Recently there has been no shortage of people forecasting the end of irony. ‘Being ironic’, which was modish during the 1980s and 1990s, became viewed as decadent by beginning of the 21st century. After 9/11, many thought things would change; it demanded immediate moral condemnation. Writing in Time magazine in 2001, Roger Rosenblatt claimed that ‘one good thing could come from this horror: it could spell the end of the age of irony’. So why, in spite of the repeated demand for seriousness, does irony persist as an all-too-prevalent mode of being? Seriously filmed at the Battle of Ideas.
