Irony and Cyberpunk

Irony
According to Henry Watson Fowler in The King’s English, “any definition of irony – though hundreds may be given, and very few of them would be accepted – must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same.”

In the generalist sense an irony is a contradiction or something which has another hidden meaning. This is the case when referring to verbal irony where something is said but something else, usually the opposite, is intended. The best example of verbal irony is sarcasm but it also includes so called ironic similes such as “funny as cancer” or “straight as a circle”. The key to verbal ironies is the fact that they are intended to be ironic. A related type of irony, structural or situational irony, occurs when someone says or does something that produces a discrepancy in the plot. Good examples include the Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy who wants to go home could have gone home any time or the Scarecrow who wants a brain but was smart all along. Connected with situational and structural irony is cosmic irony or irony of fate which is encountered when characters come up against the realities of the world; this is often thought of as the gods (or the Fates) manipulating the thoughts of humans in order to create irony. Historical irony also ties in with this; as the name implies historical irony only become apparent in retrospect. An example is Alfred Nobel inventing dynamite as a better mining explosive but it became a weapon in war.

The other strain of irony is dramatic or tragic irony which occurs when the audience is aware of something which the characters are not. An excellent example which illustrates both dramatic and tragic irony is Oedipus who searches for his father killer without realizing that it was him. Many times where there is tragic irony there is dramatic irony and they are found mostly in fiction. What sets tragic irony apart is the notion that the characters have to die.
It comes from the Greek meaning “dissembling or feigned ignorance”.

Oedipus rex and other tragedies revolve around dramatic and tragic irony


Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a genre of science fiction where technology has changed the meaning of humanity. It often times has a nihilistic attitude towards the world as it advances technologically but degrades socially or to put it in a phrase “high tech and low life”.
The term was originally used in 1983 by Bruce Bethke as the title of a short story but as a style, Cyberpunk had been around for some time, first popularized by Gardner Dozois. Most Cyberpunk literature is set in the near-future rather than the far-future and as its main character features the un-heroic loner, commonly a hacker who is forced to fight the injustice of society but does not necessarily come out the winner or “on top”. Most Cyberpunk incorporates elements of detective novels, film noir, and postmodernism to draw out the darkness being hidden by the shiny technological exterior of society. It is commonly thought of as the antithesis to utopias as the genre typically describes “troubled futures”. The genre commonly becomes a metaphor for the corruption, alienation, and surveillance from the government and often intends to leave readers unsettled; it also often predicts the future of information technologies like the internet.
Writers in the field include William Gibson who wrote Neuromancer and Thomas Pynchon, author of Gravity's Rainbow. More main stream examples include The Matrix and Blade Runner. Cyberpunk often becomes the subject of manga and anime; examples include Ghost in the Shell and Akira. Much of the music found in Cyberpunk shows and movies has inspired a genre of pop music that invokes the film noir feel. Cyberpunk has also spawned a large number of role playing games, computer games, and table top games.

Films like The Matrix and Blade Runner have many elements of Cyberpunk.


Common in anime and manga, Cyberpunk themes prevail in Ghost in the Shell and Akira

Neon Genesis Evangelion is also a good example of Cyberpunk. The main character, Shinji Ikari
is your average high school kid who gets dragged in by a government organization to protect Japan from an alien species with a giant robot, known as an Evangelion. The thing about this anime is that it was made in 1996, yet projects 2008.