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

Abstract

摘要

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

 22 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

Bibliography17Acknowledgements.18