An Analysis of Irony in Zootopia_英语论文

摘要

《疯狂动物城》一经上映就广受好评，被美国电影协会评为2016年十佳电影。电影描述了一座虚拟的城市，里面所有动物不论种族和肤色，一律平等。

这部电影中最重要的艺术手法之一是反讽。本论文试图从语言和情节的角度来研究反讽，以揭示这部电影的反讽及其对美国文化的影响。片中贯穿始终的反讽手法，在表现主题、塑造人物和情节发展中被运用得淋漓尽致，成功地打造了这部电影。

本文研究关于《疯狂动物城》的两种反讽形式：言语反讽和情景反讽。电影中大量运用这两种反讽以展现电影的深层含义。言语反讽是最常见的反讽形式，它借助语言外壳和真实意指之间强烈鲜明的矛盾，使观众能够透过表面意义读出作品的隐含意义。情景反讽则具有极强的隐蔽性，电影中多处利用人物形象和社会地位的巨大反差来体现这一手法。电影中两种反讽形式运用恰当，相辅相成，这也正是电影可以取得 巨大成功的原因所在。

关键词： 反讽《疯狂动物城》语言反讽 情景反讽 

Abstract

Zootopia, a Disney animated movie, got an instant success and high praises once released in 2016. It was selected as the top film of the 2016 American Film Institute. The movie describes a utopian city in which all kinds of animals get along with each other and proclaims that all creatures are equal, regardless of race or color. 

Irony features Zootopia. This thesis studies the ironic measures in language and in plot, to find out the conclusions about irony of the characteristic of this movie, to analyze the effect of irony on the film and its impact on American culture. The film thoroughly shows irony in the performance of the theme, shaping the characters and the plot development, which made the movie commercially successful.  

There are two forms of irony in Zootopia: the verbal irony and the situational irony. These two kinds of irony are widely used in the film to show the deep meaning of the film. Verbal irony, the most common form of irony, with the strong contradiction between the language and its implication, makes the audience able to read the implied meaning of the work through the surface. On the other hand, the situational irony is more concealed with the use of huge contrast between the images and social status of the animals.These two forms of irony were used to perfect and complement each other, which is one of the main reasons why the film can achieve such a great success.

Key Words: irony; Zootopia; verbal irony; situational irony 

Contents

1  Introduction  1

1.1 The Evolution of Irony 1

1.2 A Brief Introduction of Zootopia .3 

2  The Verbal Irony in Zootopia 7

2.1 The Implication of Verbal Irony 7

2.2 Verbal Irony in Zootopia 8

3  The Situational Irony in Zootopia 11

3.1 The Implication of Situational Irony .11

3.2 Situational Irony in Zootopia .11

4  The Effects of Irony 14

4.1 The Humor of Irony 14

4.2 The Emphasis of Irony 14

5  Conclusion.16

Bibliography17
Acknowledgements.18