Line #26 Main/IronicJuxtaposition


1	[[quoteright:350:[[{{Creator/Quino}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/freedom_public_park_0.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''[[IronicName "Freedom"]]'', [[CrapsackWorld Public Park.]]]]
3
4	->''"You write 'Born to Kill' on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?!"''
5	-->-- '''Colonel''' to Private Joker, ''Film/FullMetalJacket''
6
7	A kind of visual technique, usually (though not always) played for laughs. It features two objects, people, or images in proximity to provide a contrast to one another. Frequently, it's an inanimate object, such as a sign or billboard, and something in or of the real world. While the sign is making one very clear statement, the real thing will be portraying a reality that is completely different in nature. The sign, as a result, will appear to be either surreal or completely ineffective, considering its general surroundings.
8
9	A subtrope of MoodDissonance. BirthDeathJuxtaposition is a subtrope common enough to have its own page. When played for drama, is usually extremely bleak and depressing, and a sign of a CrapsackWorld. Compare DescriptionCut and AdDissonance.
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11	----
12	!!Examples:
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14	[[foldercontrol]]
15
16	[[folder:Advertising]]
17	* This happens all the time with InternetAds, mostly because of their context sensitivity. There are screenshots of things like a news story about an infant dying in a house fire with an ad next to it for a CD burner saying "burn baby burn".
18	** Invoked in a Website/{{Cracked}} [[http://www.cracked.com/photoshop_52_the-13-worst-possible-ad-placements/ Photoshop contest.]]
19	** And on our very own JustForFun/AdOfWin page.
20	** The "Inappropriate timing Spongebob" meme was born when a banner ad showing a laughing Spongebob popped up during a dramatic moment (Korra falling off a platform) in ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra''. Others quickly followed suit by inserting the banner into even sadder scenes in other shows (or showed Korra laughing at Spongebob).
21	* In Great Britain, not every TV ad carries subtitles. If an advert without subtitling follows one which has it, the last line from the previous advert will carry over, and remain on the screen during the next. This leads to some wonderfully inappropriate juxtapositions. Imagine an advert aimed at parents for a head lice cure for kids, with subtitling. The following advert is for a wonderful shampoo and conditioner of the upmarket sophisticated sort where the girl is practically having an orgasm while applying it. This lacks subtitling, so the line appearing on screen is "Always guaranteed to kill 100% of all head lice and scalp parasites". Which rather kills the mood.
22	[[/folder]]
23
24	%%[[folder:Comic Strips]]
25	%%* From ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'': [[http://pbfcomics.com/comics/post-apocalyptic/ Post Apocalyptic.]]
26	%%[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
29	* An incredibly gut-wrenching example occurs in ''Film/TwelveYearsASlave'', when Solomon is first held captive in Burch's dungeon. As he tries futilely crying out for help from the single barred window, the camera then scales up the building until it rests at the top, where the US Capitol Building can be seen in the background...
30	* Throughout ''Film/AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore'', Alice has been promising an insistent Tommy that she will get them to Monterey, California before the school year starts. In the end, Tommy tells her that it's OK if they stay in Tucson. The last shot of the movie shows them walking towards the Monterey Hotel.
31	* ''Film/TheBattleOfSanPietro'': The documentary's narration says that the Italian villager is a born mason who builds not for himself but "for future generations" while showing villagers picking up rubble, followed by a shot of a dead Italian teenager lying in the street.
32	* ''Film/FullMetalJacket'' has Joker walking around with a peace sign pin and a helmet reading "Born to Kill". When questioned, he replies he was trying to suggest "The duality of man. The [[Usefulnotes/CarlJung Jungian]] thing, sir." This leads to some symbolism in the final scene where [[spoiler:the sniper is begging Joker to shoot her. Both the "Born to Kill" phrase and the peace sign are visible as Joker struggles to pull the trigger. The exact moment the peace sign is obscured, he kills her.]]
33	* One scene in the film ''Film/JoyeuxNoel'', which depicts the Christmas truce of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, has German officer Nikolaus embracing his lover Anna under a blanket in the trench, both overjoyed to be together for a few brief moments of peace. Cut to Scottish soldier Jonathan, lying on the snow outside, holding his dead brother William.
34	* ''Film/JurassicPark'': "Objects in the mirror are CloserThanTheyAppear." Said object is a charging tyrannosaurus.
35	* One of the ''Film/LethalWeapon'' movies features a cool rebellious lead character standing in front of a non-smoking sign and smoking. You know, 'cause he's cool.
36	* This trope is one of the main themes in ''Film/MondoCane'', where vignettes from one society will regularly be contrasted with a different one from somewhere else. The clip of mourners at an American pet cemetery is followed by Taiwanese people cooking and eating dogs. The American housewives trying to lose weight at a fitness club are contrasted with the New Guinea women that are supposedly locked into a cage and fed rich food until they fatten up.
37	* ''Film/NocturnalAnimals'': Laura's daughter Samantha is shown lying nude with her boyfriend ([[ToplessnessFromTheBack from the back]]) on her bed, presumably in the wake of consensual sex, when she calls, after getting very disturbed by Edward's book. In the book, his {{expy}}'s daughter was discovered lying the same way, but next to her mom (who's also naked) dead after both had been raped, then murdered.
38	* ''Film/{{October}}'', a Soviet film about the UsefulNotes/RedOctober 1917 revolution, includes the "Women's Battalion of Death", an all-female AmazonBrigade that had been organized to fight in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Instead, a fragment of the battalion wound up defending the Winter Palace against the Bolsheviks. Two of the women soldiers are shown going through military drill, right in front of a statue of a mother and child.
39	* ''Film/SavageManSavageBeast'': Similar to ''Mondo Cane'' (on which co-director/producer Antonio Climati served as a cinematographer), vignettes from one society will often be contrasted by a different one from somewhere else. For example, an anti-hunting demonstration in which the participants freely copulate and practice nudity is contrasted with scenes of ancient hunter-gatherer societies with strict rules concerning nudity.
40	* Combined with EntertaininglyWrong in ''Film/TheShapeOfWater''. After the [[FishPerson Asset]] is snuck out of a government facility, Fleming declares it must have required a team of at least ten highly-trained commandos... while Elisa and Zelda, the ''cleaning ladies'' responsible for the heist, are punching their timecards in the background.
41	* In the climax of ''Film/SlumdogMillionaire'', [[spoiler:Salim]] dies due to RedemptionEqualsDeath in a bathtub full of money, while at the same time Jamal wins 20 million rupees. Metaphorically speaking, we even have a BirthDeathJuxtaposition at hand, since Jamal can be considered a new person at this point.
42	* ''Film/AStrangerAmongUs'' has a female cop having a CigaretteOfAnxiety (her partner's been shot) under a no smoking sign, meant to demonstrate her lack of respect for authority.
43	* There's a really dark example in ''Film/{{Threads}}'', where shell-shocked nuclear survivors are seen shambling past posters of happy, smiling babies.
44	* In ''Film/WhatHappenedToSantiago'' Santiago, still fuming about being forced into retirement, tries to console himself, thinking that there's lots he can do. This is immediately followed by Santiago having to stop his car to let a funeral procession pass.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Literature]]
48	* In ''Literature/{{Moonraker}}'' (the book), James Bond sees a billboard. The sign reads in blinking neon, "SUMMER [[ProductPlacement SHELL]] IS HERE" but due to the angle at which he sees it, it says "HELL IS HERE...HELL IS HERE...HELL IS HERE".
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
52	* The first season finale of ''Series/BurnNotice'' opened with Mike doing situps when Sam walks into his loft holding a bucket of fried chicken. Their conversation reaches a point when they're both standing at Mike's counter, Sam with his bucket of trans fat, Mike with his shirt off and a cup of yogurt. The camera lingers while they look at one another's choices.
53	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E3PlanetOfTheOod "Planet of the Ood"]], PR rep Solana's marketing spiel selling the [[SlaveRace Ood]] to the marketing reps about how they're treated well is contrasted with guards hunting down an escaped Ood with [[RedEyesTakeWarning "red-eye"]].
54	* ''Series/{{Taken}}'': In "Jacob and Jesse", Dr. Peter Quarrington's lecture about the friendly Space Brothers coming in peace is juxtaposed with Russell Keys being experimented upon by the aliens aboard one of their ships.
55	[[/folder]]
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57	[[folder:Music]]
58	* The music video of the iconic Dutch song 'Vijftien miljoen mensen' features a photo of a 'do not walk on the grass' sign, with a policeman cheerfully chatting with someone on the wrong side of it while dozens of people lounge about the grass.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Photography]]
62	* Perhaps the most famous examples of this are the Depression era photographs by Dorothea Lange, which contrasted extremely cheerful billboard advertisements with happy American families with the desolate ghost town that most of America had become. The worst of it is that these advertisements stayed up during most of the Depression- largely because no one could afford to take them down and put up new ones.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Theatre]]
66	* ''Theatre/Allegiance2012'': In the background, [[TheQuisling Mike Masaoka]] is saying that those in internment camps should focus on the goal of proving the loyalty of Japanese-Americans in general rather than focusing on individual suffering. In the foreground, a spotlight is literally being shone on [[spoiler:a couple weeping over their infant who just died due to exposure and lack of medical care in the camp.]]
67	* ''Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'': After Angelo tells Cesare his name, Cesare's reaction is something like, "Angelo? That weird Florentine guy who keeps putting his foot in his mouth and needing to be rescued, his name is Angel? That's weird. ... there's a castle called that, in Rome, in the Vatican." (implicitly by projections, he goes into a church) "If God's kingdom exists on Earth, it should be Italy, where the pope is, in his castle of angels. It should be, but..." Cut to Roberto explaining to Angelo the complex relationships between all the cardinals who want to kill each other -- which includes, of course, [[UsefulNotes/PopeAlexanderVI Cesare's father]]. Then cut to said cardinals, in Rome, threatening each other.
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69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Webcomics]]
72	* In ''Webcomic/DeadWinter'', Lou's van nearly squashes a soldier (who had tried to blast it with a RPG) against a wall. Right under a [[http://deadwinter.cc/page/262.htm billboard:]]
73	-->"That was a close shave!"
74	* In Episode 40 of ''Webcomic/WeakHero'', there's a shot of a banner promoting safe streets protected from school violence while Eugene is getting beat up by students from another school.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Western Animation]]
78	* Ín ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', the "Welcome to Amity Park" sign changes regularly, and sometimes does this, such as "Amity Park ? it's safe here!" right in front of a ruined town in the midst of a ghost attack.
79	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', there's a jolly sign with a smiling family stating, "If you lived here, you'd be home right now," Just outside the desolate trailer park that Pete White and Billy Quizboy inhabit. They are the trailer park's only residents.
80	[[/folder]]

Context Main / IronicJuxtaposition