggered by seeing Perry beating on Celeste, in a moment of anger she pushes Perry he falls down the stairs to his death.
Assignment 2..
Green Lake to follow
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Assignment 2 Irony
Green Lake
I’m still brainstorming this is not quite there but so far
Green Lake is a crisp and clear lake but is also polluted.
Jess is a detective yet is also a hacker who uses those skills on the downlow to get results on her cases. She upholds the law but also breaks it.
Sheriff upholds the law but is also protecting Captain Anderson who is involved in illicit dealings.
Sarah Watson inherited her parents gas station and continues to run that but has been an environmental supporter who is leading the town to a zero-carbon future.
Sheriff doesn’t want to retire is afraid that if she does past misdeeds will come to light that will make her future retirement life very uncomfortable.
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Donna Stockwell’s Creating Irony
What I learned doing this assignment is the characters seem more real, in that despite their goal or their character traits, they seem to do the exact opposite of what is expected.
EXAMPLE SHOW – Jessica Jones
Ironic that..
Jessica is a super hero who doesn’t wear a costume, doesn’t conceal her identity in public.
Jessica keeps denying help despite the fact that she needs help, viz a vie Trish, Malcolm, Hogarth and the cop.
Kilgrave seems so nice on the surface, but his intentions are evil to get what he wants, the love of Jessica.
Kilgrave gets innocent bystanders to do evil things.
Jessica sleeps with Luke despite her killing his wife.Situations or character components that you could go opposite to create irony in my show:
Jasper, despite not graduating high school, says wise things.
Patrice takes love from her daughter to get love for herself.
Patrice did not have a good relationship with her mother, but Ben and Jasper did.
Patrice has not learned to have a good relationship with her daughter.
Ben is comfortable with death, while Jasper is not despite that he works in a graveyard. -
Jane’s Creating Irony! – What I learned from doing this assignment is irony can be used to set up big, ongoing situations or small moments that reveal another character layer. I think the situational ironies can be helpful in setting the story in motion in a way that consistently provides surprises to the audience. I can see where, if I wasn’t careful, an irony could take the story off on a tangent that might be more confusing than informative or surprising. I will have to tread carefully!!
ASSIGNMENT 1 – RIVERDALE Irony
I skipped jotting down the ironies in RIVERDALE because (a) there are just too many and (b) I was starting to fall behind in the assignments and I don’t want to do that. I will just say that two ironies that stand out are nice Betty/dark Betty and that the richest guy in town, Clifford Blossom, has to sell drugs to keep the maple syrup business afloat!!
ASSIGNMENT 2 – THIRTEEN WEEKS Irony
Character Irony:
1. Lucas is a street smart gang member but also a legal genius.
2. Keith is a kind, nerdy post grad student but also a sociopath.
3. Miguel is super tough but loves (and melts over) little kids.
4. Jodie appears overweight but is incredibly fast and nimble.
5. Susie appears to be a perky girl-next-door all American, but is a blackmailer.
6. Miguel is in the country illegally yet is appalled vacationers litter, enough to point out the fee for littering to them.
7. Lucas is not afraid of anything, except the great outdoors where he will work for 13 weeks.
8. Miguel claims to love his brother and misses him, yet he’s there to find and kill him.
9. Jodie is female and a pyromaniac.
10. Susie is a dreamer, yet her love for her baby drives her to very practical, if illegal and cold hearted, actions.
Situational Irony:
11. The story takes place in a National Park lodge, a place of peace where people go to get back to nature. Then a severed foot turns up.
12. Except for Keith and the four misfits, everyone at the lodge is there because they love nature.
13. Those locally in authority do not seem that interested in finding out the truth.
14. The man living in the woods is actually a decorated veteran from the Afghanistan war.
15. Jodie, who is very prejudiced, lands a job working with Miguel to, of all things, create the summer’s fireworks display.
16. The officer sent to keep an eye on Lucas is actually there as part of the human trafficking gang.
17. Keith did not know that any of the four misfits would be there, although he knows them all outside of the National Park.
18. When Miguel finds his brother, the brother has two very small children who Miguel falls in love with.
19. The staff at the lodge are very much in charge except they don’t seem to know what goes on underneath their noses.
20. Miguel’s brother is a double agent sent to entrap the people trafficking humans.
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Ben’s Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is … irony is about two opposites existing as one thing, irony creates a profound experience for the audience, and irony adds layers of meaning and intrigue to the story.
Jack is at the height of his career as a journalist, but if he wants to be even better and push himself even further to really distance himself from the pack, he has to risk it all and give it all up to investigate a story.
Gina is a true patriot who believes disclosing state secrets is the genuine patriotic thing to do, when she was told to keep those secrets by her government because keeping the secrets is the patriotic thing to do.
Waker believes that stopping Gina from disclosing state secrets is not the solution; instead the solution is to let her disclose them and then discredit and destroy her as mentally unstable.
Waker believes that releasing a portion of the truth enclosed in a fog of mystery and lies is the best way to keep the truth a secret.
Margaret has to fire Jack from the newspaper and distance herself professionally from him, but he is still the love of her life.
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What I learned from this assignment is if you click the wrong button (post) after writing everything you have to write the whole assignment again. Insert curse word! I also learned characters and stories need irony to draw your audience in deeper. Irony makes everything more interesting. On that deep level, we know that we’re not perfect, we just hope no one finds out. Irony gives us more conflict and surprises. Twist and turns are good.
Assignment #1
June and her husband are trying to escape with their daughter, yet they waste precious time arguing and are captured.
June becomes Offred and was a faithful wife who has a relationship with Nick.
Commander Waterford pretends to live his life by the Bible but commits many sins.
Mrs. Waterford was a strong woman who helps create Gilead but becomes a subservient wife who takes orders from her husband.
Nick is an “eye” who breaks the rules when he has an affair with Offred behind Commander Waterford’s back.
The woman leader for South American presents herself as caring for women and how their treated but yet won’t protect Offred when told of the abuse.
Moira was a tough-as-nails gay woman who becomes a prostitute sleeping with men.
Offred pretends to go along with being a handmaid but escapes to find her daughter.
Mrs. Waterford criticizes another woman’s husband for bad behavior but turns a blind eye to her husband’s indiscretions so she can have a baby of her own.
Nick acts like he’s faithful to Commander Waterford but he helps Offred escape.
Assignment #2
Edgemont
Simone wants to save the parentless kids living at Edgemont but she sends them to battle the forces from Region 26.
King preaches family but secretly is trying to sell the family’s only asset to gain power for himself.
King wants to rebuild his relationship with his daughter Simone but betrays her by trying to sell Edgemont behind her back.
Remy wants to help his mother, Simone takedown Region 26 but hurts their cause by bringing Johnny to Region 26.
Senator presents himself as an honorable man but has a hidden love child, Johnny, his wife doesn’t know about.
Johnny becomes disconnected from Region 26’s grid to help bring down his father, the Senator, but is he a spy for his father seeking his love.
Roman wants his grandfather, King to help him become a powerful Senator but he sleeps with his grandfather’s girlfriend because he’s weak and easily manipulated.
Mrs. Conners caters to King’s every need and desire while scheming against him with his grandson, Roman.
Owen wants to help Simone gain power because he wants a relationship with her.
Remy wants to settle down with a family but puts his life in danger at every opportunity.
Remy tries to stop his brother Roman’s plan to gain power but is tricked and gives him more power.
Simone understands the power center that the mountain is and the energy she shouldn’t violate but to defeat her father and keep Edgemont she breaks rule after rule.
Roman misses his close relationship with his mother, Simone but goes against her every wish.
Senator tricked Simone into helping him become Senator, then blamed her for the assassination of the former Senator and took another wife.
Roman and Remy are twins pursuing two different dangerous goals.
Simone is an assassin unable to kill the man who stands in the way of her future.
King is a smart man that is easily manipulated by Mrs. Conners due to his ego.
Simone wants love but takes long runs through mountains to deal with her loneliness.
Roman follows his grandfather’s every instruction as he plans his demise with Mrs. Conners.
Simone hates politics but runs for Senator to take down her ex-lover.
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Lesson 11 – Assignment #1
Discovering Irony: Revenge
The whole premise of the show, effectively, Emily Thorne’s (Amanda Clarke’s) eye for an eye strategy, is ironic.
Emily is wealthy enough to live her life, but instead chooses to spend her riches seeking revenge.
Emily donates $10K for a charity event then asks Ashley to go out for cheap margaritas.
Jack falls for the real Emily Thorne, thinking she is Amanda Clarke, his childhood friend, whereas the real Amanda Clarke loves Jack but chooses not to follow her feelings to instead stay true to her mission.
Frank Stevens and Tyler Barrol both outwit and surprise Emily, the protagonist whose sole mission is to covertly create chaos and sabotage.
The largest mansion in the Hamptons is right next door to one of the smallest.
Once Frank Stevens learns of Emily Thorne’s true identity, it is the real Emily Thorne who kills him.
We feel sorry for David Clark, who was betrayed and framed for a crime he didn’t commit, yet he was actually having an affair with Victoria Grayson.
Tyler Barrol and Nolan Ross are each trying to blackmail the other.
Emily is dating Daniel Grayson, the son of the very woman she wants most to target.
Tyler Barrol’s con game is unseated by his lost schizophrenia medication.
Conrad Grayson made the fortune, but it is Victoria Grayson who plays the part of elitist.
Charlotte Grayson would rather forego her wealthy lifestyle to live with blue collar Declan Porter.
Nolan Ross is so brilliant, but so timid.
Lesson 11 – Assignment #2
Marc Armstrong’s Creating Irony
What I learned doing this assignment was irony is an amazing device that plays off the opposite, causing the same emotional effect as comedy.
Creating Irony: Catch and Release
Character Irony:
· Nik’s success as a star athlete is a façade as he used performance-enhancing drugs for years. He is literally nothing like his persona.
· Nik maintains the Christian persona, but he is a killer and drug trafficker.
· Poster boy Christian has so much pain in his heart that while he struggles to adhere to his moral convictions, he begins to delight in killing in the name of justice, becoming the antithesis of his intended self.
· Bryson professes to be a devoted family man, yet he has an affair with Sabrina.
· Brandon is a genius with poor decision-making ability.
· Charlie was bullied by Brandon in high school, but now he bullies Brandon out of jealousy.
· Sabrina has been steadfastly loyal to Nik since high school, yet she initiates an affair with Bryson.
· Bryson comes across as a meek family man, yet he is a raging killer.
· Nik rationalizes that revenge killing and drug trafficking are all part of God’s plan.
Situational Irony:
· Nik’s family was not killed as a random act of violence, but rather as a consequence of his attempt to leave the trafficking business.
· Nik is responsible for his best friend Brandon’s opioid addiction.
· Enemies Nik and Bryson develop a mutual respect for one another.
· Bryson tells his wife he is a fishing guide, but he actually fishes for human targets.
· Nik feels superior to Charlie given their high school personas, yet Charlie is now much more capable than Nik from a self-defense standpoint.
· When Nik killed Bryson’s brother for his involvement in the death of his family, he actually killed an innocent man.
· Brandon refuses to participate in the killing part of Nik’s vengeance, yet he finds himself in a situation where he must kill or be killed.
· Brandon had succeeded in overcoming alcohol, only to become addicted to opioids.
· Charlie’s weakness is female attention and his trigger is being judged. He falls for someone who is very judgmental.
· Charlie’s lie to Sabrina that Nik is cheating on her is the impetus behind her affair with Bryson.
· Sabrina’s brother was the fourth member of the team who killed Nik’s family, instead of Bryson’s brother.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Marcus Armstrong.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by
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John Anderson’s Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is… Anything dealing with a communist vs capitalist story is rife with irony potential.
ASSIGNMENT 1: Example Show
Watch the next episode of your Example Show and notice where irony shows up in this show — both in this episode and throughout the episodes you’ve already seen.
Tell us the irony you have already discovered in the Example Show.
Straight FBI Agent Beeman has affair, Soviets have sex for “the cause”, Elizabeth decides she wants love after so long, Both lie to one another about sex, no one of any of the spies tell the truth, FBI lies about killing soviet, both heroes show compassion when least expected, their daughter is as suspicious as they are, they lecture her about the importance of “trust”, their spy friends son kills his family to “do something good” for the cause, their own son turns out to be the murderer, she lets SEAL kill a fellow traveler, their handler actually cares about them, FBI agent trusts a spy neighbor, The USSR secretary Anna turns herself in from guilt, her boss keeps her on to do double agent work, etc etc etc etc. Surprisingly, I could go on for another hour.
ASSIGNMENT 2: Your Show
Look back through your previous assignments and find at least 20 different situations or character components that you could go opposite to create irony.
1) Having baby made married situation worse for Belenkos
2) Belenko escapes USSR to live in a prison cell
3) Belenko believes USA is evil but goes anyway
4) Belenko goes into Airforce to find freedom but ends up in a “straightjacket” life
5) Belenko tells truth to CIA agents he mistrusts
6) Belenko is a spy for USSR
7) CIA lady is faking affair for job
8) CIA lady is not faking but is lying to her bosses
9) CIA lady has never been married though she says she is
10) Belenko is willing to leave child
11) Belenkos wife marries to have fabulous life but ends up in Siberian town outside of AF Base.
12) Generals encourage drinking to dull spirits of all
13) Everyone in Russia knows the USSR is failing as they talk about its greatness
14) When Stain dies, they act like they never trusted him and expose him
15) They all pretend Trotski was bad but Lenin was good
16) US is supposed to be represent freedom but lies to Belenko about lots of things (their trust in him)
17) Belenko thinks grocery store is fake because there are no long lines
18) Belenkos father tells him to be honest as he steals
19) Stealing is rife throughout the law enforcement and true believers of the perfect world.
20) They say go to the radio if you need milk since it always says there is plenty.
With each, brainstorm ideas for ways it could go opposite.
Select the ones that work well for the show and share the character and situational irony ideas with us.
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NORENE SMILEY – LESSON 11 ASSIGNMENT – CREATING IRONY
What I learned about doing this assignment: To take a minute and flip the character and situation to see if the opposite would strengthen the story. Irony points to vulnerabilities of characters and holes in the plan.
ASSIGNMENT 1 – JESSICA JONES – IRONY
Luke’s lover/wife’s killer <div>
super powers/helpless under the control of Kilgrave
loves sister/has to keep away from her to keep her safe
saves others/cannot save herselfby telling Luke the truth about his wife’s death/she loses him
commits criminal act (steals drugs)/to do something good (control Kilgrave)
saves girl/only to have girl kill her parents
SHADOW & BONE – IRONY
weakest outcast/is really most powerful Grisha</div><div>
weak boy/to strongest fighter
Inej skilled assassin/can’t kill due to her beliefs
cartographer/ burns maps to be able to go on ship
Kai ruthless criminal/soft spot for Inej
General Kiligan wants to use Alina to increase his power/she uses her power to defeat him
ASSIGNMENT 2 – TROUBLE
Character Irony
Scrap wants to have a home and family/rebels against the restrictions of the Keep and Ruby and Bardo’s guardianship </div><div>
Scrap dreams of freedom of the Outside/fear of being on her own
Scrap is drawn to the downtrodden/she is a danger to them
Scrap is small and alone/she has the power to destroy everything
Agrippa presents a motherly caring front/really an evil and dangerous creature
Toodie is dependent on other to survive/willing to be the downfall of her protectors
Nancy hates his mother/Nancy driven to seek her approval
Agrippa’s distain for children/needs a child to compete her dastardly plan
Scrap finds it hard to trust others/cannot fulfil her goals without relying on others
Situational Irony
defeating the curse/means destroying herself </div>
fascination with mechanics/when machines become the biggest danger
Scrap must put herself in Agrippa’s power/to solve the mystery of what is happening to the children
Ruby and Bardo are duty-bound to protect the Keep/while caring for Scrap who will bring an end to it
Agrippa is willing to sacrifice her own son/but would go to any lengths to secure unknown orphan
everyone wants to control Scrap/while the curse she embodies is uncontrollable
the order of the world of machines/dependent on the sacrifice and labour of the natural world
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Jason’s Creating Irony!
What I learned doing this assignment is the continued importance of subtext, intentions playing against words and the interior monologue is essential in maintaining sound psychological character arcs throughout the story. Without irony, surface conflicts are fleeting. In acting, some of the most impactful moments occur when the obstacle is stronger than the intention—and choices must be made to preserve self, or risk everything.
ASSIGNMENT 1
L O S T
Irony Examples:
It takes a plane crash to bring out the best in people.
Jack’s spent his life doing what his father tells him. When he speaks out against him, he feels to blame for his father’s decline and death. Now that he feels like a complete failure, his father’s driving ethic is what drives him to act quickly after the plane crash, and establishes him as a leader among the survivors.
Hurley uses a combination of numbers to win the lottery and finds himself attempting to escape anything associated with them due to horrible misfortune to those around him—and finds himself in the one place that may be the cursed numbers origin.
Kate is a loner, manipulator and survivor—as her secrets come to light on the island, she must place herself in others’ hands to survive.
Sun intended to leave her husband Jin, but stayed due to hope mixed with fear. Post- crash, Jin strives to proves himself worthy of her love by leaving her in search of rescue.
Locke has always been alone, wishing he could be worth something, an explorer; now that he’s able to walk, he gets his wish—but no one trusts him as he’s compelled to go places others fear.
Charlie kicks his drug habit with Locke’s help—and then Locke discovers a crashed smugglers’ plane carrying more heroin than Charlie’s ever seen.
ASSIGNMENT 2
Dreaming Wide Awake
The lives changing from their exposure to Gina’s work are motivated to let go in order to be honest, real, themselves—which for some means losing everything.
Gina’s rejection in life motivates her reality; the fear of judgment and condemnation in her private world is terrifying. Despite believing her journal to be her only safe place from others, Gina must share it with others in order to become whole.
Maggie intends for Gina to be recognized for her brilliance; she doesn’t realize overnight fame will completely disrupt every aspect of her friend’s life.
If Gina didn’t shun social media she’d have known her first crush in 15 years is gay.
When Mark confronts Maggie on her interfering in Gina’s life, he doesn’t anticipate it lighting a fuse to blow up their own secure existence.
As Chris develops his friendship with Gina, he realizes he’s been completely dishonest with some of the most important aspects of his own life.
Parker has come thousands of miles to start a new life where he could be himself; he learns that running from his old self does not qualify.
Workaholics Maggie and Mark get into their first major argument in 20 years of marriage regarding their work habits, security and goals for the future—during which both end up in the hospital briefly unable to work due to a freak accident.
Chris realizes Gina is more popular for material she didn’t mean to share than he is for the work he’s created to cultivate his fame.
Gina’s vivid written fantasy world paves the way for many to rediscover the wonder of reality.
Every character in the story arc must risk losing everything in order to become who they truly are.
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Module 1 Lesson 11: Assignment 1
Big Little Lies:
Celeste tries to maintain a relationship with Mary Louise for her children.
When Mary Louise displays her intent by arriving uninvited to Madeleine’s party, she slaps Mary Louise.
Celeste brings a bartender home with her. She takes Ambien and forgets he is still there when Mary Louise arrives with her boys.
Ed continues to maintain a punishing distance from Madeleine.
Zoey is normally calm and together but she freaks out at the site of the detective in the hospital.
Renata, who portrays the strong, successful, working woman continues to stay with Gordon after he has lost all their money.
I learned to identify irony in characters and situations.
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Module 1 Lesson 11 Assignment 2
Grace wants to be with Sam when he dies. She cannot understand why his children have intervened to separate them.
Grace needs to find out why. To pursue why, she must journey to her past life and relive to understand the relevance.
Sam wants to reconnect with his children to protect his legacy. When he wakes from a coma, his children tell him Grace has left him. He realizes his children are lying but he is too weak to fight them.
Carlton is bailed out by his father to protect the family name – legacy and family name is everything to Sam. Carlton is grateful but resentful to have his father still in control of his success. Carlton chooses to deceive Sam on his deathbed to prevent his secret from being revealed by his sisters.
What I learned is to try and create irony in character behavior and situations.
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