Wendy Molyneux's "I'm am Sorry that I didn't Write a Comedy Piece" is a short and ironic piece of literature. This piece is greatly ineffective because its theme of irony, while humorous and somewhat entertaining, takes away from the overall message by distracting the audience from her point. When the author introduces a strong indication that his or her piece will be effectively humorous, this tells the audience that the author is focused them and their reaction. Comedy is all about how the audience reacts. This allows the audience to relax and try to gain something for themselves out of the experience: a quick laugh or two. Irony and humor are ineffective ways to portray an important message because the audience will be focused on themselves and the aspects of humor rather than fully trying to understand the underlying message. Molyneux's message that stereotypes against women are ridiculously stupid, and that men and women are equal are overshadowed by her humorous and ironic outbursts about "how stupid women are." Because her message was clearly more important than the humorous side of her piece, Molyneux should have taken a different approach altogether.

When the message behind any author's work is not intended to be as significant as Molyneux's, ironic humor works like a charm. For example, the "Scary Movie" series of parody films is perfect for an audience to sit back, have a laugh, and understand the underlying message because it's not that deep. The Scary Movie series makes fun of actors and repetitive plots seen in all kinds of actual scary movies in the past. An ironic look at the lack of creativity found in so many repetitive scary movies is a hilarious, interesting insight into the repetitiveness behind the scary movie itself. While it is impossible to draw a fine line between what makes a message important or unimportant, what matters is the author's overall intent with his or her work. A standup comedian doesn't really care about the moral of his story, he cares if you laugh. But a feminist author such as Wendy Molyneux certainly cares more about a message and a much larger movement. Wendy's ironic take on the issues and stereotypes women are facing today was funny but not as effective as it could have been, because she made the entire thing ironic.

A second example of where irony and humor do work to help the author portray a less meaningful message is found in the song "Ironic" by _.

-they are effective when delivering less important meanings because the audience isn't focused on the message the whole time, and they can be emotionally swayed by the humor behind it.

>"scary movie" series, message is making fun of actors and repetitive plots in scary movies

Situational vs dramatic irony

