It Isn’t Not Ironic
February 17, 2010
So I read a good blog post today about how it can be hard to take pleasure in irony anymore. The blog post linked to this Onion article which I read and enjoyed – but also felt a bit uncomfortable about.
The thing is, I totally sympathize with irony-fatigue. I remember last year when my friends were trying to think of a theme for their party and after listening to 30 or 40 ironic suggestions (Ninjas! Pirates! Prince!) I suggested that the theme be “Sincerity”. The idea was that every thing you wear, say and do at the party has to be sincere. If you are ironic or insincere, you get booted from the party. No one liked my suggestion.
The blog post suggested that ironically appreciating something like Saved by the Bell is dumb because everyone knows it’s bad. When jock-o babes n’ beer type bars are having Saved by the Bell theme nights, are you really appreciating SBTB on a new and different level? I feel that way about a lot of things. Born Again Christians everywhere love ugly Christmas sweater parties. And very few groups of people have less of a sense of humor than Born Agains.
Brain-dead kids in tight jeans sing Journey songs at karaoke. The Jean Teasdale look-alike in the Fashion Bug clothes hosts a bad movie night at her apartment. If the point of irony is to appreciate something on a level different from the mainstream, if it’s about separating yourself from the people that really like bad things – then what’s left of irony when everyone is in on the joke?
Plus, I tire quickly of people whose entire personality is one, big snarky joke.
But back to the Onion article. The headline “Aging Gen-Xer Doesn’t Find Bad Movies Funny Anymore” made me blush a bit. I mean, I am a person who has a Disorderlies movie poster in her living room. I rent good movies all the time and let them sit, gathering dust, while I watch Murder She Wrote and movies where Chuck Norris fights the undead. I have a blog dedicated solely to Steven Seagal movies. Am I that person? Am I a person who spends all their time distancing themselves from feeling with irony and tsk-tsk-ing sincerity?
I thought about it and I think the answer is “No” (well, mostly). I think there is a difference between “loving” something and just plain loving something – and I love bad movies. It’s true that I laugh at them. But I really love how weird and unique bad/cheap movies can be. I think you can find real moments of joy in quote unquote bad movies.
When I think about the things I like that are memes or popular punching bags for hipsters, in most cases, I really, sincerely enjoy those things. I really, actually enjoy Journey. I really, truly adore Fleetwood Mac. Just because I’m aware of (and sometimes laugh at) Steve Perry’s pants or Stevie Nick’s former cocaine addiction and weird scarves doesn’t mean that I don’t truly love their music. Or think about a show like The Mighty Boosh. I think that is a show that is fully aware of its place in pop-culture – but I doubt you’d find a single fan of the show that would say it’s insincere.
And so I think it’s best to bury the whole dichotomy between sincerity and irony. I think it’s better to delineate between love that’s aware and love that’s unaware.
I am aware that Hard to Kill is a terrible movie, but I truly love it. It’s like being given exclusive access to a 13-year-old boy’s psyche. And if there are people who love Hard to Kill because they think it’s a truly good film and they don’t need any artsy-fartsy crap, they just want to see some guns blastin’ – then maybe I’m appreciating Hard to Kill on a different level from them. But it’s not from an ironic distance; it’s just that I’m aware of how goofy the movie is.
Everyone who’s intelligent and likes cool things goes through a phase in their teens and early 20s where they think they’re smarter than everyone. They’re the first person to really appreciate John Waters and when they watch old re-runs of Golden Girls, they’re just laughing at the racist jokes and ridiculous fashions. I definitely went through this phase – in fact it was probably a longer phase for me than it was for others. And I still love John Waters and I still laugh at Bea Arthur’s weird, draping wardrobe and I still think I’m smarter than everyone. But my time is more limited and I have to admit to myself that if I’m spending time watching something after work, it’s because I truly enjoy it.
