In this thesis, I will address the following research question: Do sarcastic and hiniku utterances without humoristic intent exist? I will explore the relationship between sarcasm, irony and humor...Show moreIn this thesis, I will address the following research question: Do sarcastic and hiniku utterances without humoristic intent exist? I will explore the relationship between sarcasm, irony and humor and hiniku and humor. More often than not, sarcastic utterances are known to have humoristic intent and make the listener and any outside observers laugh by playfully making fun of the listener, i.e. making a joke. Hiniku, the closest Japanese equivalent of sarcasm, has similar aspects for it makes fun of the addressee by criticizing him or her. I want to find out whether sarcasm and hiniku can be used without humoristic intent, i.e. the speaker does not want to be funny when he or she says something sarcastic or hiniku.Show less
Connecting Kaurismäki to irony is not surprising, but is surprisingly enough, not so much scholarly researched in the past. Irony appears in different disguises, largely depending on the function...Show moreConnecting Kaurismäki to irony is not surprising, but is surprisingly enough, not so much scholarly researched in the past. Irony appears in different disguises, largely depending on the function of it; what the ironist wants to achieve. Applying it can originate from an urge to complicate a matter of discussion but can also be applied to translate the oppositional stance the ironist wants to reveal. In the case of the enigmatic Kaurismäki his intentions or motivations in his choice of theme and subject are essential to the humour he adapts in telling his stories, but always remains somewhat vague. This thesis provides an image of how irony prevails and functions in his cinema on the base of a series of comparative case studies linked to three of his films: I Hired a Contract Killer (1990), The Man Without a Past (2002) and The Other Side of Hope (2017). It eventually sets out an idea of a filmmaker who, by applying irony, both distances though simultaneously engages himself with his audience in his own wayward fashion.Show less
