Pop Culture Media’s Role in Helping Fans Cope

I’ve been thinking about the many ways that people cope with their life circumstances, and how infrequently we talk about our coping mechanisms with others. When my husband’s mother first passed away, sleep was a difficult time for him. He frequently woke up in the middle of the night in a panic, or in tears following nightmares related to his mother’s death. He’d have vivid nightmares...

Dramatic Irony: What They Don’t Know, But You Do

Recently, we took a look at verbal and situational irony in Futurama. Today, Futurama returns for another foray into a third type of irony: dramatic irony. Now that you're used to thinking of irony as the opposite of reality (kind of), stick a pin in that. Dramatic irony throws this rule out the window. Dramatic irony  creates the kinds of moments that cause you to start yelling at the characters on the screen to stop what they're doing right away...

Verbal and Situational Irony: Putting the Funny in Futurama

Comedy shows offer many great examples of irony because the comedy genre often takes advantage of irony in order to produce hilarious or unexpected outcomes. Futurama is especially good at using irony, and even talks about irony in the episode "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings"...